Historic McHenry home among this year’s Modesto Spring Garden Tour sites

History melds with modern times for this year’s Modesto Garden Club Spring Garden Tour, which features seven homes, including one built in 1893 by the city’s famous McHenry family.

Set for Saturday, this year’s tour moves from the historic Bald Eagle Ranch built by Oramil McHenry in Modesto to six gardens in Riverbank’s River Heights neighborhood. In addition, the club’s demonstration garden at 622 14th St. in downtown Modesto will be open for the event.

About 1,500 to 1,800 people are expected to buy tickets for the tour, based on past years, according to garden tour chairwoman Gerry Yockey.

Homeowners committed to the tour about six months ago, interested in helping benefit the club’s many community beautification projects, therapeutic gardening in residential care facilities, school garden projects and horticultural scholarships. Yockey and club member Janice Garcia chose the homes “that had flowers or some special look that captured our attention,” Yockey said in an email interview.

“We asked, and some thought it over and others said ‘yes’ right away,” she said of the homeowners. “They all wanted to help raise money for all the (civic) things that the garden club does for Modesto.”

Yockey said “every garden that we choose is special. Each one has their own uniqueness. What they have achieved over time is just beautiful.”

Still, the Bald Eagle Ranch does provide a unique glimpse into regional history. The home is listed on the national Register of Historic Places.

The Bald Eagle Ranch home on Crawford Road was the centerpiece of a 4,000-acre spread once considered among the most modern ranches in California, according to the garden club. Built of redwood, the architecture is late Victorian Queen Anne style and the house has had little structural change over the decades. The McHenry family began to subdivide the ranch in 1921, but retained ownership of the home until 1932.

Today, the remaining property with the house features a sweeping front lawn and mature trees, mixed borders, an herb plot, a white garden, a bocce ball court and a rose garden, along with “cozy areas for settling in with a good book,” the release said.

Owned by Eric and Michelle Christopherson, the pair do most of the gardening themselves and emphasize organic growing. Michelle Christopherson told the garden club that the property is a lot of work, but it’s work she enjoys.

The tour will offer an opportunity to visit the grounds and view the exterior of the home. A short drive away are the six other tour gardens, in Riverbank’s River Heights near Patterson and Oakdale roads.

Mary Lou Rice bought her River Heights home 25 years ago because of the half-acre lot, the view and quiet neighborhood, which she calls “a hidden gem.”

Gardening, she told the club, keeps her in tune with Mother Nature. “As you become more aware of your surroundings, you start thinking about ways to make sure the birds, butterflies and insects visit your garden.”

Anne Thiel calls her home and garden on three-quarters of an acre a “labor of love.” The Stanislaus River location with a natural bluff leading to the waterway influences decisions made about the garden, she said in the release. Wildlife often drops by, including wild turkeys that visited this spring.

Of the homeowners on the tour, only Rice and Thiel are members of the garden club, Yockey said.

As an added bonus for those who perennially take the garden tour, two of the homes offer a chance to revisit and see how the gardens have matured and changed over the years, she said.

“There are two homes (that were) on (the) tour about 10 years ago,” Yockey said. “Mary Lou Rice and Albert Scoles. The gardens have matured and are more beautiful today.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2015 at 7:28 PM with the headline "Historic McHenry home among this year’s Modesto Spring Garden Tour sites."