This year's Romeo Garden Walk is happening on Saturday, July 18 from 11am to 4pm. The Romeo & Juliet Garden Club has put on this event since 2022, yet it has lasted much longer than that.
It originally began in 1995 when the Friends of the Romeo District Library (RDL) sponsored an annual garden walk around the Romeo area. The tour consisted of private and public gardens that people could walk through and inquire about tips on improving their own gardening. Owners of individual gardens were available to answer questions from the garden walk participants. At the time, these walks were the biggest fundraisers of the year for the Friends of the RDL. Proceeds went to various projects that supported community libraries. For an overall history of the Romeo Garden Walk, check out our article about it from April 2025.
In its second year in 1996, seven private homes plus the Starkweather House (now the Starkweather Arts Center) and the St. Clement of Rome Catholic Church participated. The Friends also held a Marketplace in the Masonic Temple on North Main Street, and the Starkweather Society staged "A Garden Party Flower & Art Show" in Starkweather Alley in the middle in the same area. In addition, master gardeners were on hand to answer questions from the attendees at the former.
Each year, The Romeo Observer would feature these gardens on the front page of the first and second sections of its issue. This was no different in 1996. Karen Hamilton took several pictures of these gardens for an article written by Michelle Tanguay that appeared in the August 7, 1996 edition, but only one of each made it into the story. One of the rejects is seen above. It shows Molly Edwards, 3, and her sister Kelly, 5, looking at what appears to be some daylilies in the family garden on Prospect Street.
Tanguay gave plenty of attention to the Edwards garden in her article, citing it as a true family garden. Mother Cheryl Edwards spent eight hours per week on the garden in the spring, so the family could enjoy it with minimal work in the summer. It contained perennials, roses, hostas, and annuals.
She even created small paths throughout the garden allowing guests and family - husband Matt, Kelly, Molly, and Bailey, 1, - to wander through and enjoy the beauty. Many of the extra photos of this garden, which we have in our Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection, show Kelly and Molly doing just that, and you can see one of the pathways in the picture above.
Cheryl explained, "That's what the kids like...They can walk through it and their friends can walk through it."
In addition, for her third birthday, Molly asked for a batch of ladybugs for the garden. She received over 1,500 of them, which were released into the family garden to get rid off unwanted bugs. Having that kind of input at that age shows how much the Edwards family truly invested in their garden.
It'll be fun to see which gardens will be on the walk this year. Have fun!
To learn more about the Romeo Garden Walk and the Romeo & Juliet Garden Club, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890 to check out the Romeo & Juliet Garden Club and the Romeo District Library Collections. If you want to search for articles on that topic, you can find the Romeo newspapers like The Romeo Observer on the Suburban Library Cooperative's Local History Digital Collection website.
Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection, The Romeo Observer, August 7, 1996, p.1-A and p.1-B