Mid-Summer Garden Tour to Showcase Habitat-Friendly Landscapes in State College

Registration is now open for the Centre Region’s first Growing Greener Garden Tour, a one-day event designed to showcase habitat-friendly landscaping practices. The event will take place in the yards of four residences in the State College area on Saturday, July 30, from 12:00 pm-3:00 pm. The tour is free, but registration is required and limited to 60 participants. To learn more, visit: https://bit.ly/habitat-tour.

“Residential landowners can help offset widespread habitat loss by providing habitat critical to birds, pollinators, and other wildlife through the use of native plants and sustainable management practices,” said Kristen Devlin, who is leading the planning of the tour. “My hope is that through access to local examples and conversations with this year’s garden hosts, participants will be inspired and empowered to adopt this approach to landscaping in their own yards.”

The gardens on this year’s tour were selected to provide examples of habitat-friendly landscaping in a variety of contexts, from relatively new installations to a 20+ year work in progress.

“Each of the gardens reflects the unique style of the gardeners who tend them, and demonstrates how beautiful this approach to landscaping can be,” said Devlin. “I’m so grateful to this year’s garden hosts, who have graciously volunteered to open their yards and to share their experience, knowledge, and enthusiasm with tour participants.”

The tour is a service project of the Pennsylvania Master Naturalist program, a partnership initiative that connects people with their local ecosystems through intensive natural science training and local conservation service work. As a Master Naturalist trainee, Devlin is planning the tour in partnership with ClearWater Conservancy, Pennsylvania Native Plant Society and Sustainable Centre Region.