Home Garden Tour

Join the Jersey Shore Chapter for a tour of the beautiful native gardens at Kelly and Peter Balon’s home in Brick. They have graciously hosted tours of their yard for the last two summers. This year they’re changing it up with a spring tour!

Come see what’s blooming in May and what Kelly and Peter have added since last year. Please RSVP here so we can provide you with the address and directions and know how many to expect.

Some of the many native species you’ll see in Kelly and Peter’s yard: Golden Alexanders (Zizea aurea), Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), Flame Azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum), Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginicus), Eastern Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana), Eastern Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), Moss Phlox (Phlox subulata), and Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia).

OUR GUIDES: Kelly works as a Board-Certified Behaviorist by day, and by evenings and weekends she is a landscape designer and avid wildlife habitat restorer. As many of us were, Kelly was introduced to the world of native plants and their importance by one of the environments’ contemporary heroes, Dr. Doug Tallamy. Luckily, this introduction happened only a year into her first homeownership, and it shows! Kelly and her husband, Peter, have planted over 140 native species (to NJ and a few stretches from nearby areas) on their .6-acre property in northern Brick. She loves teaching others about native plants, their value, how to incorporate a variety of habitats into the landscape, and of course, getting her hands dirty!