Hennepin County Master Gardener Tour Takes Place July 8

When Allen Sommerfeld and his husband, Max, bought their home in New Hope a few years ago, the back yard was nothing special.

“There was a row of shrubs along the back fence. There was an ash tree over on the other side,” said Sommerfeld. “I looked at it as kind of a blank slate.”

These days, the transformed back yard is a showcase of every conceivable shade of green, as Sommerfeld’s garden features a wide variety of hostas and other plants.

This year’s Hennepin County Master Gardener Learning Tour will feature this home in New Hope.

“I don’t get a lot of the showy, flowery plants that you would if you got a lot of sun in your yard, so when I was planning this out, it was about heights, leaf size, leaf texture, leaf colors and really playing off that to really make this space unique to have different interests around the garden,” he said.

Sommerfeld is part of Hennepin County’s Master Gardener program, which is part of the University of Minnesota Extension Office. Each master gardener keeps his or her certification with a certain number of volunteer and continuing education hours each year. Sommerfeld first started with it in 2020.

“Everybody is very encouraging and it’s about getting ideas, about sharing information, and it’s just about having a good time, because we all love to garden,” he said.

For the first, time, his home is part of the Learning Garden Tour on Saturday, July 8.

“We, as master gardeners, take our research-based information that we have and really try to educate the public about horticulture,” he said. “We really want to make our communities better because of that.”

Nine locations–eight private homes and one communal garden in Minneapolis–are part of this year’s tour. There are still tickets available.

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