Michael Hunt removes dead petals in his garden at his home in Cranberry Township on Tuesday, June 18. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Some of the most vibrant and impressive gardens in Western Pennsylvania will be on display on Saturday, June 29, during the Southern Butler County Garden Club’s 16th Annual Garden Tour. Participants will tour five of the most spectacular residential gardens located in or around Cranberry Township.

Club president Karen Faust said the process of choosing gardens to showcase in the tour begins nearly a year in advance.

“We need to know by fall who’s going on next year. There's no point in going and seeing somebody's garden in January,” Faust said. “People who come this year might say, ‘Oh, you've got to see my neighbor’s garden.’ And we take names and addresses and then we go preview them.”

The annual tour is the SBCGC’s only fundraising event each year, and the club raises money primarily through selling raffle tickets at the welcome center where guests first gather before setting off on the tour.

The funds from this event finance the club’s various horticulture projects throughout the year. Since they were established in 1998 as the Seven Fields Garden Club, the SBCGC has left their mark all over the county with their green thumb.

“One of our big projects is the Graham Park garden,” Faust said. “It's a community garden anybody can see. We've been doing that and it's an award-winning garden, and we have signage there describing plants and pollinators.”

Other projects the SBCGC has embarked upon include a “serenity garden” for the Victim Outreach Intervention Center in Butler, and maintaining the garden at the Mars Public Library.

One of the participating gardeners in this year’s tour, Michael Hunt of Cranberry, is a repeat participant, having previously taken part more than a decade ago.

Hunt says that since then, much has changed in his garden on Hampshire Drive, which he says attracts much attention from his neighbors.

“I think I was asked (to participate) because some people in the garden club noticed there has been a big change since the last time, and everything's completely different,” Hunt said. “Seventy-something trees were planted in the back. It’s very secluded and it’s a big change.”

This year, repeat visitors should be advised that registration will take place at the Seven Fields Community Center on Castle Creek Drive in Seven Fields. Once there, guests will receive a packet of the names and addresses of the gardeners who are on display. To prevent traffic jams, different groups of guests will be handed different packets.

“We have three sets of driving instructions,” Faust said. “So a third of the people start at one place, a third start in another place, and a third start at a different place. But they all get to see all five gardens.”

Tickets are still available for the garden tour, and can be purchased ahead of time by mailing a $20 check to the address listed on the SBCGC’s website. Guests can also purchase tickets on the day of the event at the Seven Fields welcome center, for $25 each.

Michael Hunt sits in his garden at his home in Cranberry Township on Tuesday, June 18. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Michael Hunt removes dead petals in his garden at his home in Cranberry Township on Tuesday, June 18. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle