The Peninsula, Qatar
March 10 2009

Doha Garden Tour on March 14

Web posted at: 3/10/2009 1:15:42
Source ::: The PENINSULA/ BY JOYCE C ABAÃ`O

DOHA: The Doha Garden Club said it will have its seventh annual Doha
Garden Tour on March 14, a spokesperson of the club said during the
Doha Garden Club meeting at the Education City’s Recreation Centre
Building.

`The Doha Garden Tour is an annual event hosted by the Doha Garden
Club and sponsored by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines that spotlights
interesting and beautiful private gardens in the Doha area and opens
them to the public for one day. The first tour was organized in the
spring of 2003 when members realized a need to raise money for
operating expense and were able to donate excess funds to
charity. Today all proceeds from this event are given to local
charity,’ said Paula Riebe, president of the Doha Garden Club.

Riebe said the tour will visit six gardens located in the West Bay
area. `Gardeners will be at each location to answer questions, and
visitors may begin and end their self-guided tour at any of the
homes. A brochure containing a brief description of each garden and a
map to show its location will be given together with the tickets,
which are priced at QR100 each.’

The Annual Doha Garden Tour, Riebe said, is the primary fund-raising
event for the Doha Garden Club. `In addition to helping local charity,
it provides opportunity for people in the community to visit private
gardens that otherwise would be closed to public view and presents
ideas and solutions that visitors can apply to their own gardens. The
list of charities for this year’s donation is still being compiled by
our charity liaison. Members will vote to approve the donation, and
funds will go directly to support specific projects that will help
improve Doha’s environment.’

Yesterday’s meeting discussed presentations on the `Palm Trees of
Qatar’ by Gohar Tutunjian, Armenian architect/landscape architect who
has been living here for around 30 years. Joel Olfelt, professor at
the Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar, gave a presentation on
`Exploring the Qatar Mangroves and Brief about the Sidra Tree.’

`The Doha Garden Club has helped me learn of places to visit here that
I’ve never heard of before ‘ beautiful places to visit,’ said Alison
Bandeen, member of the club.

THE PENINSULA