2350 Oakwood Ave.

Jay Bero and Steven Thomson

Are you ready to be wowed? We give you our first Garden of the Month winners for August … Jay Bero and Steven Thomson and the oasis they’ve created at 2350 Oakwood Ave.

They’ve spent 16 years transforming a yard that was once void of any landscaping except for the retaining walls along the driveway. With Jay taking the gardening lead (he grew up helping his mom garden), they’ve filled it with unique evergreens, an abundance of perennials, ornamental grasses, potted annuals and garden art. Many of the plants made the move with them from their previous residence, including a 10-foot tree that now stands double that size.

As you might guess, all of that garden creativity in the front spills over to both side yards and a terraced backyard. We like Jay’s motto: There’s always room for another plant.

Congratulations to Jay and Steven on a showstopper. Thanks for making Allouez beautiful!

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345 Ridgeview Terrace

Chet and Marie Gibbons

Our second residential honors for the month go to Chet and Marie Gibbons, who have lived at their home at 345 Ridgeview Terrace for 40 years, which just may explain why their front gardens feel so welcoming.

Garden gnomes and potted geraniums greet you at the door. A porch with a pair of rockers and window boxes filled with impatiens makes for an inviting place to sit a spell.

Chet and Marie have been known to not just share stories with visitors but plants, too. Marie does the majority of the gardening, but Chet helps out as well. It’s all a cheery mix of coneflowers, rudbeckia, sunflowers and tiger lilies, to name a few. The mailbox is decked out in morning glories, and there’s garden art tucked all around.

Congratulations, Chet and Marie. Thanks for making Allouez a beautiful and welcoming place to call home.

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1255 S. Monroe Ave.

Dave and Kelly Doran

We’re always thrilled when we can honor a business property as a Garden of the Month. If you travel Riverside Drive or are a customer at one of the businesses in the brick strip mall at 1255 S. Monroe Ave., there’s no missing the exceptional landscaping, especially this time of summer.

Dave Doran, the owner of the building, and his wife Kelly planted the many perennials that fill the beds — hydrangeas, coneflowers, ornamental grasses, daylilies, sedums, phlox, hostas and, gloriously in bloom right now, big golden swaths of black-eyed Susan. They also maintain the beds throughout the season and keep them looking so nice.

Thank you Dave and Kelly for going above and beyond to make your commercial property not just an inviting place to do local business but also worthy of a garden stroll. We love it!