This house will be featured on the Venice Area Garden Club's home tour March 6-7 (Photo provided)
By SHELBY WEBB, staff writer
VENICE — Mary Lou Levy remembers volunteering at the first Venice Area Garden Club Home Tour in 1989.
Back then, Levy said, only five homes were showcased to fewer than 300 people.
Friday and Saturday, the club will celebrate its 25th annual tour, and expects to attract nearly 1,000 visitors to its six showcased homes in Venice and Nokomis.
This house will be featured on the Venice Area Garden Club's home tour March 6-7. (Photo provided)
Levy, who is coordinating the tour, said the $20 from each ticket sold will go directly to the club’s charitable donation fund, which provides scholarships for Venice High School seniors and pays to maintain several gardens throughout the Venice area.
“We get homes with something about them that shows the lifestyle of people here in Venice,” Levy said. “It doesn’t need to be the prettiest house on the block, but something needs to attract it to us.”
She said she has rarely had anyone turn down a request to feature their home on the tour and has even had to turn several homeowners away after the tour reached its capacity.
Louisa Haug, who lives at the tour’s fifth stop off of Nassau Street on the Island of Venice, said she was surprised when a group of well-dressed women showed up at her front door.
“The first thing they said is ‘We’re not trying to sell you anything,’” Haug said, “but we’re with the gardening love and we’ve been admiring your garden.”
Haug, whose husband Toby has welded several metal wading birds and palm trees throughout her well-manicured garden, said she was flattered when the women asked to feature her garden on the tour.
She said she has been on the tour almost every year since she moved to Venice 11 years ago, but never saw a garden that drew attention quite like hers.
“Let’s face it, most people in Florida have a gardener,” Haug said, adding she and her husband planted and cultivated the garden by themselves. “It’s nice to have recognition. We’re not professionals, but people are coming around saying ‘you’ve done a good job.’ ”
ABOUT THE TOUR
What: Venice Area Garden Club’s 25th Annual Home Tour
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today (Friday) and Saturday
Tickets:
• Cardware - US Post Office, Venice Pines, 1224 Jacaranda Blvd, Venice (493-8636)
• Classic Creations in Diamonds & Gold - 2389 Tamiami Trail South, Venice (497-6331)
• Collectors Gallery & Framery - 114 S. Nokomis Avenue, Venice (488-3029)
• Kerri’s Jewels & Gems - 132 W. Miami Avenue, Venice (484-9197)
• The Knitting Place - 258 W. Miami Avenue ((Pattison Bldg), Venice (486-1584)
• Celebration Corners - 301 West Venice Avenue, Venice (488-8300)
• Village Pharmacy of Nokomis - 1095 Tamiami Trail, Nokomis (488-8800)
Homes:
• “Southern Pines”: Julie and Robert White, 2131 Micanopy Trail, Nokomis
• “Le Bougain Villa”: Doug Winn and Del Bradshaw, 2004 Tocobaga Lane, Nokomis
• “Cottage by the Sea”: Josette Aramini and David Hadley, 608 Poinsetta Drive, Venice.
• “On the Wings of Love”: Genice and Jack Sullivan, 256 Pensacola Road, Venice.
• “Louisa’s Enchanted Garden”: Louisa and Toby Haug, 301 Nassau Street, Venice.
• “Gulf Breezes”: Liz Wyman and Greg Merrithew, 733 Appalachicola, Venice.
