Marty Savanick has relied on proceeds from an annual rummage sale during the past three years to help fund the Reuben Savanick Memorial Scholarship started in 2005 in remembrance of her husband. But she is planning an altogether different event this year. A Scottdale Garden Tour will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 12 and 19, and will include the gardens of five Scottdale residents who commissioned garden historian and landscape designer Martha Oliver to create them. The self-driving/walking tour will be led by Oliver and will begin at 10 a.m. at the home of Jackie and Rob Rabenstein at 409 Arthur Ave., which boasts an English cottage garden. From there, participants will make their way at 11 a.m. to the arts and crafts garden of Karen Kiefer at 1005 Loucks Ave. As a bonus, lunch will be served as part of the cost from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Miss Martha’s Tea Room on Pittsburgh Street. After tea and cucumber sandwiches, the tour will resume at 1:30 p.m. at the cozy, edible landscape of Gwenn Stamm and Rob Eby at 809 Market St. From there, participants will be taken to the home of Savanick at 800 Market St. to see the formal entrance garden and a pair of triangular flower borders designed by Oliver. The last stop will be Oliver’s home gardens at The Primrose Path, 921 Dawson Rd. At each stop, Oliver will discuss the gardens, what type of design the owner requested and the solutions she devised to complete the requested work. Besides being a landscape designer, Oliver teaches ecological landscape design, native plants and landscape aesthetics in the Graduate School of Landscape Architecture at Chatham University. The cost of the tour, including lunch at Miss Martha’s Tea Room, is $50 and will go completely toward the scholarship fund. This scholarship gives $2,000 each year to students majoring in American sign language who are planning to work with the deaf community. Savanick said her husband’s parents were deaf and through that experience, Reuben Savanick had become a certified interpreter. He died of leukemia in 2005. Registration forms for the garden tour can be picked up at the tea room or at Collections by Marty, both on Pittsburgh Street in Scottdale. Reservations are required. Checks for the event should be made payable to Anabaptist Deaf Ministries and may be mailed, along with the registration form, to Collections by Marty, 143 Pittsburgh St., Scottdale, PA 15683.

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