Luscious greenery, fragrant flowers, peaceful waterfalls and decorative decorations awaited visitors attending the Parkland Garden Club’s 18th annual garden tour.

“Hidden Garden Treasures” featured 10 gardens, a creative demonstration and silent auction.

Visitors touring the gardens were also treated to snacks and beverages.

Hope Garden at the home of Elsie and Ronald Heist in Breinigsville, began when he said “no” and she heard “yes.”

She wanted to turn what was once a cornfield into a garden and build a couple of ponds.

He wanted the cornfield to remain as grass.

Elsie said they were given a hemlock tree in 1970 from the farm of Elsie’s father W.Z. Bradley.

“My father also gave me two boxes of blue periwinkles which I planted and weeded,” Elsie said. “If I pulled out a root of one of them I planted it by the hemlock.”

“In 2004, when I retired, I grabbed a shovel and made the big circle, which is the main path.

“A few years later to make it easier for mulching, I added an additional entrance to get the wheelbarrow in.”

She slowly added the plants and trees to the garden.

Most of the plantings are from gifted plants they received from friends.

Hope Garden, which aims for long-term growth, is filled with the sounds of joyful bird calls, nests, the pecking sound of a pileated woodpecker, the soft chatter of chickens, and a small dry and wet pond.

There are also river birch, redbud, larch, paperbark maple, scarlet oak and pin oak trees, a royal purple beauty bush, decorative mushrooms and peace pixies, and plaques and stone benches in memory of departed loved ones.

In addition to the assortment of trees, bushes, colorful flowers, and decorative pirate decorations, Isabella, a bronze-colored metal mannequin owned by Elsie, oversaw the garden tour.

Isabella, dressed as a peg-leg pirate with a hook for her right hand, wore a pirate hat.

With a treasure chest of jewels at her feet, she greeted visitors as they walked to the back of the property.

Memories of childhood woodlands helped create this lovely garden of trees, petunias, day lilies, milkweed, and butterfly bushes for family and friends to enjoy.

In addition to Hope Garden, the Heist property is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat for wild animals and butterflies.