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PHOTO GALLERY: Historical gardens in Summerland re-open

The Ornamental Gardens plant sale will be online again this May

After being closed for more than a year, the Ornamental Gardens in Summerland have re-opened to the public.

The historic gardens opened April 15 and will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Entry is by donation.

The popular gardens were shut down for COVID-19 precautions, leaving no one to tend to the gardens until July when they were opened to volunteers only.

The annual plant sale, taking place this year from May 1 to 10, will be online again. Customers can purchase vegetables, perennials, drought resistant plants and more. To see the full list of plants for sale go to the website www.summerlandgardens.org. This is the major fundraiser for upkeep of the gardens.

The gardens, which are over 100 years old, are six hectares (15 acres) in size and feature a various amount of plants, trees and grasses with views to the Trout Creek trestle and creek below.

Summerland Ornamental Gardens were originally part of the Dominion Experimental Farm, established in 1914 to demonstrate successful ways of farming and gardening in the dry Okanagan climate.

For more than a quarter-century, Friends of the Ornamental Gardens volunteers have planted, weeded, offered workshops and given tours, providing to locals and visitors an opportunity to discover the natural world, learn how to garden in it, and enjoy the serene beauty that the Gardens provide.

In July 2020, the grounds were opened to the Friends of the Gardens Society members so they could resume maintenance and care for the neglected site.

READ MORE: Plant sale goes online for COVID-19 safety

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Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the Langley Advance Times.
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