After nearly a quarter century, the Vallejo Garden Tour is still blooming.
The Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum will be the starting host venue for Sunday’s 23rd annual Vallejo Garden Tour, which will see eight gardens spread throughout the city. Tickets for the event are $40 for the museum’s main fundraiser for the year. The event lasts from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Museum executive director Trevor Allen has been helping organize the event for eight years himself and said that he loves how much of a community event the tour is.
“It started as a bunch of people who knew other people who had a love for gardens, and it just snowballed from there,” Allen said. “It might seem like gardens drift from the museum’s mission by going into gardening and landscaping, but it’s become a historic tour. So all these people have opened up their backyards to help raise money for the museum. I love where the tour has gone and how it’s always changing and evolving to become what it is today.”
Guests will meet on Sunday at 10 a.m. at the museum to pick up their map of where all the gardens are. Just buying a ticket online will not give you the locations of the gardens.
From the museum, people are free to choose what order they visit all the gardens, but Allen does advise carpooling when necessary, since some of the gardens are in residential areas where parking could possibly be difficult.
“I love how the tour represents diversity,” Allen said. “Geographically, the venues are all over Vallejo.”
Due to privacy issues, the only locations Allen could reveal on the tour are the Mare Island Admirals Mansion, Banana Beat Farms, and the Unity Garden across the street from the cemetery on Sacramento Street. Each garden will have its own distinct vibe.
“Every garden has something to offer for everyone,” Allen said. “The homeowners will be there to offer guidance, but at some locations, the Solano Master Gardeners will be at the venue as well. The places are quite whimsical, and in the past, you would also have a string quartet or a band playing in the backyard in the background.”
Allen also tried to make it quite clear that the day does not serve as a competition between the gardens, even though he knows visitors will have their favorites.
“There are no awards, and we don’t like one better than the other. It’s all apples and oranges,” Allen said. “Some have amazing views, and some don’t. But we do have people coming back each year and discussing their favorites. But it’s not a negative thing. Each and every garden is there for a reason. And it becomes this fun thing to do where people meet up at the end of the day and discuss whether or not they were able to go to all the venues. It becomes a source of pride to be able to say you made all eight places.”
Allen gave credit to many organizations and people who made the event happen. He mentioned the Mare Island Historical Park Foundation, the Vallejo Project, and the Solano Master Gardeners. He also praised individuals such as Ward Stewart and author Darrell Schramn, who each help pick out the gardens each year. Woody Shiflett, Kimberly Nunez-Brandao, Mary Kuykendall, and curator Paul Goodrum have all been vital factors for the event.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to help fundraise for the museum and be out in the community,” Allen said.
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