See Mah and more on Midtown Garden Tour

Holly Whitman's garden at 28th and F is part of the Midtown Garden Tour. 

(Photo courtesy GardentheGrid.com)

Tour spotlights gardens on Sacramento's Grid as well as a local legend

Midtown Sacramento is growing in more ways than one.

See for yourself during the second Midtown Garden Tour.

Set for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 27, this tour features 15 unique private gardens spread out over midtown and downtown Sacramento.

“(It’s) midtown gardens and friends,” said Holly Whitman, one of the tour’s organizers. “We opened the tour to anyone who gardens the Grid, not just midtown.”

Whitman’s own garden at F and 28th streets will be featured on the tour. Three years ago, the site was an empty lot. Now, it’s packed with edible as well as ornamental plants.

Tickets ($10) are available at GardentheGrid.com, the tour’s website. On tour day, get tickets at New Era Community Garden, 204 26th St., Sacramento. Proceeds benefit the Alchemist Community Development Corporation, a local non-profit focused on food access.

In Daisy Mah's garden, a pond of pitcher plants is surrounded by succulents.

(Photo: Debbie Arrington)

Highlighting the tour again will be the private garden of Daisy Mah, a Sacramento legend. A longtime city parks employee, Mah is best known for her work at the WPA Rock Garden in William Land Park. Her backyard is packed with perennials and pollinator favorites. (Don’t miss her ponds dedicated to carnivorous plants!)

Several gardens are devoted to food production. Backyard chickens (and custom coops) will be spotlighted. So will backyard beehives.

A map of the homes as well as photos and descriptions are now available online.

Details: www.gardenthegrid.com.

-- Debbie Arrington