Garden 1 | 2828 PEMBERTON
I wasn’t sure what we had gotten into when we signed up for the Old Orchard Garden Tour, but I have enjoyed the garden tour many times and felt it could be our turn to give back to the neighborhood. So many of the homes on the tour are beautifully landscaped and decorated, ours is more of a mullet. You know, business in the front and party in the back. Many a team party was hosted on our deck. We honor those who have served in the military with a red, white and blue theme out front and get colorful as you round the corner and head to the backyard.
Gardening has been a way to enjoy being outside while giving my kids and grandkids an appreciation of creation and where food comes from. It is so fun to see the look in their eyes when they harvest cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, and snap peas. Potatoes and sweet potatoes were a surprise to pull out one year, too. Last year at harvest great grandma came over to show us how to can tomatoes, salsa, and tomato sauce. Such fun to enjoy it over the winter months.
We moved to Toledo in 1994 and actually, lived in the house across the street at 2827 Pemberton the first year. Our house came up for sale in an estate sale a year later. At that time, we already realized we were outgrowing our space. The move across the street was a fun and crazy day with neighbors pitching in by grabbing handfuls of clothes or pulling out a drawer and carrying them over. They even chipped in to help roll our trampoline across the street.
When we put in the pool we knew the trampoline had to go. The hot tub was added as an anniversary present and the playset came along for the grandkids. Two spinning compost bins are handy by the raised veggie beds to replenish the nutrients in our soil and cut down on some of our kitchen/yard waste. We also wanted to highlight that it’s possible to enjoy solar in Old Orchard as we have 38 panels that are quite productive. During COVID, we rebuilt our deck with composite materials. As all gardeners and homeowners know, it’s a work in progress!
Take a look around. I hope you enjoy your visit to our beautiful neighborhood!
Garden 2 | 2617 MIDDLESEX
Welcome to 2617 Middlesex Drive, a Cape Cod built in 1948 in the charming neighborhood of Old Orchard.
We love the house and garden because it reminds us of New England with the dry stack stone fence, the lovely perennial gardens bordering the front and back yards, the pink Dogwood, the fuscia flowering Crab Apple, Lilac and Red Bud trees.
Our three season porch, with it’s old arched windows, offers views of the gardens, birds, rabbits, squirrels and racoons eating the berries from the Hawthorne tree.
We hope you enjoy our house and garden as much as we do and we thank you for allowing us to share it.
Garden 3 | 2549 DRUMMOND
Jessica and Nick Hopkins moved into their home at 2549 Drummond Road in August of 2015, thinking it would be a starter home. Over time, though, it’s become clear it’s their forever home. While the house itself had charm and potential, the yard was far from impressive. Since moving in, they’ve transformed the entire outdoor space through hard work, creativity, and inspiration from family and places they love.
The original yard was overgrown and cluttered. Jessica and Nick cleared out old bushes, removed a rusted gas grill and a worn chain-link fence, and replaced them with a crisp white fence and vibrant Annabelle hydrangeas. They added a back deck, a custom brick patio, and a cozy pea gravel seating area. The house was also repainted, including a fresh new front door color, bringing life and charm back to this classic 1930s home.
Jessica has always dreamed of living in a traditional home, and she was immediately drawn to the timeless style of this one. She envisioned a garden that matched the era of the house—elegant, classic, and filled with soft whites, purples, and blues. Inspiration also came from the East Coast, where her sister once lived in Rhode Island and her grandmother lives in North Carolina. Jessica aimed to recreate that breezy, ocean-cottage feel—just without the ocean.
With limited planting space in the backyard, Jessica got creative. Over the years, she has collected clay pots and now uses container gardening as her main way of displaying flowers. The flexibility of pots allows for seasonal rearranging and adds a fun, eclectic charm to the yard. Her goal was never to create a perfectly coordinated space, but rather a mix of textures, styles, and colors that reflect her personality.
Beyond the flowers and landscaping, Jessica and Nick wanted to create a space that felt welcoming and lived-in. A place where friends could gather for dinner, conversation, or a cozy fire. Most of their outdoor furniture and decor—dining tables, chairs, chaise lounge, even the plates and cups—have been thoughtfully thrifted from estate sales and second-hand shops, adding character to their space.
Jessica’s passion for gardening and hosting runs deep, passed down from the women in her life. Both her mother and Nick’s mother are avid gardeners, and her grandmothers were known for their green thumbs and generous hospitality. Their influence lives on in this garden, where Jessica and Nick now hope to inspire others—just as they were once inspired.
Garden 4 | 2540 SECOR
Welcome to our labor of love at 2540 Secor Rd, built in 1931, Scott and I are the first owners who were not related to the family that originally built it. It has been an honor to restore this piece of history and build our oasis over the last 10 years. When we purchased the home in 2015 it was a shell of its former self inside, and out. The flowers that once were here had given themselves back to the Earth and along with it went the beauty it once had been. However, the potential surrounded us, a hybrid cherry and weeping cherry starting to bloom (lovingly called the franktree), a burning bush planted in the front on the corner, and a white hydrangea (now protected by the Empress Wu hosta).
Scott and I, along with our children, have completely restored the garden ourselves. You’ll find a trellis that we built along the back with white climbing roses, a Koi pond that we dug filled with Koi and Shubunkin that my husband and I buy together on our anniversary each year, and hundreds of plants that we have dug, split, watered, weeded, and loved. You’ll be surrounded by bleeding hearts, red twig dogwood, hostas, hydrangeas, heuchera, and daylilies, our most popular perennials. Our annuals this year have been carefully chosen to enhance the beauty and layers of the garden, sweet potato vine, snap dragons, and coleus are some of our favorites. In between the layers of meticulously chosen annuals and perennials you will find fruit trees, water fountains, bird baths, and vegetable gardens.
We have recently lost a significant amount of our bee population in the United States and as this is dear to our hearts we have begun sowing clover into our lawn to encourage their population. When visiting please appreciate their presence and allow them to enjoy the garden as we know you will too.
Garden 5 | 2318 DENSMORE
The home at 2318 Densmore was built in 1929 for Hoyt & Rachel Holton. Holton was a mausoleum architect with the Lloyd Brothers Monument Company which provided designs for many of the memorials and cemeteries throughout Toledo, notably Woodlawn Cemetery. The plot adjacent, has remained in ownership with the home since it was built. During World War II, the garden was cultivated to grow vegetables and food to reduce pressure on public food supply. These were often referred to as “Victory Gardens”.
After the war, the extra lot served as a memorial garden in honor of their son, Lt(jg) Lloyd Sumner Hoyt, who was MIA in the Philippines. Red, white and blue flowers filled the garden, as did many pieces of stone from Holton’s mausoleum designs. The home has had a total of four owners, and Millard and Judy Jones spent 40 years as the third owners and cultivators of the garden. The Jones’ are responsible for re-outlining the rock ledge and designing the garden seen today. Millard widened the border and planted the many perennials that grow there now.
Millard and Judy lovingly cared for the garden and added many rare and impressive plant species. Upon their move and sale of the home, the neighbors in adjacent homes pitched in to welcome its new stewards and assist with cleaning up the garden and landscape. The garden could not have come so far in such a short time without them!
Over the past 11 years, the current owner has adjusted nearly all of the original plants to a refreshed design. The theme of memorials remains a constant as he has added shrubs, trees and plants to honor family members and loved ones. You will see many of the mature trees, hostas, and perennials from the past, however he has added many elements including: dahlia collection, reflecting pond, peony collection, and roses.
The garden still produces vegetables, and is very much a communal effort as family and friends still help with tending to it’s needs. The owner is thrilled to share it on tour with you today!
Garden 6 | 2235 PEMBERTON
Built in 1957, this home had just one previous owner before Brent purchased it 27 years ago—at a time when it was gracefully beginning to show its age. Since then, he has transformed the yard into a thoughtfully curated, ever-evolving garden. Of the original plantings, only the trees, pachysandra, and a lilac bush remain. The once-overgrown landscape—dominated by towering yews—has been reimagined with more structured boxwoods and intentional design.
The shady yard is now a haven for hostas, with nearly 25 thriving varieties. The love of plants runs deep in his family, passed down through generations. Many are descended from plants brought from his childhood home—originally divided from specimens his mother received from a neighbor in the mid-1970s. Another nostalgic layer is the bishop’s weed that spreads gently through the garden, a living connection to his grandparents’ house.
Over the years, the lawn areas have been reduced by about 40%, making way for expanded beds and layered plantings. The garden expanded significantly 11 years ago, when Brent acquired half of a neighbor’s side yard. This addition provided more space—and more challenges. The picket fence was relocated and reconfigured to complement the new layout, further enhancing the yard’s charm.
The old garden shed, once in disrepair, was given new life with added windows and a flower box, transforming it into a quaint focal point. In 2023, Brent added a new path and garden beds around the shed, introducing sun-loving native perennials to bring more color and seasonal variation to the landscape.
In 2022, Brent deepened his horticultural knowledge by completing the Master Gardener Volunteer program through Ohio State University Extension. While proud of this accomplishment, it also made him more aware of the invasives lingering in his garden—an ongoing challenge and inspiration for continued improvement.
As a graphic designer, Brent approaches gardening with an artist’s sensibility—composing the landscape with careful attention to color, texture, shape, and flow. He uses focal points to draw the eye and create a visual rhythm that invites exploration. Anchored by a rich palette of green shades, the garden comes to life each season with bursts of color from vibrant pots of annuals, resulting in a space that feels intimately personal and quietly tucked away.