GreenUtica Garden Tour

The GreenUtica Garden Tour, presented by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, is a walking/driving tour of home gardens in Utica on Saturday, August 10 from 10am to 3pm. Attendees pick up maps at the GreenUtica office at 1641 Genesee Street Utica starting at 9:30 and can start the tour there or in the location of their choice. Typically, people will drive to a location, walk to the neighborhood tour stops, then drive to another neighborhood. Our founder, Mischael McKenna, was inspired by the Buffalo Garden Walk and wanted to have a similar event in Utica. We will have a variety of gardens on the tour. We will categorize the tour map by flower garden, vegetable garden, container garden, or notable trees/landscaping. This will allow our tour goers to customize their tour experience.

Our short-term goal is to celebrate the art of gardening while creating enthusiasm for the hobby. Our longer-term goal is to teach people how to garden, beautify our city, attract tourism, and increase civic pride-all resulting in enhancing quality of life in Utica. We believe in the mental and physical benefits of gardening, the benefits of growing trees, flowers, and one's own food, and the positive impact that gardening has on our environment. Now in its fourth year, and we are building on the success of the past 3 years with a goal of increasing our garden tour stops.

GreenUtica, the host of the event, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with a mission of creating programs and events that enable us to lead the preservation and beautification of Utica's parks and natural environment. We have a 20-year history of preserving and maintaining parks in Utica, planting and maintaining the flowers on the Memorial Parkway, and planting trees.

For more information or to add your home garden in Utica to the tour, contact gpearce@greenutica.org.

Category: Community | Gardening / Horticultural