Friday Favorite: Local Garden Tours
This past week has been a whirlwind of garden tours. It seems every town has a tour during this week. On Sunday, Mr Chiots and I attended the garden tour series organized by a local land trust. We visited seven garden in all. Yesterday I attended the Camden garden tour and visited 5 gardens, two were home tours. Today I’m headed to the next garden in my local garden club series and tomorrow night we’re heading to the McLaughlin gardens Illuminated event, where they light up the garden with candles and lights. (Don’t mind the dirty fingernails, I am a gardener after all!)
It may seem like a lot, and it is, but summer is short in Maine so we have to get in all the touring we can. Next summer I plan on spending a long weekend near Philadelphia to visit Longwood, Chanticleer and Winterthur. If anyone is interested in joining up let me know, we can arrange a fun weekends of gardening!
I’ll be posting photos as I get through them, with work and other things I simply haven’t had the time to get through all the photos I took on all the tours. There was one garden in particular that was stunning and I’ll definitely be devoting a day to that garden. If you have local garden clubs and garden tours I highly recommend that you participate. Not only are you supporting local clubs and groups, you’ll be inspired by what you see and it will help you nail down your personal garden style.
Do you attend any local garden club tours? Do you plan vacations around garden destinations like Longwood?
Filed under Other's Gardens, Public Gardens to Visit | Comments (3)
Ooo, jealous of your upcoming garden tours in Pennsylvania. I’ve only seen Longwood in winter and Winterthur while in the company of a very cranky three-year-old and six-month-old, so neither experience was as fulfilling as I might have hoped. I know you’ll oblige with lots of nice pictures, so I can live vicariously through you until I can get back to those places myself (hopefully in more congenial company).
to kristin @ going country's comment
Susy, we here in my town have the ultimate garden, Lauritzen Gardens, that’s open every day. A parcel of land (100 acres) was set aside by and is now maintained by private individual donations. Started in 1995 with just a rose garden, the entire 100 acres have now been developed starting with the parking lot when first entering the garden. Many pathways wander through the garden with different areas dedicated to different themes such as peony, Victorian, and Japanese. One area has model trains that travel over all the hand constructed tracks and bridges. Trying to describe them just doesn’t do the trains justice. Waterfalls, ponds, woodland trails all add to the experience. A total of 35 full time employees and 250 regular volunteers keep this botanical garden in pristine condition. The yearly membership is $25. Great price for what can be enjoyed.
Have a great garden tour day.
to Nebraska Dave's comment
I love garden tours and am going on one this afternoon. Living in a high desert area (4000 ft) is a challenge for any gardener. So it is great to see what others are doing. Love your website
to Zerilda Wornica's comment