The Ecology Action Center hosts a Yard Smart Garden Walk every summer (typically in mid-July).This free tour highlights beautiful and functional yards in our community that protect our environment, benefit wildlife, and use few or no synthetic chemicals. The tour features home and small business/non-profit/public facility gardens of different styles. Participants tour all the gardens together and then gather together at the end for lunch and a short presentation from a guest speaker.
The Yard Smart program promotes a more sustainable approach to lawn and garden maintenance. Working with nature to build a healthier ecosystem in both the soil below ground, the yard above ground, and reducing pollutants that runoff into our local water supplies will create a more beautiful, sustainable and safer environment for everyone— children and adults, pets and wildlife. The program encourages local homeowners to reduce the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, to conserve natural resources such as water and fossil fuels, and to make room for wildlife in their yards. Yard Smart Certification recognizes local homeowners who use ecologically sustainable practices in maintaining their yards and who realize that their lawn, garden and landscaping decisions affect the health of the whole community.
If you have a garden you would like featured on a future Yard Smart Garden Walk, please contact Katie Vogler at 309-454-3169 x13 or [email protected]
If you are interested in joining the next tour, please sign up below. Interested in attending the 2026 walk? Make sure to sign up for our Yard Smart Updates email list to be the first to know about the walk!
