Courtesy photo Seven Escanaba area gardens will be open to patrons of the annual “Gardens in Bloom” garden walk on Sunday, July 21. Gardens include two large country gardens, three small city gardens, a Lake Shore Drive garden, and a lakeside garden. Patrons can visit the gardens in any order.

ESCANABA — Seven Escanaba area gardens will be open to patrons of the annual “Gardens in Bloom” garden walk on Sunday, July 21. The walk begins at 1 p.m. and concludes at 4 p.m.

Gardens include two large country gardens, three small city gardens, a Lake Shore Drive garden, and a lakeside garden. Patrons can visit the gardens in any order.

The front yard of the Danforth Road garden suggests nothing of the whimsical artwork and colorful flower beds behind the deer-proof fence. The garden is enhanced with tools, hardware, and driftwood reimagined as garden sculpture. Even functional elements like the clothesline and the potting area are canvases for the creative couple.

The second country garden is in reality several gardens: a wildflower and native plant cutting garden, a vegetable garden (claimed by a territorial wren), and an area for socializing and relaxing. A mowed path winds through the part of the five-acre site that is not kept mown.

Each of the three city gardens achieves privacy, beauty and function in small spaces. A garden next to the fairgrounds, one of the most public places in Delta County, features a long, gracefully curved flower bed with a white fence as a backdrop. A southside garden with a slight elevation is hardly noticeable from the street corner on which it is located. Another southside garden announces itself with brightly colored flowers and beds on the street side. Pots of annuals are moved around as color spots are needed. The back garden is lush, private, and inviting.

The Lake Shore Drive garden, only a few years old, is the creation of an ambitious and expert gardener. Behind the house, she has created areas for dining and conversation with the placement of garden ornaments and plantings. The flower beds at the front and sides of the home, located on a corner lot, contribute to the appeal of the historic home.

Tickets, which includes a map, are available at Gust Asp’s, Pam’s Posies, and Wickert Floral in Escanaba, and at Trotter’s Floral and Frame Farm in Gladstone. Cost is $10. Tickets may be purchased at Gust Asp’s the day of the tour and at each garden.

Bay de Noc Gardeners, Delta County Master Gardener Association, and MSU Extension sponsor the walk, which benefits local projects, including the roundabout, the plantings at the municipal dock, and the heritage garden in Ludington Park. They also organize the annual spring Bay de Noc Gardening Conference, which is held at Bay College in April.

For more information about the garden walk, call 906-399-3237.