Barbara Vartan holds a photo of herself as a toddler enjoying the backyard at what is now the Clark/Kendrick home. (Photo: Sarah del Pozo)

When Master Gardener Barbara Vartan learned a historical two-story home on Carmen Street in Fresno was part of the 2024 Spring Garden Tour, she knew where she wanted to volunteer. The 102-year-old home in the heart of the Wilson Historical Tract was the backdrop for her idyllic post-war childhood. 

Her mother lovingly tended the garden, planting a seed that sprouted her own passion for gardening.

“For me, the garden is a place of relaxation. It's a present I give myself to go work in the garden. It's not a chore,” Vartan said.

Barbara and her mother, Zovig Berberian, right, in the garden with Vartan's cousin and aunt. (Photo provided by Barbara Vartan. See more family photos below.)

“I enjoyed people coming through my garden,” she said. “It was a wonderful experience.”

She signed on to be a part of the Fresno County Master Gardener volunteer program in 2007. Since that time, Vartan has always worked on the Spring Garden Tour, the Fresno program's most important annual fundraiser. Over the years she was part of teams that helped prepare gardens for the tour and served as garden co-captain and captain at a variety of Fresno homes. 

But this year is unique.

Her parents purchased what is now the Clark/Kendrick home in 1948 when they had a third child, Vartan, on the way. The family sold the home 50 years later, and the property changed hands two times since then, with each owner adding personal touches, but never changing the 1920s character.

The newest residents will open the garden gates to Spring Garden Tour participants on April 20 to view a towering deodar cedar that Vartan remembers from her youth. Areas of grass and perennial plantings, with abundant flowering trees and shrubs, fill the beautifully landscaped double lot. A formal rose garden, with a vine-covered archway entrance, is reminiscent of the prolific tea and floribunda roses that her mother prized. A modern, brick-decked pool area replaces the space where she remembers the family's clothes lines and a greenhouse once stood. 

The deodar cedar that already graced the garden during Vartan's childhood still stands at the Clark/Kendrick Garden.

Tickets are now on sale for the self-guided tour of the Clark/Kendrick garden plus four other Fresno properties and the Master Gardeners' own Garden of the Sun.

Advance tickets are $30 each and available at:

Belmont Nursery
Clovis Ace Hardware
Evergreen Garden Center
Fresno Ag Hardware (Fresno location only)
Garden of the Sun
Gazebo Gardens
Green Hills Nursery
Jude's Décor
Sierra Nut House (on Blackstone)
Willow Gardens Nursery

Tickets are available the day of the tour for $35 and may be purchased at any of the gardens on the tour. Click here for more information.

Barbara as a toddler in the garden.

Barbara's mother, Zovig Berberian.

 

Barbara as a young girl.