DESIGNED TO INSPIRE
Today’s Secret Garden Tour reveals a century of styles you may wish to adapt at home
Despite the 1960s theme (in honor of the La Jolla Historical Society’s 60th anniversary), the six gardens that will be featured in the Secret Garden Tour of La Jolla have inspirations from the 1920s to 1990s.
The self-guided event, presented today by the historical society, runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Attendees will register at the La Jolla Historical Society Wisteria Cottage at 780 Prospect St., where they will check in and receive a wristband necessary to gain entrance to each gardenand a program booklet with the locations and map of the secret gardens. Registration opens at 9 a.m., the gardens at 10 a.m. Tourgoers may visit the gardens in any order throughout the day.
The Secret Garden Boutique, with plants, gifts and supplies, will offer free admission to the public on the Wisteria Cottage grounds throughout the day.
The garden locations are kept secret until the day of the tour but will span the 92037 ZIP code, with properties in Bird Rock, Muirlands, The Village and more. Thus,
each is “a little different ... with its plantings and its themes,” event chair Meg Davis said.
Calling the tour a source of “great ideas and great inspiration” for what guests can do in their own gardens, Davis said her favorite garden has been on the tour before but the homeowners “have put a lot of work into [it] over the years. People that have been on the tour will see what they’ve done and where they have taken the garden. They did some remodeling on the house to accommodate the garden, and there are a lot of personal touches. So it is very creative and really beautiful.”
Lauren Lockhart, executive
director of the La Jolla Historical Society, said one of her favorites is a garden focused on droughttolerant plants. “It feels really lush and full and has interesting sculptural elements,” she said. “It has a modern aesthetic, and I think people will be surprised by that one.
“A number of the garden locations have a really rich history of La Jolla embedded in their site. So we are excited to share that history as part of the garden experience.”
As in past years, artists will paint in each garden and musicians will welcome guests and help set the ambience. Each location
also will feature a tabletop display that complements the garden.
A silent auction will conclude the tour. A new focus for the auction will be “special tours and unique experiences you can’t get anywhere else,” Lockhart said.
Lockhart called the Secret Garden Tour “one of our most important fundraisers,” with proceeds helping to fund historical society programming.
“We love that in addition to all the attendees experiencing the gardens, they help us sustain our work all year long,” she said. “The revenue goes to our free public programs and our exhibitions that are offered with free admission. It is
vital to our organization’s success.”
The Secret Garden Boutique will have gardening accessories, plants and gifts by local artisans available for purchase. Because the event falls on World Bee Day, many of the crafts and supplies will center on the importance of bees to local and global ecosystems.
Self-guided tour tickets are $65 the day of the event. Historical society members get $10 off any tour ticket option.
Learn more at lajollahistory.org.