Keep Stephenville Beautiful’s 7th annual Garden Tour offers interesting options

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STEPHENVILLE (May 31, 2017) — The seven garden options included on the 7th annual Keep Stephenville Beautiful Garden Tour are both eclectic and unique and will be open to the public on Saturday, June 3, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Keep Stephenville Beautiful (KSB), along with the participating homeowners on this year’s tour, will offer beautiful gardens that might give visitors ideas for their own gardens and an opportunity to see new gardens and landscaping, as well as established gardens.

Tickets can be purchased before the tour at Scott’s Flowers or The Stephenville Chamber of Commerce, or from any KSB board member. Tickets can also be purchased on the day of the tour at any of the homes included along the tour. Tickets are $10 each.

The gardens represent several areas of Stephenville. For example, at Pam and Mark Littleton’s house at 105 Greenbriar Road, the back yard is a natural extension of the home. Focal points of the yard are water features—a play pool with beach entry, and water garden that is home to several fish, frogs and turtles. There are numerous sitting areas accented with a variety of plants mostly native to Texas. The outdoor kitchen and large patio are perfect for entertaining. A newly added greenhouse complements the vegetable garden and will allow the propagation of plants before the growing season.

The home of Pattie Crosby at 1510 Pecan Hill Drives is expansive, sitting on two acres in Pecan Hill Estates. The home is located at the edge of Pattie’s beloved hometown and is landscaped to complement the style of her California contemporary home. The front portico is framed by Italian Cypress trees and boxwoods extending the length of the home and circular driveway. A rock garden with crepe myrtles has recently been added. The heart of this estate is the swimming pool with fountains and a spa which can be viewed and enjoyed from a 1200 square foot lanai also overlooking the children’s playground. This alluring environment promotes family fun and relaxation.

Sena and Mike Leese enjoy their home at 1155 Walking Horse Drive with a backyard overlooking the almost century old Frazier Ranch. Sena and Mike love sitting on the back porch watching birds nesting, feeding and bathing, an occasional roadrunner, numerous cardinals and a rabbit here and there. Choices of fruit trees and many different flowers reflect Mike’s growing up in Johnson City with his Granddaddy Klappenbach. The sloping back yard is accented with a stone retaining wall and picnic table. A little bit of Colorado is reflected in an aspen tree, a blue spruce, and a large bed of columbines. Later spring flowers include roses, crape myrtles, hibiscus, and numerous bedding plants, both perennials and annuals. The front yard features a second retaining wall, live oaks, knockout roses, snapdragons and petunias.

Debbie and Jimmy Jackson’s house at 260 Bridal Path Drive has a Tif 419 sodded yard front and back with Tif Grand hybrid Bermuda in the areas shaded by Post Oak Trees. There are also rock beds in the shady areas using sandstone pavers and different colors of river rock. Within beds, are drought tolerant plants such as Lantana, Texas Sage, and Black Diamond Crape Myrtles. For added color within the backyard, they planted knock out roses, petunias, and potted geraniums and begonias.

The Trogdon House on Military Drive sits in the heart of Tarleton State University’s campus since 1923. The house was constructed primarily by student labor at an original cost of $8000. The exterior walls are approximately 18 inches thick and are a combination of wood studs, native rock, and several layers of concrete plaster. Tarleton State University maintains beautiful landscaping across the campus and the landscaping around the Trogdon is especially beautiful.

The Habitat House at 806 Cox Street is being dedicated on Tuesday, May 30. Keep Stephenville Beautiful has recently formed a partnership with Habitat for Humanity and will help in planting the landscaping. This is a newly landscaped yard and was done with the help of Keep Stephenville Beautiful, the Master Gardeners of Erath County and Tarleton State University students from the Horticulture Department under the direction of Manon Shockey. This is a great example of how the money donated to Keep Stephenville Beautiful is being put to use in our community. The Plant Place at Ace Hardware donated many of the plants.

The Hydrotron at the Tarleton State University Ag Farm is a greenhouse that has an aquaponics system and several hydroponics systems. The aquaponics system has a 1750 gallon tank with 400 Mozambique tilapia, a 350 gallon tank with 100 channel catfish and a 50 gallon tank with 100 tilapia fingerings. Solid waste filtered from the fish tanks is used to nourish 400 fresh water tiger pawns in a 950 gallon tank. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and strawberries are grown in coco fiber (without soil) in hydroponics systems. Strawberries are grown in vertical towers. Herbs in hanging baskets are fertilized with fish water. Outside the hydrotron are several composters and a media-based aquaponics system built by students.

The Garden Tour, along with the membership drive, are the two fund-raising activities sponsored by Keep Stephenville Beautiful every year. Funds raised all go back into efforts to beautify Stephenville and provide welcoming vistas for visitors.  The board appreciates that people in Stephenville and the surrounding area attend this event every year.


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