Six of some of the best private gardens in the area will be showcased in the 2012 Manteca Garden Tour sponsored by the Manteca Garden Club.

All of the gardens offer different features that make them unique, but they have one common theme thread, said garden club president Rita Canales.

“There’s a lot of water features this year,” she said.

One garden, for example, is highlighted by a pond which the home-owner and gardener built with his own hands.

“He’s worked really hard on it,” Canales said.

And that’s another common thread that all the gardens share, she added. The homeowners themselves created and built their private Eden with their own bare hands rather than have a professional and commercial outfit do it for them.

This is very obvious in one particular garden on the tour. It’s marked by several raised beds which were built by the husband to his wife who has problems with her knees. This way, she can continue to pursue her gardening hobby with comfort and convenience without bending her knees. The couple “really worked hard” in their yard, said Canales.

Another garden, while it’s not as big as the others, shows how a small space can become a perfect paradise with a little creativity and plenty of TLC. Among the landscaping highlights is a waterfall that comes down to a spa below it, said Canales, who described the garden as “very comfortable” for the elderly couple who lovingly tends it.

Garden club members like to point out that this year’s garden tour will be held the weekend after Mother’s Day, which will make this field trip a perfect gift for mothers, grandmothers, and daughters alike. The tour will be on Saturday, May 12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The garden tour tickets have not been affected by inflation. It’s still $15 per person. Tickets purchased will include details about the tour including a map showing all the gardens featured.

Some lucky visitors will even get to go home with gifts that are worth more than they paid for their tickets. At the last garden featured in the tour, there will be opportunity drawings for various garden-related items that include theme baskets, plant arrangements, garden tools, and plant flats ready for planting. Tickets for the opportunity drawing will be on sale at this last garden in the tour where refreshments will be served as well.

Making an encore appearance at this event will be the Manteca Artist Guild. Some members will be at the last house exhibiting some of their art works. Last year, guild member Tim Rued brought along his nyckelharpa and played several music numbers while guests enjoyed the refreshments and the art displays. Former guild president Dan Voller provided another attraction by giving a painting demonstration at the site.

The garden tour is the club’s only major fund-raiser during the year. All proceeds go to club’s many community projects, scholarships to high school seniors, among many others.



Below are the places where one can obtain tickets to the garden tour during regular business hours:

• Delicato Vineyards at 12001 S. Hwy 99 north of Lathrop Road.

• Ed’s Rockery at 6000 E. Lathrop Road just east of the Highway 99 overpass.

• German Glas Werks  at 109 E. Yosemite Avenue in downtown Manteca.

• Manteca Visitors Center at the Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley on the south side of the 120 Bypass on South Union Road.

• New Buds Nursery located at 23563 S. Manteca Road, just north of West Ripon Road.

• P&L Concrete Products located at 1900 Roosevelt Ave in Escalon.

• Park Greenhouse Nursery at 12813 E. West Ripon Road just outside of Ripon’s city limits.

• Silverado Nursery located at 460 South Stockton Avenue in Ripon.

For more information about the Manteca Garden Club and the tour, visit http://www.mantecagardenclub.org. The group is also on Facebook.