Lansdale Open Gardens Tour organizer Jenniah Caldwell, left, and Manna on Main Street Food Resources and Operations Director Jim Lynch pose with several hundred pounds of food donated by garden tour attendees earlier this month. (Credit: Jenniah Caldwell)
Tour cancelled, gardens ‘not at their best’
Summer heat waves have claimed the second part of a Lansdale event.
Organizers announced Friday that the second Lansdale Open Garden tour for 2024 slated for Aug. 17 has been called off.
“You know the saying ‘Mother Nature has other plans’, unfortunately this summer has proved the truth in that,” said organizer Jenniah Caldwell.
“Between a lack of rain and weeks and weeks of 90-plus weather, a large number of the gardens slated for the August 17th tour are not at their best this year and are not able to participate,” she said.
Starting in 2022, Caldwell has organized free public tours of gardens throughout the town, as gardeners showed off their growing skills while those who toured donated several carloads and several hundred dollars for a local food bank. The first tour proved so popular that a second tour was held in June 2023, yielding hundreds of pounds in additional donations, followed in August 2023 by a second tour for that year. So far in 2024, the local gardeners have started an informal Lansdale Garden Club that meets monthly at the town library, held a plant sale in May, and hosted a first tour in June before the summer heat caused the second to be called off.
“Our gardeners put so much hard work into making their gardens shine for our guests, and across the board, this year has been a bit of a struggle,” Caldwell said in a post Friday on the “Lansdale Open Gardens Day” Facebook page.
“However, the 2025 tour planning has already started and we have lovely gardens (new and returning favorites) and new surprises planned,” she said.
The Lansdale Garden Club meets at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at the Lansdale Wissahickon Parks Building, 765 East Main Street; for more information on the tour contact Caldwell at [email protected] or search for “Lansdale Open Gardens Day” on Facebook.
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