Quilt Gardens Tour

Its peak week for the 2010 Quilt Gardens…they are stunning and beautiful! We have had tons of people in the Visitor Center this week telling us how much they love the gardens! Luckily we have been able to capture pictures of them at their different stages…check out our Flickr PhotoStream!

We are also interested to see your pictures of the gardens. We have a special group on  Flickr where you can upload and share your pictures. It’s amazing to see all of the different vantage points and angles…so if you have time to share them, we would love to see them! Remember to  join us on FaceBook and tell us what you thought of this year’s Quilt Gardens!

Dutch Country Market

Norman loves flowers, so he and his family were very excited when Dutch Country Market was juried-in as an official quilt garden site. Since there are eight members in the Lehman family, their “Eight Birds” pattern is quite fitting.

The family works as a team on the garden, although Norm says the girls seem a little more enthusiastic than the boys. And he admits there is a bit of incentive; he promised the family a trip to Colorado.

They did have some extra help to plant the garden’s 4,000 flowers. Obviously hard work and extra hands paid off. The garden was done 24 hours after the flowers were delivered! The quilt garden is a long-term commitment for the Lehman clan, and they like the challenge of changing patterns. “We’ve already picked out the pattern for next year,” says Norman.

The 2010 Quilt Gardens Tour is off to a great start! Fantastic pictures are starting to come in and I love that you can already see the patterns so clearly.

I have also posted a neat picture of the new viewing platform at Greencroft in Middlebury. This will make it very easy to get great angles for pictures.

Check out our gardens from week 1! View Photos

The Elkhart County Convention and Visitor Bureau and Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer are partnering to raise funds for breast cancer research by joining together for the 2010 Quilt Gardens Tour.

Diana Bennett, an acclaimed local fiber artist, is noted for her sensitive use of graphic lines, light, shadows and color in her original quilt art designs. Diana has broken from her usual techniques for a cause and has created a 45-inch wall hanging to benefit the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer. She’s been given exclusive use of Vera Bradley fabrics, including their special “Hope Garden” fabric, to create the piece. This original work made its debut at The Gathering of Quilters, and is now being displayed at the Elkhart County Visitor Center prior to making its rounds at Vera Bradley retailers along the Heritage Trail.

The wall hanging is part of a fundraiser for the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer.  At each Vera Bradley retailer along the Heritage Trail, you can purchase a $2 raffle ticket for a drawing to win the Interlocking Hearts Original Quilt Wall Hanging.  100 percent of the raffle goes to support the foundation.

Those retailers are

Das Dutchman Essenhaus (Middlebury) (April 24 – May 6) (Aug 9 – Aug 19 )
Cinnamon Stick (Middlebury) (July 19 – Aug 8 )
Sarah Davis (Davis Mercantile / Shipshewana) (June 4 – June 26) (Sept 6 – Sept 16)
Woldruff’s Footwear & Apparel (Goshen)  (July 1 – July 18)
West View Florist & Gifts (Elkhart) (May 21 – May 31) (Sept 17 – Sept 23)
Linton’s Enchanted Gardens (Elkhart) (May 7 – May 20) (Aug 20-Aug 31) (Sept 1 – Sept 5)

For more information about the Interlocking Hearts Quilt Wall Hanging, Dianna Bennett and the raffle, visit

http://www.amishcountry.org/Hope.Along.the.Heritage.Trail

One might assume R & R to mean rest and relaxation, however in this case you would be mistaken. Our weather seems to be signaling an early fall season.  Cool days and even cooler nights send many messages to our landscape plants.  A hormonal shift occurs and the rapid growth of summer changes to seed setting and in many species spring bud development.

In the forest leaves fall and decay over the winter months providing a rich layer of humus packed with essential nutrients, micro-organisms and organic material.  This brings me to the first “R” in the title, Rejuvenation.  Mother Nature has set a well developed plan for successful gardening in this example. Fall is the best time to add soil amendments to the garden. Especially when adding organic materials such as compost or well rotted manure which mellows over winter “Rejuvenating” the garden which may have been depleted of minerals over the long growing season. Without this critical step many sites would look like a dust bowl of days gone by being unable to sustain new growth.

The second “R” represents “Re-evaluation”. Each Quilt Garden will re-evaluate their sites based on how each plant preformed in a given location.  The savvy gardener will carefully note the success or failure of each cultivar for future consideration in their garden. In the forest this process of re-evaluation is carried out through natural selection. The plants and trees that best compete for sun and moisture will gain the privilege of inclusion in nature’s garden thus ensuring its survival as a species.

With so many choices to make about rejuvenation and re-evaluation of each Quilt Garden you can be assured there will be no rest or relaxation for the decision makers of the Quilt Garden Tour.

I last spoke of the test the gardens will go through in the extremes of our warmest summer month.  It seems that many of the gardens are showing a bit of weather stress.  The gardeners do all they can to ensure a steady bloom for a good showing but just like in our lives there are some things you just can’t plan for.  Sometimes a gardener must do their best to take what nature brings and call it a lesson.

As I toured the gardens on the northeast side of the county this weekend I saw many examples of this principal being played out.  Several gardens were showing signs of the heat stress our hot August days dole out in generous portions.  And I heard that a summer hailstorm took its toll in Wakarusa.  I noticed that the heat dealt a death knoll to the Lobelia at the Essenhaus Garden.

All gardening is an experiment due to the fluctuations in seasonal weather patterns.  However the wildcard is always the bravado of the grower.  Should you press the limits of the plant and hope the conditions will favor your endeavor?  Or will you be challenged, as so many gamblers are to stand by and learn the lessons of chance and compromise?  Maybe the plant will flourish in your microclimate and your efforts will be rewarded.  Perhaps you will learn the lessons of a resilient gardener.

Each year brings a renewed opportunity to try something different.  The treasure of a new gardening adventure each season is the prize we all work for.  Now is the time for us to take an inventory of what worked and what didn’t in our gardens.  Now is the time we gardeners dream of the spring to come.   I wonder what the Quilt Garden Tour will be like next year?

-Vickie Estep, Master Gardener

The Wakarusa Chamber has a great opportunity for someone to win a replica of their 2009 “Dancing with Leaves Quilt Mural in the form of a Queen Sized quilt! Visit their website for more info

I’ve heard it said that anyone can have a beautiful spring garden but it’s difficult to have a stellar garden in the punishing heat of August.  While that may be true in my garden it is certainly not the case for the Quilt Garden Tour.  Most of the gardens are in spectacular form thanks to the dedicated work of many local gardeners who make their Quilt Gardens a priority.  With so many flowers to tend to these Quilt Garden guardians have put in many hours of backbreaking labor.

Last week was considered to be a peak viewing time for the Quilt Garden Tour.  Many of the annuals that were planted so many months ago have now reached their optimum growth and are showing off their Sunday best blooms.  Many regional artists came to town last weekend putting brush to canvas to capture the beauty that is unique to The Quilt Garden Tour.  Dubbed the Plein-Air Paint Out this first ever outdoors art event is yet another example of the unique opportunities Elkhart County Amish Country promises to visitors.

It is amazing to me to see how many visitors have been drawn to our area by this unique garden display.  Bus tours have poured into the county in droves bringing with them much needed revenue for local shop owners.  We have seen visitors from all across the United States and even many foreign countries.  With so many new impressions to be made each day it is lucky for us that Elkhart County residents display Hoosier Hospitality in abundance.

The Vera Bradley Hope Garden Quilt is making the rounds and on display at Vera Bradley retailers throughout Amish Country.  This year’s quilt is special to the Quilt Gardens Tour. It was made by two Vera Bradley Foundation volunteers using the bright flower patterned Hope Garden fabric. And it was was donated by the Vera Bradley Foundation to help raise money for Breast Cancer Research.  It does give you a feeling of hope when you see this quilt.

You can visit anyone of the Elkhart County locations to enter a raffle win the quilt.  Raffle tickets are $2 each, and you can enter as many times as you wish.So visit the Hope Garden Quilt at its touring locations, and enter to win the raffle. It’s a gorgeous quilt, and will help a great cause.

July 9 – 22
The Cinnamon Stick
102 S. Main St.
Middlebury, IN 46540

July 22 – August 5
Linton’s Enchanted Gardens
315 County Road 17
Elkhart, IN 46516

August 6 – 8
Das Dutchman Essenhaus
Essenhaus Quilt Show
240 US 20
Middlebury, IN 46540

August 11 – 25
Woldruff’s Footwear
129 S. Main
Goshen, IN 46526

August 26 – September 8
West View Florist
1717 Cassopolis St.
Elkhart, IN 46514

September 9 – 16
Linton’s Enchanted Gardens
315 County Road 17
Elkhart, IN 46516

The drawing will be held on Friday, September 18 at the Davis Mercantile Theatre in Shipshewana, IN.  If you collect Vera Bradley, this would be a beautiful addition to your collection.  Let me know if you’ve seen the Hope Garden Quilt and tell me what you thought of it.