The time has come when garden clubs throughout the area convince members to put their gardens on public display for the good of the club.

Most garden clubs use garden walk fundraisers as a means for financing the beautification of local parks, town squares or to pay for programs offered to the public.

Claudia Pellar and Barbara Whitaker are co-chairs for the Munster Garden Club's garden walk June 26 and 27.

The club was founded in 1954 and has monthly meetings, except for January.

"We have programs about landscaping, birds, plant problems, garden design, critter problems, container gardening, making your yard a wildlife refuge and we visit local gardens," said Jayne Glass, Munster Garden Club's ways and means chairwoman. "We plant and maintain gardens at the Munster Library and around the gazebo at the Humane Society. We stimulate knowledge and love of gardening."

Glass said donations benefit evening summer gardening programs at the Munster Library, Haven House, tray favors for a local nursing home, state scholarship fund, Friends of the Theater, NWI Symphony, Humane Society, Greater Hammond Community Services, Salvation Army, Save the Dunes, Schererville Library, NW Community Concerts, Garden Club of Indiana, Dunes Learning Center, Habitat for Humanity, and Taltree Arboretum.

Terry Smutniak, of the Lowell Garden Club, said one of the highlighted gardens on the club's walk will be that of Steve and Chris Vestal.

Smutniak praised the garden. The Vestal's unique wooded topography is a primary attraction, she said, but it also presents challenges for the homeowners. The steep ravines have become a mix of ground covers and perennials and they've created stone walls, steps and bridges to enhance the different elevations.

A vegetable garden in the front yard is unusual, but creativity and an open mind are key to successful gardening. The sunny area of heavy clay soil was amended for years with manure and compost to produce an organic garden of vegetables and flowers. It is now enclosed with custom iron fencing, and arbors projecting a more formal feel.

Stone patios and fountains, copper features and lighting, iron railings and gates are best described as simply artwork. The unique bird houses and feeders turn the perennial and herb gardens into a bird paradise.

So put on your walking shoes and don't forget a camera to "borrow" great gardening ideas and visit the wonderful gardens in the area this summer.