A cool wet spring blended into plenty of July summer sunshine to produce a lush growth of bright flowers, shrubs and trees for the Rapid City Garden Walk this Sunday, July 13.

The event this year features five private gardens - one more than last year. A reception for all ticket holders will be at Storybook Island beginning at 3:30 p.m. Children are welcome to view the gardens and attend the reception with their parents. Tickets for everyone (adults and children) are $5 each. Participants are encouraged to provide their own umbrellas, sun hats, sunscreen, comfortable shoes and water.

Public restrooms are available at the reception. Dog owners are asked to leave their pets at home. The afternoon tour of gardens is sponsored by the Pennington County Master Gardeners, the Rapid City Garden Club and The Journey Museum.

Country garden

Beth and Bob Audette of 1929 Evergreen Drive have inherited a country garden on Rapid City's west side. While the front lawn looks expansive and green, it is the backyard that is the main focus of the tour.

Walk up the drive and take a right turn at the back of the house. Flowers, vines and shrubs create a perfect getaway from the stresses of the day.

"Coming back here, we consider this our daily vacation," Beth Audette said of her small garden.

They bought the house last fall. With continuous blooming of flowers, the couple is now in the midst of discovering what plants are going to be in bloom for the tour.

"We inherited it and we had absolutely no idea what we've got," she said.

The garden boasts a small fountain and a meandering walk with garden accents of birdhouses, lanterns and other art. Small but tidy and rich in a profusion of color, the variety of flowers is sure to please and inspire.

"It changes every two weeks," Audette said of the garden.

A tiny treasure

Walk across the driveway to 3430 Cottonwood St., and neighbor Mary Lou Paulson will open her yard gate to a compact backyard that shares space with an elegant gazebo, fun work shed and a precious fairy alcove. Birdhouse condos that any bird would be proud to call home line the fence. Along with her tomatoes, corn and rhubarb are 25 varieties of herbs that share space with peonies, irises and other flowers.

"Marilyn Jacks (a Rapid City gardener) was my inspiration for my tiny garden. I saw what she did at her home and thought I surely could do this in my garden," Paulson said.

As her herbs and flowers mature, she wants the precision of the plantings to go away and become a little more blurred in their borders.

"I want it to grow into the English cottage variety," she said with a laugh.

The Paulson and Audette gardens are some of the best-kept secrets in their neighborhood - unexpected, yet beautiful, she said.

"No one knows these gardens are here," Paulson added.

A garden reborn

Maggie Bloom's garden at 4370 Reservoir Road already has been the setting for a romantic summer rehearsal wedding dinner. An older garden, its copse of cottonwood trees forms a canopy of cool shade and a perfect accent for flowers.

When the family first bought the property, it exuded potential. Along its manicured lawns, Bloom has since developed several areas from problematic spots into points of interest and beauty.

"A huge bed originated in a sunken area," she said.

For its makeover, she had the area filled with manure and topsoil, planting wildflowers that bloomed for several years before they slowly began to die as weeds began to thrive. Bloom quickly planted perennials. The area now has evolved into a bed of beautiful lilies.

An abandoned pond with the remains of a black plastic water barrier has been replanted with water irises that were in full bloom the first week of July and may have some blossoms left for the garden tour. The garden also boasts several flower beds around trees, lilac bushes, an iris bed next to a shelter belt and a berm in the front yard.

"You're going to see a lot," Bloom said.

Vegetables galore

In 1999, Mary and Mike Trykoski at 4208 Westview Estates Drive had plenty to do to their Carriage Hills property to create its flower and vegetable gardens.

"The soil was like gumbo," Mary Trykoski recalls.

For several summers, they worked primarily on amending the soil, cultivating the red clay with compost, new soils and sands. It worked, and since then, the flowers have thrived in a beautiful setting.

While they love perennials, the Trykoskis also have an impressive vegetable garden. They have cultivated a carrot cake garden grown exclusively for carrot cake and carrot soup.

The gardens stretch into the backyard, driveway and the lower area. In late June, a week of late-night, early-morning thunder bursts delivered pounding rain and hail. Mary Trykoski said they had regularly rushed out into the dark to cover their vulnerable vegetables.

"The plants are getting a little tall for the pots we have covering them," she said.

While the bibb lettuce, romaine lettuce, celery, broccoli, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, beets and spinach continue to grow and thrive in the cool weather and nightly onslaught of pelting pea-size hail, other plants have not faired as well.

"The tomatoes have been replaced twice already," she said.

What keeps this couple springing from sleep in the middle of the night to wrap vegetables in tarps, pots and shrouds? They are canners. Each fall, they harvest their lush garden of vegetables and fruits and capture the robust flavor in can after can. Opened in the middle of a blizzard, it's like revisiting their summer garden all over again.

"I taught my husband how to do canned pickles and he does a really good job now," Mary Trykoski said.

Stately waterfall

Monica Bower-Brink's garden at 3415 Broadmoor Drive shows what can be done when living on a hillside. Across the property are aspens, pine trees, hawthorns, Oriental maple trees, irises, water plants, day lilies, forest lilies, wild roses, roses, wild irises with ornamental grasses and more.

"There are lilacs for my mother (the late Marge Bridge) and rhubarb, raspberries and chokecherry trees in memory of my father (the late Bob Bridge), who loved for me to make jams and jellies," she said.

She and her family cleared the land, built their road and saw potential for some unique landscaping opportunities.

"It's a hillside garden that dictated a waterfall the minute we saw it," she said.

The massive waterfall incorporates 100,000 tons of rock into its structure that empties into four large ponds with water plants. Two staircases, one drystacked with flowers stacked around it, lead to the top of the waterfall. A fire pit also provides a natural setting to enjoy the waterfall, as does an outdoor patio.

"Because of all of the rock, we have our own ecosystem going here," she said.

While most gardeners are two weeks behind because of cool spring weather, Bower-Brink is about three weeks ahead in the growing season in the rock garden.

"The rock formation keeps everything warm," she said.

It also has provided a showcase for plenty of wildlife, including squirrels, chipmunks, turkeys, deer, a woodchuck, wild doves, pigeons, Canada black crows, a nest of owls, fox, coyote, a bobcat, eagles, hawks and a mountain lion that hasn't been seen for three years.

"It's kind of fun to see what comes and goes," she said of her backyard menagerie.

If you go

What: Rapid City Garden Walk

When: Sunday, July 13. Gardens will be open for viewing from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Admission: Tickets are $5 per person, and will be available only at the garden sites the afternoon of the Garden Walk. Gardens may be viewed in any order. The featured gardens are 4370 Reservoir Road, 4208 Westview Estates Drive, 3415 Broadmoor Drive, 3430 Cottonwood St. and 1929 Evergreen Drive.

A reception with refreshments and entertainment will be from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Storybook Island.