Open Them Garden Gates

Category: gardens and old home renovation | Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 9:07 pm

Blog 3

Across the Carolinas, there must be dozens and perhaps hundreds of gardens that are in private hands, and that would make really fine places for gardeners to visit. I have read many times in various publications that information is made available to those living in Britain on when and where private gardens are open. This is done in convenient booklets for people to use throughout the year when planning day or weekend trips. I'd love to have something like that for the Carolinas or for all of the South..

A booklet like those I have read about presupposes that the owners of gardens are ready and willing to share their gardens with fellow gardeners. Sometimes a small charge is made for entrance into a garden, but other gardens are open free of charge. Finding gardeners willing to share their gardens, and then having a means of communicating that would require something of a cultural shift in the good ol' US of A. But it sure would be nice.

Once in awhile, I hear about a garden tour that is arranged to raise money for a charitable organization. Such tours so often are linked to a "tour of homes" which are certainly nice, and I'd hate to see them go away. But all too often the gardens that you see as part of a homes tour are really an afterthought and the real star of the tour are the interiors of those homes. Garden tours also tend to focus on the biggest, or the best being taken care of by a local lawn and garden maintenance company. Again, nothing wrong with such tours and they are certainly enjoyable, but I think that the world of interesting gardens is not just populated with big, professionally maintained gardens. That's a bit like the thinking which gives us tours focusing on just municipal, or university or corporate gardens. Enjoyable tours to be sure, but they only scratch the surface of what I suspect are the number of wonderful, albeit likely small gardens that individuals have created by the sweat of their gardening genius and maintained by their sweat of their brows.

I have heard and read repeatedly that gardening is the number one hobby in the United Sates. I take it as gospel that the gardens are out there. We have to find them. I also think it is a certainty that people- mostly but not confined to gardeners- would enjoy the opportunity to do some visiting, to see what others are doing and perhaps even to ask some questions of fellow garden owners about what they do and how they do it.

Through this blog, I'd like to urge gardeners to open their gardens from time to time, and to facilitate development of some communication piece that lets others know of when gardens are open. I'd also like, during my retiring but not reclining years, to create a program for public TV access channels where private gardens are visited, gardeners are interviewed, and the world of Southern gardening could begin to open up.

The fact that I have no television experience is no deterence. I one had no radio experience but went ahead and created a half-hour radio program on teh South called SouthernCurrents, and it aired for five years.

As a result of my first two blogs, I have gotten a few questions about subjects I have alreadt raised, and in my next blog, I will address those questions, as well as trying to add a picture of the 200-year old shack name Melrose.

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toni wrote on Wed Nov 07, 2007 9:19 pm:

Contact your local Master Gardener program at
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/masgar/

The one here in north Texas has garden tours offered during the year, maybe your local group does too.

Droopy wrote on Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:09 am:

Norway has lots of gardening clubs, and they do a lot of touring. The gardens visited are mostly private, and made and maintained by the owners. Some are spectacularly dramatic, with rock, waterfalls and small woods, while others are small oases with smart solutions. I wish you luck on your project.

CritterPainter wrote on Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:15 pm:

A couple of homey-gardens near here thought that would be a good thing, and started opening their gardens during a weekend when there was other events going on, they just tagged themselves onto the list. It's been building up larger every year and really encourages gardeners to experiment with interesting planting styles.

GardeninVanGogh wrote on Wed Nov 14, 2007 1:02 am:

In Puerto Rico, no one allows the public to visit his/her garden. That is one thing I miss from living in USA. On this island, there is no systematic maintenance of any garden, botanic or not, trees are mutilated constantly, planted and forgotten. It is like a cruel jail sentence to watch the vegetation all over the place without any thought or practice as to what to do with it. Fortunately I keep around a hundred species of young trees,ground covers,plants,and bushes in fiberglass pots in the terrace. Frangipanis and arums are my favorites. You are fortunate to have gardens and people seriously interested in horticulture, here that is not the case.