The 23rd annual Rochester Garden Walk will be held June 15.
By: Mary Beth Almond | Rochester Post | Published June 7, 2023
ROCHESTER HILLS — Stoney Creek Village is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, and in honor of that, the public will have a chance to walk through two private gardens in the historic community during the annual Rochester Garden Walk.
The 23rd annual event — hosted by the Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm and the Rochester Garden Club — will be held 10 a.m.-5 p.m. June 15.
Pat Hambleton, the co-chair of the Garden Walk for the Rochester Garden Club, said the event will feature seven gardens — six private gardens in Rochester Hills and Oakland Township, as well as the gardens at University Presbyterian Church, on Adams Road.
“It’s going to be an amazing walk,” said Hambleton. “We have seven truly wonderful gardens this year that are very unique — we have small gardens, we have medium gardens and we have large gardens. We have vegetable gardens, we have water gardens, we have water features and we have vertical gardens.”
In celebration of the bicentennial of Stoney Creek Village, guests will be able to tour two private gardens of the historic homes in the district. Garden walk participants will also be able to stroll through several of the museum’s buildings and exhibition spaces, as well as the historic plantings surrounding the Van Hoosen farmhouse. A highlight on the museum property, Hambleton said, is the Children’s Garden — which is maintained by the Rochester Garden Club and loaded with hands-on activities to keep little ones amused.
Other garden walk attractions include the “A Plant’s Journey” presentation at 11 a.m. at the calf barn, which will detail how all the new bedding plants make it from around the world into gardens; a “Fleatique” sale of gently used garden art, tools and accessories in the calf barn; and a cookie room filled with homemade cookies and lemonade.
The Rochester Garden Club — in collaboration with local grower East Michigan Native Plants — will also host a Native Plant Sale on the museum grounds 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Customers do not have to purchase tickets to the Garden Walk to purchase plants, and preorders can be made online at www.Roch esterGardenClub.org.
“We get together to raise funds that go back into the community, so it’s just a win all the way around,” said Jenny Van Dusen, the president of the Rochester Garden Club.
for $15 through noon June 14 from the museum’s website, www.rochesterhills.org/musprograms, and from Auburn Oaks Garden Center, Bordine’s Nursery in Rochester, Fogler’s Greenhouse, and Piechnik’s Garden Gate. Tickets purchased the day of the event will cost $18. Proceeds from the event benefit The Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm and the Rochester Garden Club.
Tickets can be exchanged for Garden Guides — which feature the garden locations — at the Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm beginning June 12. Hours for purchase and exchange are 1-4 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays, and all day Thursdays.
For more information, visit www.RochesterGardenClub.org or call (248) 656-4663.