Thanks, Carl. Usually I look at the lists, but don't go because none are within 1 1/2 hours drive of home. This year there are several that are an hour and a bit, so I guess I'll have to try some of them out. I'd love reminders when New England Open Days are happening!

The only garden tours I've been on have been in my own town, sponsored by a local garden club that is now basically defunct other than a once-yearly plant swap. They weren't fundraisers, so it was just fun to see various friends' and neighbors' gardens, definitely worth the price of admission (free!) A long way of saying that I don't know whether fundraising garden tours would be worth it, but I think I'd enjoy them - spending a whole day looking at gardens - relatively cheap entertainment in the grand scheme of things. I'll look forward to the opinions of others.

I have been one of the gardens on several tours and have helped organized our local tour. I will say that everyone who attends our tour seems genuinely impressed and they all look like they're having a great time.

Depends on what you want: local gardens to get ideas from for your own garden, or large gardens to wander about it and enjoy. This year I've organized my own personal rose tour in northern Calif., 2 weeks of their big bloom time and a focus on roses. At the small end of tour types, though, I got 4 local gardeners (not in clubs) to visit each others' gardens all in 1 day, with chat and food, and we all learned some new plant and gardening information. Beacon Hill is definitely small very urban gardens and as nice as it might be, it won't help me with my rural RI space ideas.

Carol

I've never really been on a garden tour, believe it or not. I went to Monique's Open Day tour, but I had been to her garden before and just really wanted to see it again! But I work many weekends, sell at the farmer's market on Saturdays, and have my kids obligations (games, etc.).

Hopefully, though, with my kids now finally getting to independence (well, sort of, lol) I'm looking forward to having a bit more free time, although weekends will still be hard, so maybe I can make a few more of those tours.

Carol raises a good point about worth=what you want out of a garden. But then again, I think maybe you would go to different gardens for different things. I would love the Beacon Hill tour, because I love history, I love the feel of those brick colonial townhouse neighborhoods (Georgetown, old Alexandria, Beacon Hill, etc.) and so to me, I would go more for the overall "feel" and to enjoy the architecture and history as well as the gardens, and not just to get ideas for my own yard.

Carl, if you wouldn't mind posting those tour dates, that would be great. I mean, I suppose I could just check the website myself, but honestly, I wouldn't remember. If you posted it would be kind of a reminder.

Great thread. I hope more people respond.

:)
Dee

I enjoy garden tours. Sometimes I have my husband go with me and it becomes an interesting day out. The one in the Laconia NH area included a lovely lunch and was a great day. Last year we arranged our vacation time so we could go on a garden tour and another event DH chose. However, as much as we enjoy and are amazed at gardens that are professionally landscaped and maintained, I'd rather see gardens the average homeowner can achieve. One time DH commented that the plants and shrub costs at one home must have been very high but I pointed out that many of the same things were used all over the place and perhaps the homeowners had done their own divisions, etc.
Sometimes we just like looking in other peoples' backyards without worrying about getting arrested. Some locations are fascinating. One garden tour on the edge of the White Mountains included gardens with the disadvantage of 20 days less growing season than I enjoy.
A friend's garden will be on a tour this year. Although I haven't managed to visit her garden despite the invitation I will make a supreme effort to visit during the tour. She has sent me links to her posts on another thread so I know her style is completely different from mine but I am sure I will learn something and perhaps will see a plant I would like to grow in my own garden (she does a lot of exotics). She also does it all herself except for help from her husband.
There are some tours I will not go on again simply because the emphasis was on professional landscaping and was much too formal for my tastes.

I can't imagine being a gardener and garden-lover and *not* going on garden tours. They are one of the best ways of learning about new plants, about what plants do best in what conditions, about great design ideas to make your own garden better, about all kinds of tips and tricks for the gardening process. Not to mention the pleasure of meeting and talking to other avid gardeners.

It frankly has surprised me that here on this forum, with so many avid gardeners, that there doesn't seem to be much enthusiasm for garden tours. I have started a number of threads in the past asking for news in the spring and summer about local garden tours but they never get a lot of response.

Even large estates and foreign gardens are full of ideas for the ordinary back-yard gardener. I saw an enormous hosta in an ordinary clay pot at Hidcote, one of the most famous of British gardens. What a great focal point! A terrific idea anyone can do.

But certainly our local garden tours are interesting and a major part of learning about gardening.

"...Sometimes we just like looking in other peoples' backyards without worrying about getting arrested..."

LOL!

:)
Dee

I would love to visit lots of gardens, but unfortunately, our circumstances don't allow us to. DH and I did manage to visit one garden on Open Conservancy Days quite a few years ago and that was the only time we've managed it. I rarely get to Arnold Arboretum, which I really have enjoyed twice in the past. I've never made it out to Tower Hill, either. I might have attended the Boston Flower Show about 6 years in a row, about 30 years ago and not since. So I really enjoy seeing photos not only of any garden visits, but of GW member gardens when someone posts them. You never know, maybe this will be the year, we will get to one. :-)

Plant swaps, if thoughtfully scheduled, can be an opportunity to see peer gardens. I've seen a few beautiful gardens and plants in-situ at swaps.

For some people the swap is the only thing going on, it doesn't matter what the environment is.

However, when I had a swap at my house, I certainly felt like my garden was on display and got things cleared up. (and do you know "those people" (my still gardening friends now) poked around till they found the plant ghetto I had moved to the back?!)

The plant swap at Whitegarden was a great garden visit too.
But I recognize myself in crowd that doesn't get out to tour much. Saturdays can be busy. If I can find a friend who'll go with me, I'm game.

Marie

Ginny, sometimes I come home feeling guilty that I spent a day looking at gardens instead of working in my own. Last year I was surprised to get not a single response to my question about a particular tour. We went anyway. Glad we did but most of the gardens were professionally landscaped and maintained. But you are right, even in the fanciest you can get some good ideas or find a plant you'd like to try.

I did get some encouragement to go to the tour in the Rockport MA area which I hope to get to this year unless it conflicts with the one in Nashua to benefit the Nashua Symphony.

There is an underlying question in this thread that I would like to address. I think it might best be summed up as not every avid gardener is an avid garden tour attendee.

I have gone on a fair smattering of garden tours and expect I always will. I find them enjoyable, but don't for some reason love them. Perhaps it is because I am a plant collector, but not a garden designer (as my yard will testify). So every gardening season, I take as many road trips as I can to visit nurseries, and go on a garden tour every couple of years. When I do, I am more likely to come away with the name of a plant I want, than a idea about design.

This does not mean that I dont take stabs at garden design, and that someday I might devote more attention so as to actually have some well-designed sections in my yard. I am viewing my first 20 or so years of gardening as an experimental period.

Also, I seem to be a person who actually prefers to work in a garden more than just simply walking through.

PS I don't know why funny green links to Bing are appearing in my preview of this post.

The funny green links are garden web's attempt to stay afloat financially. If you ignore them they may go away.

This thread has turned into an interesting discussion. I was a little put off at first that the question had such an obvious answer ("Yes!") but now I see it's not that simple.

I've never gone on an open days tour, or any other tour for that matter - not even local tours to support various charities. When I travel, though, the first things I plan to see are the botanic gardens, and any other other public gardens, nurseries, public (mostly urban) parks. Then come the museums and other local attractions, monuments etc. Not that I don't like and appreciate art, but I get more of a sense of a place from its gardens (where, by the way, you're more likely to see locals) than from its museums.

This will definitely be the year I'll finally get to some Open Days (but I've said that many times before, about other years). And, I'm still hoping for a tour of the Cotswolds, but maybe that's another thread.

I love garden tours, from the local garden club variety to seeing big botanical gardens. One of my favorites was the Harvard (I think) MA garden tour in 2007, which was absolutely fabulous. There's definitely s a voyeuristic urge in most of us that garden tours can satisfy! It's a wonderful opportunity to see great designs and plants. Some tours or arboretums are rather expensive, but some--Mount Auburn Cemetary, for example--are free.

One we went to last year, and which I intend to do again this year, is the open house at Bedrock Farms, Jill Nooney's big garden in New Hampshire, which showcases her garden art. Admission is free and you certainly don't have to buy anything--though you'll be tempted! There are several dates through the summer.

You are more than right, Asarum. Not only is it true that not every every avid gardener goes on garden tours but, judging from GW, hardly any avid gardeners are avid garden visitors. And I just can't understand not going occasionally.

It's not a design thing in most gardens. I don't see that many gardens that feature amazing designs. In fact, most of them are plant-centered. And other people's gardens in your area, wherever anyone of us might live, are a better guide to what does well--and why--than the best nursery in the area.

I've gardened a long time but I always see something new to covet. An example: About ten years ago, I went on a tour near Hampton NH, not that far from me. One garden was clearly owned by a plant nut--we can all relate. He had stuffed plants into every crevice he could and while the overall design would not have won a prize, he was an enthusiastic and generous gardener.

He had a plant I'd never seen before and, as I said, I've been doing this a long time. He said it was spring vetchling, Lathyrus vernus. I loved it and managed to find a couple somewhere. Since then, I've bought a bunch and they are great! Very early bloom, no pests or diseases, easy and beautiful. I remember starting a thread about them once.

Maybe they are common now, I don't know. But I do know I never would have added this delightful *early* bloomer to my garden if I hadn't been on that tour.

And PS for DTD, go to the Cotswolds. I have been twice and it is something you'll never forget. Not to mention the natural scenery and perfect villages. I couldn't do anything like that when the kids were young or in college but I am making up for it now.

Can you recommend a tour company, or have you done self-guided tours (Ginny, or anyone)?

Both seem appealing, in different ways - getting extra access and a knowledgeable guide vs being free to wander and spend the amount of time you like at specific gardens.

I've been looking on line at various tour companies, but of course they all look equally fabulous. Any personal recommendations (or negative reviews) would be appreciated.

Oooh, the Cotswolds! Hidcote Manor! The Naked Gardeners! Lovely! Digginginthedirt, I hope you get there, and if you could drive leftside, it would be a cheaper and more personally-designed tour. I'm just beginning to put together my own private rose garden tour to Mottisfont Abbey etc., summer 2011. My preference is to wander and not be escorted and forced to stop at souvenir shops or for cream teas.

In mid April I'll be going on my own tour of rose gardens (open to the public) in Northern California. From Alcatraz to Grass Valley. The tradeoff is that I may feel too alone. But I can concentrate on the plants and the landscape design.

Carol

It is possible to find small-group tours that are not what Carol just described. A dozen people or fewer, no touristy stops, and willing to modify the trip however you want. This is in case you don't want the hassle of driving on the "wrong" side and dealing with the other hassles of driving over there, including finding the gardens, which can be no simple trick.