Thanks for the info Barb. Let me know if you plan on heading down this way and we can tour a few together!

Sure, Susan, that would be fun to do again. I haven't looked too carefully at schedules since garden weather has quite a while yet before it arrives.

Drat, I'm already committed for June 20 and 21 and once again will miss the Portsmouth Pocket Gardens.
Rockport MA June 20 and 21
Newcastle is June 22 and we did get to this one once.
The Fells website says the Sunapee Region garden tour is June 21 and 22. Hope to get to this one.
Opechee Garden Club garden tour and lunch is July 12. I've enjoyed this one.
Gloucester MA July 12
Camden ME July 17

I try to get to one garden tour each summer. A google search doesn't work too well. It's better if you know a particular town/city has had a tour in the past and use that as part of the search criteria.

Thanks for the link to The Garden Conservancy Tours. I've bookmarked this on my desktop and enjoy the fact that the list can be modified. Perhaps we can include one of these out-of-state open houses on a driving jaunt this summer.

I agree.... these are great tours and we also try to go on at least one each season.

Thanks for the additions, Defrost.

I try to go to more than one if I can fit it into my schedule. Last summer I visited several gardens on a May GC Open Day in the Lake Sunapee region and one more Open Day garden in July in southern NH. Some years I don't manage to make any visits, but for me it's right up there with chocolate as far as self-indulgent treats go.

Nhbabs, guess I should have clarified what I wrote, above.

We try to go to all the gardens that are opened on one particular day in a certain geographical area. One year we did the gardens near Hollister House in Washington, CT... another year gardens nearer to the shoreline.

Molie

nhbabs, where did you go in southern NH? I'd like to see a garden that I might possibly be able to get ideas from and one that is mostly maintained by the homeowner. I saw some wonderful small gardens in southwestern NH once and although I enjoyed seeing the Lane garden in Canterbury, that one is not my style at all. Worth seeing though.
I don't think Fortnam gardens in Nashua is on the Conservancy list this year. Although she has a small suburban yard and has done a tremendous job landscaping a steep, shady backyard, she is nuts with tropicals and now requires space in a commercial greenhouse to store them in winter. Like Lane, worth seeing but not many ideas I would use in my own garden.

Darn, there's a secret gardens of Keene NH also on June 21.
Friends of Nashua Symphony I believe is also same weekend.
I was reminded that I went on a tour in sw NH that was nice but I can't remember what town was the key. Maybe Jaffrey?

Secret Gardens of Keene, NH, on June 21? Tell me about it... I used to live in Keene. Wonderful place.

Molie

My goodness, it looks like June 20-22 will be a busy weekend for NH garden tours this year. I guess they don't coordinate schedules to try to spread things out.

Defrost - I went to one garden on a hilltop in Chichester that isn't on the GCOD list this year but is worth looking for next year. Evergreen in Goffstown is good for general ideas as far as not having a lawn in a shady suburban yard and good winter interest, but he uses a lot of borderline invasives for his evergreen groundcovers like Vinca and variegated Euonymus. It looks like there are a few others open in Goffstown and Manchester in a relatively small area so I may do that and visit Uncanoonuc Mt Perennials as well; they have a nice display gardens. Many years (though not this one) there is a GCOD tour in the Hanover, NH and nearby VT area that I have visited.

Another garden tour I have found, but not gone to is the one sponsored by South Church in Concord, NH, usually near the end of June. There is nothing on their website yet, but I will keep an eye out and post if/when something appears.

nhbabs - without starting a separate thread, and I don't want to disrupt your local flow, but saw this on FB this morning and thought New England folks would like to see that Maine Botanical Garden has been voted into the USA top 10 public gardens. (again?) Not sure, but I plan on going there and to Longwood this year. Thanks, Jane

Here is a link that might be useful: Top 10 Gardens

Sorry, I haven't been to secret gardens in Keene, only saw it listed when I was googling.

Thanks NHbabs. I think I may have gone to the same one in Chichester. Originally built as a hotel, I think. Deep perennial borders which were very nice. The owner did say she took care of the flowers herself but someone else mowed the lawn.

There is one in Peterborough that was incredible. The owner has a landscape designer on retainer. Property is very steep with a couple of ponds. There's a small building used as an office. It was several years ago that I saw it on a tour which must have been Peterborough. The owner had also bought the property across the road to develop as a park.

Heck, I think thyme2dig has a wonderful garden! If I have the name correct, we visited after the plant swap at Annie's. Very steep front yard very nicely planted with shrubs.

Jane - I have often thought that the Maine Bot. Garden would be a great place to visit, moseying up the coast, spending a day there, and then moseying back home. It's a bit far for a single day visit, but a 2 or 3 day trip would be lovely. Maybe this summer it will end up on my agenda.

Defrost, Thyme's garden is lovely and is often a stop after Annie's swap.

Barb, ME Coast isn't too bad for a day trip. Quite a bit of driving but it's doable in one day. I've been there in summer and fall, and this thread reminds me that I've got to get up there for spring. I was going to try to get there this winter, but somehow these terrible low temps tossed that idea right out! If you're up for a road trip we can drive up together.

Defrost, you're more than welcome to stop by any time. The cottage area was torn up a bit last fall because we had a new fence put in, so I thought it was a good opportunity to revamp. Not sure how far along the backyard beds were when you were here last but they've grown up in just a few years. We had some vole damage on the front lawn by the road and DH says he wants the lawn gone.......I'm thinking a rockery might be in order. This year he'll repair the lawn, but it does have me thinking.......LOL!

I was on an Open Days tour with that garden in Peterborough you mention. Lots of interesting areas, and the new space across the street had been planted with an allee of crabapples which I'm sure is gorgeous by now since it has been a number of years. Looks like they're on the tour in Aug (Fry Garden).
That Peterborough tour had really, really nice gardens on it and I'm going to have to do that one again this year.

3 of the gardens on the July Open Days tour are in Gofftown this year on the same road. Not sure if they are all the same style.

I've circled Aug 24 on my calendar for the Vermont Open Garden Days. I've visited Cider Hill years ago. I think this can be a day trip for my husband and I although we have talked of doing a VT vacation this year.
The Peterborough gardens look very interesting.

Now if I'm off touring gardens, when am I going to weed and water my own???

thyme2dig, thanks for the open invitation. I especially loved the dark pink allspice (?) shrub you have on the side of the house. You have done a wonderful planting on your steep slope.

Here's the South Congregational Church, Concord NH garden tour info. Tour is June 28.

Here is a link that might be useful: Concord NH June 28 garden tour

Anyone heading out on a tour this weekend?

I'm headed towards the ME seacoast tomorrow since it looks like they are only open one day.

This post was edited by nhbabs on Sat, Jun 21, 14 at 8:30

A friend found information about a garden tour starting in Plymouth NH this Saturday, July 19. I think she said 7 gardens with some in Holderness and Rumney. We pick up the map at the senior citizens center in Plymouth. I was unable to find any information whatsoever on the internet.

We had a nice visit to Tarbin Gardens in Franklin on Rt 127 last Saturday (go at 11am for tour) spending 2 hours on the tour, very informative with a great collection of trees and shrubs. Lots of "rooms" including a formal garden where they can seat 70 for a wedding with winding paths. All just about single handedly made out of former pine forest so soil is not great but neither are they plagued by nasty runner grass like I have. Well tended. The property is in an area where one would not expect a nice garden. Worth the price of admission and we also enjoyed the cream tea.

Plymouth Area Garden Tour 2014 report: this was sponsored by the Plymouth Area Democrats Campaign Office Fund. My husband and I decided that we would see all 8 gardens before having a late lunch in Moultonborough so we started with the Rumney area gardens, then one in Plymouth and then 3 in Holderness. I should have gotten clear directions to the Rumney area since driving directions were based on starting at a different point. Fortunately, my husband was somewhat familiar with the area and guessed better than I did. Gardens were mostly homeowner planned, planted and maintained but one was professionally done and included an impressive slope (facing the house) and also wonderful stonework that replaced a scraggly lawn area due to shade.

Another garden had over 350 labeled day lilies. Another dealt with a very steep lot and experience with zone 5-6 plants that didn't survive the first winter in zone 3/maybe 4. Another steep, hilly garden provided walking sticks and had whimsical treatments throughout planting areas including a shed with a hanging bed. This gardener successfully grew a blue lace cap hydrangea usually not hardy in that area, against the foundation of the house/sunroom. Actually, steep slopes/hillside gardens seemed to be the theme this year and all were well done. My husband was intrigued by a large area of exposed ledge that had planting areas terraced by rocks. A lot of gardens had maidenhair ferns which I don't remember seeing so much of. I much admired the gardener who ended up with a sunny, long roadside border that was thriving. She said lots of bark mulch kept weeds down. The gardener who had to learn what shrubs and perennials would survive in his area (formerly gardened on coast of Maine) recommended a Sandwich Nursery that only sells plants hardy for that area. I remember on a tour several years ago visiting this nursery and meeting a gardener who said she had 22 fewer growing days than at her former home in Nashua.

I would do this tour again. It is held every two years so next date is July 16, 2016.