27th annual Secret Gardens Tour set for July 10
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.» If you love wandering through people’s gardens for inspiration, ideas or just plain enjoyment, mark your calendar for the 27th annual Secret Gardens Tour on Sunday, July 10.
This year’s gardens include sprawling suburban oases with terraced perennials and woodsy paths, tiny hillside hideaways tucked behind a stretch of in-city townhomes, and jampacked havens for backyard pollinators.
“I love knowing I am helping to create a biodiverse habitat. Plant it and they will come,” said Johanna Garrison. Her in-town garden is 95 percent native, focused on attracting and propagating butterflies and other invertebrates.
Most of this year’s gardens are in nearby Saratoga Springs neighborhoods. Three are between Lake Lonely and Saratoga Lake.
The Secret Gardens Tour is presented by Soroptimist International of Saratoga County, the local branch of an international nonprofit service organization committed to empowering and improving the lives of women, girls and their communities. This fundraiser benefits a host of programs and people in keeping with the Soroptimist mission. These include grants for women pursuing educational goals in the face of economic and personal challenges, and a program helping domestic violence victims obtain financial and legal independence.
A short drive from Garrison’s pollinator habitat, multiple vegetable beds, big splashes of poolside annuals, and an arch leading to a memorial pet garden await visitors in the backyard of the home of Dave and Carol Godette. “Granite benches and a fountain were added to make it the perfect setting for quiet contemplation,” Carol Godette said.
Down the hill from the Godettes’ garden is an extraordinary row of townhomes whose close-knit residents have created charming individual gardens in the challenging terrain at the rear of their property. Visitors on this stop of the tour will enter the flat, paved alley on foot from Nelson Avenue and walk two-tenths of a mile to observe a series of creative, postage-stamp spaces.
In contrast, heading toward the lakes is the “Garden of Gifts,” as Leslie Brennan lovingly refers to her expansive garden, which is at once spectacular and peaceful, with terraced plantings, walkways in shade and sun, and welcoming spots to pause.
Less than a mile away, garden tour participants will find the property of Pat and Craig Stickney, whose landscaping has evolved over 25 years into what they describe as “primarily a shady respite with a series of vignette-type gardens, from a Tuscan-style stone patio with thick moss and a pond inset, to a simple stone bench tucked into a grove of trees.”
And down the street, Sue and Allan Littell harvest luxurious lavender for moth-deterring sachets to protect their winter woolens. Also noteworthy in their garden is an Inaba Shidara variety of Japanese maple with fine feathery foliage.
Back in the downtown area,
Richard and Susan Cooley describe their uniquely shaped property, hidden at the end of a quiet city street, as a work in progress. When they designed and built their home several years ago, they preserved the mature trees to maintain a wooded landscape. Color, shape, variegation and texture are important considerations as Susan tries out different plantings. She likens gardening “to an artist’s canvas — ever-changing and a process.”
Advance tickets are available now for $25 online at www.soroptimistsaratoga.org and in person at Northshire Bookstore on Broadway, Cudney’s retail locations, and Faddegon’s Nursery in Latham. Tickets on the day of the July 10 tour, if still available, are $30 and may be purchased outside the Saratoga Springs Visitor Center on Broadway across from Congress Park between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Descriptions of all the gardens and suggested driving directions are provided. The gardens will be open to visitors from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., rain or shine.