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ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Water Garden Society will host their annual Pond-O-Rama tour.
From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 22 and 23, 2024, attendees can tour 24 gardens throughout Illinois and the St. Louis metro area. Ginny Mueller, a representative with the St. Louis Water Garden Society (SLWGS), explained that the goal of the tour is to share local gardens with the community.
“Everybody works hard to make their gardens look wonderful, and they want to share that,” she said. “It’s a great time for people to just stroll around and get ideas.”
Members of SLWGS open up their personal homes and gardens for the tour. Tickets cost $20 for both days, and people can tour 12 gardens on Saturday and the remaining 12 gardens on Sunday.
While many of the people who take the Pond-O-Rama tour are gardeners themselves, there are also quite a few who just enjoy the experience. People from around the Midwest will travel to St. Louis to participate in Pond-O-Rama.
Mueller noted that this is the 34th year of SLWGS and the 24th year of Pond-O-Rama. This long tradition aims to share the joys of gardens and water features.
“So many of our hosts are master gardeners,” Mueller said. “Some people have natives, some people have traditional, everybody has something different. And I think that even if people aren't looking to build a pond, it just gives you so many ideas with plants.”
Unlike other home and garden tours, Pond-O-Rama is solely focused on the experience of the tour. The organizers want people to come out, enjoy the gardens and ask questions of the hosts. The goal is to learn and have fun, Mueller said.
“Our hosts are always welcoming, and I think that’s what makes this tour fun,” she added. “We’re not selling anything. It’s really a community event.”
Pond-O-Rama also encourages more people to join SLWGS, and Mueller hopes to see a spike in membership. SLWGS meets on the third Tuesday of the month in the Kirkland Community Center, and a membership costs $15.
Mueller expects to sell 900 tickets to this year's Pond-O-Rama. She noted that you can buy tickets online or stop by one of the many retailers in the St. Louis area that are selling tickets. Visit the official Pond-O-Rama webpage to find these retailers and learn more information about the event. Check out SLWGS.org for more information about the St. Louis Water Garden Society.
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