OSU High Desert Garden Tour July 20

Five beautiful home gardens in Powell Butte will be showcased during the High Desert Garden Tour Saturday, July 20. Those taking part in the tour can learn how to have the best possible landscape in the challenging Central Oregon environment.

Surrounded by five rhyolitic buttes that are part of the Crooked River caldera. Powell Butte features rocky ground, dry, hot days, whipping afternoon winds and cold nights make gardening here challenging. With a population nearing 3,500 and sitting at 3,117 feet in elevation, the Powell Butte region boasts “Good Crops, Good Stock and Good Neighbors.”

The High Desert Garden Tour, sponsored by OSU Extension, offers a wide variety of garden styles. The intent of the tours is to be educational and inspire individuals with ideas on what to plant, how to plant, provide different types of irrigation, and display different gardening styles.

Generous gardeners open their gardens to the community. This year’s tour features water wise, fire-wise, native plantings, country style, fine design and amazing vegetable gardens displaying multiple types of season extension.

The self-guided tour is Saturday, July 20 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 (kids under 18 are free) and can be purchased at https://beav.es/pfj.

Tickets come with a map, address, and description of each garden. Patrons can also pick up hard copies in the Extension office sites with proof of online purchase before the day of the garden tour event at any of the sites.

Proceeds from the garden tour support the Horticulture program of the OSU Extension-Deschutes.

This is the 29th Annual High Desert Garden Tour. Past tours have included locations in Bend, Tumalo, Redmond, Prineville, Powell Butte, Madras and Culver. This popular tour attracts hundreds of people with last year’s tour exceeding 600 people.

An OSU Master Gardener volunteer will be stationed at each stop to answer questions about best plant choices, conservation and water wise gardening, as well as vegetable and fruit growing.