There’s a lot more to a neighborhood garden tour than being outdoors, talking with amateur gardeners and tiptoeing through the tulips. There’s a community connection, inspiration and education, a few “wow” moments and little bit of voyeurism thrown in for good measure.
“Gardens are beautiful, and seeing what other people are doing in their yards is part of the appeal,” said Julie Barwig, executive director of Keep Smyrna Beautiful, which hosts the Smyrna Garden Tour on May 4. “It’s local folks making their own yards beautiful, and you get the feeling that you can do it. It’s achievable.”
Last year, more than 3,000 attended the Midtown Garden Stroll that, this year, will take place May 19. “We encourage all of the homeowners to be present so they can answer questions,” said Wally Dilks, director. “They work so hard on their gardens, and they enjoy the attention and applause.”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
With 30 homes on the Midtown circuit, aspiring gardeners will find a variety of inspirational yards ranging from English formal, to ones with vegetable boxes to those that incorporate play stations for the kids.
“You’ll see everything from smaller gardens in townhouses and landscaped back terraces to the Victorian houses whose back yards are as big as a soccer pitch,” Dilks said.
The Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County’s Garden Tour showcases pollinator-friendly gardens on its May 18 tour.
“One of the gardens is a pollinator’s paradise with a combination of shade and sun gardens,” said Mike Sumter, program chairman. ‘It’s a learning experience so that people can see what they can do in their own gardens.”
Also advocating for native plants is the Intown Atlanta Chapter of the Georgia Native Plant Society, which hosts its third Garden Tour on June 8.
The tour aims at helping attendees “enjoy nature and get inspiration from the educational benefits of learning about the plants you put in your gardens,” said Amy Lederberg, chair. “One of our missions is to help people who have lawns that don’t support pollinators to get native plants. Then they’ll see the beauty of having butterflies and bees feasting on their plants.”
Credit: Eloise Holland
Credit: Eloise Holland
Not only do amateur gardeners benefit from these tours but so do professionals. Dawn Gazaway of Smyrna-based A Twisted Vine, which provides horticultural services, has sponsored the Smyrna tour for roughly a decade.
“I do this for a living, and every house on the tour is different every year,” Gazaway said. “You walk away with some knowledge. There’s always something that you can use. It’s great. You start a conversation with the gardener and by the time you’re done, you’re buddies.”
When garden tours become garden parties
Many of the tours turn into fun neighborhood parties (some that benefit a charity), with food trucks and local vendors.
Credit: Michelle Rice
Credit: Michelle Rice
East Atlanta offers a twofer — a garden tour and a concert at Sylvester Cemetery, both presented by the nonprofit East Atlanta Strut on April 20. “We do things differently in East Atlanta,” said Michelle Rice, president of the EAV Strut, with a laugh.
In the morning, there is the Pushing Up Daisies Garden Tour featuring 10 gardens, and, in the afternoon, folks can groove to three bands playing at the historic cemetery. “It’s a fundraiser for the cemetery, which has been reclaimed from the weeds, brush and evil-doers,” Rice said. “We’re straightening headstones and planting azaleas.”
More than 1,400 persons are buried there including 15 Civil War veterans, two from the Spanish-American War as well as Fiddlin’ John Carson, considered to be the father of country and western music.
“You can expect all different kinds of gardens,” Rice said. “We’re not looking for the most professionally landscaped garden but we have one that is certified as a wildlife habitat.”
The Historic Druid Hills Home & Garden Tour is the longest-running garden tour in the city and expanded the concept from a house and garden tour to a “celebration of spring and to emphasize the enjoyment of our historic neighborhood,” said Kit Eisterhold, tour chair. The April 26-28 event features eight houses and two gardens, including the six-acre Lullwater Conservation Garden. (The houses typically boast gorgeous landscaping even when their gardens are not officially on the tour.)
But the tour, which is a project of the Druid Hills Civic Association, does more than just showcase properties. On April 20, the Emory Village Alliance and Coca-Cola are sponsoring a free concert featuring the Sundogs on the lawn at Emory Village. On April 27, Druid Hills’ Habitat Helpers will have children create a new butterfly habitat in the Lullwater Conservation Garden. The plants will support native and migratory butterflies. There is also a tree dedication ceremony at the Lullwater Conservation Garden and a children’s duck race.
Credit: Deborah Tibbs
Credit: Deborah Tibbs
Keep Smyrna Beautiful has five private gardens on the self-guided tour but boasts its own “garden party” aspect: Attendees can also stop at the Taylor-Brainer House for refreshments in the tearoom and a plant sale. Proceeds from the tour and plant sale benefit Keep Smyrna Beautiful programs.
Some tours gobsmack, some are more artful
Let’s face it, not everyone is into gardening. But who doesn’t want to look behind the curtain — or backyards — of people who may or may not be like tour-goers.
The gardens and mansions that draw the most attention are those that leave visitors “gobsmacked,” said Eisterhold of the Druid Hills Home & Garden Tour. “They want to look at the houses that belong in Southern Living or a courtyard garden that was done to the nines. They want to see how the other half lives.”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Nancy Bruno moved to Midtown 11 years ago and regularly attends the neighborhood’s tour. “I enjoy the social connections and seeing how people create an extended living space. They connect nature and people, and that connection is important.”
She also likes the surprises. “You can go around a driveway and suddenly it’s a wow factor that you don’t expect.”
“Curiosity, for sure, is a part of the appeal,” said Dilks of Midtown Garden Stroll. “Some of these houses are so unassuming, and you’d never guess that they have a spectacular garden. It’s fun to see behind the gates of people’s homes. That’s why we have people coming from Nashville, Macon and Florida.”
Whether your life is a bed of roses, or you simply want to see how the “other half lives,” gardens are more than a few tulips or bushes, said Gazaway, of Smyrna’s A Twisted Vine. “Every garden is different, and they don’t have to be Hallmark card gardens. Each is an individual and each is an expression of that person. It’s art. It’s the way they express themselves.”
Credit: Holly Rogers
Credit: Holly Rogers
MORE INFORMATION
Tickets can be purchased online or a locations noted on each tour’s website. The tours are self-guided and can start at any of the homes at any time. For some tours, the locations won’t be given out until a ticket is purchased.
Smyrna Garden Tour. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. May 4. $20 in advance; $25 day of event. Keep Smyrna Beautiful presents five gardens. Plant sale and tea room at the Taylor-Brainer House, 3182 Atlanta Road, Smyrna. 770-431-2863, keepsmyrnabeautiful.com/garden-tour/
Pushing Up Daisies: Sylvester Cemetery and Garden Tour. April 20. Tour: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Concert: 3-6 p.m. $20 ($10 concert only). Concert at Sylvester Cemetery, 2073 Braeburn Circle. 404-692-4791, eastatlantastrut.com
Historic Druid Hills Home & Garden Tour. 1-5 p.m. April 26, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. April 27-28. $40. druidhillstour.org
Midtown Garden Stroll. Noon-5 p.m. May 19 in Midtown’s Historic Garden District. Free. midtownatlanta.org/gardenstroll
Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County’s Garden Tour. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 18. $21 in advance; $25 day of tour. 770-528-4070, cobbmastergardeners.com
Intown Atlanta Chapter of the Georgia Native Plant Society’s Garden Tour. 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. June 8. $25. East and West Beltline. E-mail: aledererg@gmps.org. gnps.org/intown-atlanta
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