June is garden tour season, one of my favorite pastimes (besides the actual act of gardening itself). If you have a willing body and spirit (& the leisure time to partake) there's a tour every weekend of the month. It's my hope to participate in at least two this year. Already I'm halfway to achieving that goal with the first one completed this past Saturday ~ a walking tour thru the gardens of a phenomenal historic district in a nearby town. As always, it was extremely inspiring. All the work I've been trying to do in my own back garden had left me feeling sore, tired & more than a little worn out but, after the tour, I came away feeling re-energized. Mission accomplished, right?
So many things to share with you ~ I thought I'd just put my favorite photos out there. A couple trends I noticed were (1) everybody is vegetable gardening now and (2) fireplaces are the new hot commodity. I also learned that I CAN have a dogwood tree in Colorado ~ it is not the impossible feat I always thought it to be:
I did not take any macros on the tour with the exception of the dogwood above and the peony below:
I'm not even sure I captured the color accurately? It was the most fantastic shade of salmon-peach-pink I've ever seen. Simply exquisite. I wish I knew the name ~ I would already have one on order.
The tour consisted of eight gardens which covered the gamut from English formal:
to blazing hot southwestern style:
I took my 75 - 300mm lens that day which I won't do next tour. It frustrated me to no end since sometimes it didn't allow me to get far enough away to capture the whole view. My mistake. The photo above is a case in point. Defying the heat on a sweltering southern-exposure wall were these gorgeous containers above a flagstone table top & two rustic chairs. With the limitations of my camera lens, I had to snap the scene in sections, none of them doing it justice. Below is another section showing a portion of the table & one chair:
The entire area was SO picturesque but maybe you'll have to take my word for it?
The advantage of a walking tour is what can be seen while heading from one featured garden to the next. Along our route this blooming hardscape caught my eye ~ created when the homeowner planted campanula between the crevices of a stone retaining wall:
Very attractive way to "soften" the stone and a bonus to know it could flourish so nicely in such sparse growing conditions.
I also noticed the fancy trellis below which I'd love to someday copy around the exterior of my own home:
Then there was a homemade greenhouse that seemed to be constructed primarily for the purpose of housing an enormous bougainvilla vine:
Sometimes you wished every garden along the way would be open for meandering. There were just so many inviting ones.
Back to the tour, a lovely potting bench complete with sink:
A beautiful, private dining alcove:
I'm imagining many a leisurely summer meal has been ingested there. The only thing missing (in my opinion but I like over-the-top) was a chandelier hanging from the pergola roof:
This garden was our favorite on the tour. Everywhere you turned, there was another delightful vignette to photograph or enticing seating area to wish wistfully for a sojourn:
By the end of the day, I was ready to recline here:
Sun or not. It was exhausting in the best possible way.
We capped off the tour with some greenhouse shopping ~ the dreamy ending every gardener appreciates.
I have never been on a garden tour, can you believe that? I loved all of the photos here...those chairs in the last photo sure are inviting.
Posted by: Darla | June 07, 2011 at 09:54 AM
That looks like so much fun! I joined a perennial group here in hopes of making it to one of the tours, so far I haven't been able to. That peony is beautiful! Hope you get that Dogwood.
Posted by: Catherine | June 07, 2011 at 03:25 PM
A lovely tour indeed. Your frustration with not capturing the whole shot is mine. It is so annoying and I think photos can never fully convey the feeling. Your vignettes do a good job though.
Posted by: tina | June 07, 2011 at 03:54 PM
Your photo's are so lovely and the gardens beautiful.
Posted by: maureen | June 07, 2011 at 05:08 PM
I like garden tours a lot too. It is always fun to see what others have growing in your area. I love that color of Peony....really pretty.
Posted by: Janet, The Queen of Seaford | June 07, 2011 at 06:45 PM
Beautiful Kathleen. You captured the day perfectly! I am so glad that this will be an annual event for us - I'm already looking forward to next year. Let me know if you find a dogwood tree - so far I haven't, but I am not giving up. Live you, it's a must have for me after seeing how gorgeous they are!
Posted by: Dana | June 07, 2011 at 07:33 PM
The garden tour sounded wonderful. I love the campanulas spilling out of the wall. I love that peony too. What a beauty.
Posted by: sweetbay | June 07, 2011 at 10:04 PM
Thanks for sharing those beautiful photos of your garden tour. It's wonderful to gleen inspiration from other people's gardens. Garden exploring is one of my FAVORITE activities to do also, thus the name of my blog. Where was this garden tour? I would like to look up more information about it. I'll be going to one this Friday called Hidden Garden Tour. Please keep sharing your photos Kathleen.
Posted by: Ramona/The Garden Explorer | June 08, 2011 at 08:21 AM
Hi Kathleen, It looks like it was a great tour. I always try to drag my husband along on a number of the local tours. You are right. There is always at least one garden that is really inspiring.
Posted by: Jennifer | June 09, 2011 at 06:28 AM
You ask about the pink lily in my header picture. It is Elodie and its a beautiful double bloomed one.
Posted by: Lona | June 09, 2011 at 10:35 AM
Wow! you captured some charming and beautiful vignettes with that remarkable camera of yours (as usual). :)
Posted by: Racquel | June 10, 2011 at 03:59 PM