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Ripon Garden Clubs tour set for Sept. 6
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This is one of the six gardens featured in the Sept. 6 garden tour, a fund-raiser for the Ripon Garden Club. Tickets are $20 each. - photo by Photo Contributed

September Stroll, the annual garden tour sponsored by the Ripon Garden Club, will feature four country properties and two in town. The event, which is now in its 17th year, will be held Saturday, Sept. 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Each property offers features that will inspire visitors. Some of the homes will be open to walk-through as well.

One of the homes in town features custom-built trellises and espaliered fruit trees in the front yard. It has a redwood tree-lined back yard featuring fun garden art, and a potting shed. The second home has a space transformed into an entertainment oasis. Family and friends gather around the fire pit and custom-built barbecue area. This home also has a raised vegetable garden, and various bird feeders and bird baths.

The country homes are varied in style. One is an old bungalow-style house that was moved from the downtown Ripon area. The homeowners have implemented recycling and “upcycling” to create a lovely patio shaded by a grape arbor, a stream with a waterfall, and other features. A lot of creativity and do-it-yourself have gone into this house. The second country home features an old barn, chickens, goats, and a yard dotted with mature trees. A river rock and log house is the center of a yard brimming with cedar trees, ferns, and intermittent bursts of color in the third country house. Accentuating the mountain feel are a dry creek with a bridge, and a handmade log furniture.

Refreshments, a raffle, and a silent auction will be held at one of the homes. Proceeds from the garden tour go back to the community in the form of scholarships, beautification projects in downtown Ripon, at local parks and at Bethany Home, plus educational projects at local schools.

Tickets to the garden tour are $20 each for adults, $10 for children under 12 (no strollers please). These are available at the following:

• Park Greenhouse, Schemper’s Ace Hardware, and Silverado Building Materials and Nursery in  Ripon; Westurf Nursery in Modesto; German Glass Works and New Buds Nursery in Manteca; Morris Nursery in Riverbank; Creative Water Gardens and P&L Garden Center in Escalon; and, The Greenery in  Turlock.

For more information about the garden tour, visit www.riopngardenclub.org or call Mona Restuccia at 209.599.7475.