1600 MAC ARTHUR ST

Jim Brisbane

We can say with confidence that in Allouez Beautification Committee’s 27-year history, we’ve never had a Garden of the Month that comes with its own Velociraptor. There’s always a first! We think a show-stopping garden that roars is the perfect way to cap off an excellent 2022 season of Garden of the Month winners.

Jim Brisbane’s “Jurassic Park”-themed yard at the corner of MacArthur Street and Kalb Avenue is already something of a local attraction. It has been turning heads for the better part of five years now. While it’s those dinos (and mannequins, a parade of turtles, a bear and other creatures) that tend to first grab people’s attention, they wouldn’t look so at home in Allouez without all the trees, shrubs, perennials and groomed greenery.

A true gardener, Jim is always adding more plantings each year. His stone-lined beds and borders boast ornamental grasses, phlox, sedums, hydrangeas, hostas, ferns, lilies and more. Thanks to a new low white picket fence this year, his backyard gardens and displays are easily visible from the street. They’re often times lit up at night, too.

Jim loves when kids stop by for a tour of his yard. You’ll find more information at https://m.facebook.com/pages/category/Art/Jurassic-Park-Allouez-2048341232088948.

Thanks to Jim for being not just a gardener with a green thumb but with a creative vision that brings out the kid in all of us. It’s T-Rex-cellent!

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2702 Lola Drive

Nancy and Ray Bares

We have a yard that is both beautiful and bountiful for our first September Garden of the Month. Nancy and Ray Bares make the most of their spacious corner lot at 2702 Lola Drive by growing all kinds of perennials, annuals and vegetables that passersby from every side get to see.

To cover so much territory, Nancy and Ray are very much a gardening team. She does the designing, planting and weeding. He does the mowing and harvesting.

Colorful pots are brimming with lantana, coleus, begonias, impatiens, fuchsias and other annuals. Perennial borders are filled with hydrangeas, rudbeckia, lilies, sedums, turtlehead and some showstopper dahlias. There are eggplants, pumpkins, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes and cucumbers in the vegetable garden, all of which are generously shared with family and friends.

Congratulations to Nancy and Ray. Thanks for taking such pride in your Allouez yard — for 44 years and counting!

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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!