SHEBOYGAN COUNTY GARDEN WALK TO FEATURE FALLS’ NATURE’S REPRIEVE

SHEBOYGAN FALLS – The 13th annual Sheboygan County Garden Walk will take place Saturday, July 11. The Ivy League, Lake Shore and Town & Country garden clubs, with the assistance of the Master Gardener volunteers invite the public to tour six unique gardens. Each garden has its own special creations, foliage, landscape and intrigue as presented by the owner and gardener.

Nature’s Reprieve, located at W2901 County J, Sheboygan Falls, has been organized and designed by owner Don Schomberg. He has mixed flowers, shrubs, foliage, ponds and natural grassy and wooded areas to help the visitor find a sense of nature and has an added touch of wildlife – both real and concrete statues.

“I called this Nature’s Reprieve because this used to be a farm field and I turned it into a bird sanctuary,” Schomberg said.

“I have planted between 3,000- 4,000 trees and have added a couple hundred more through the years,” Schomberg continued.

“I started all this in 1980 when my son left and I got rid of the farm animals,” Schomberg recalled. “We had sheep, horses and ponies, all of which were 4-H projects.

“I started by planting white cedar for shelter for birds and then some shrubs with berries,” Schomberg said. “Nine bark and highbush have berries, and then the birds will have food for winter and summer.

“I have attracted all kinds of birds here. I have cedar waxwings, gray catbirds, cardinals, and blue jays; there are probably about 300 different kinds.

“The entire area is about 6 acres,” Schomberg added, “and I take care of it by myself.”

Schomberg is a retired mason, and that profession is what led him to creating the concrete statues. He now has 45 statues that vary from a mink to a moose that is 8 feet tall.

“I make them and paint them all by myself,” Schomberg said. “I make the small ones in the basement, during the winter, but the large ones I do on-site.”

Schomberg has to do the large animals on-site because he doesn’t use a mold. He shapes the animals by hand, literally.

“I use a large block of Styrofoam insulation in the body, but the rest is cement,” Schomberg explained.

“I will start with a 4-by-8-foot insulated piece, or whatever I need for size of the animal,” Schomberg said.

“I draw on the sheet of the Styrofoam to get the shape, and then I cover it with chicken wire, and then I add one handful of cement at a time.”

The base of the animal is regular cement, but the animal itself is made from masonry cement because that doesn’t have any stones and gives the animal a smooth look.

“I mix the cement in the shed, put it in pails and take it out to the site,” Schomberg explained, “and then I take one handful at a time and pack it on the wire around the Styrofoam until I get the right shape. I do a little bit every day and sometimes I can do two or three at a time because I can only put so much on in one day and then it has to dry.

“I can do about one-half inch with no problem, sometimes one inch, but then it may just fall off,” Schomberg said. “It doesn’t have to be on for a week, but at least overnight.

“Some of the small figures have been purchased, but the big ones I made,” Schomberg pointed out.

So come and take a walk through Schomberg’s Nature’s Reprieve. Walk through the field, see lots of birds, flowers, and all the intriguing cement animals, and look for the coy and gold fish in the pond.

“All the rocks that the animals are sitting on are also handmade,” Schomberg said. “I did that so they can’t be removed very easily.

“But this is it!” Schomberg commented. “There aren’t too many more to do and they are hard to do.”T

ake a walk in nature. Hear the birds and enjoy the quiet, restful surroundings.

Other stops are at:

Millerspoint Garden, 3135 Erik Lane, Sheboygan;

Our Retreat, 4323 Hunters Glen Drive, Sheboygan;

Native Garden, N7062 Highview Drive, Sheboygan;

Restful Retreat, W1772 Bender Road, Sheboygan; and

A Quilter’s Garden, W1767 Bender Road, Sheboygan.

Tickets and maps will be available at the gardens on the day of the walk, and all proceeds will be given to the Bookworm Garden Project at the UW-Sheboygan.