Field Trip: Gather Ideas on a DIY Garden Tour

Nothing beats taking a garden tour for inspiration and education. I am fortunate enough to live in an area with several annual garden tours, but for one reason or another, I've never been able to make even one of them. This year the timing finally worked out for me to attend one in a neighborhood close to my home. Two of my kids are gardeners, and we had so much fun traveling from house to house, chatting with the homeowners and admiring their handiwork.

Ideas From My Local Garden Tour


This border of Annabelle hydrangea with a towering hedge of yew stopped me in my tracks. The yew not only provides complete privacy from the newer housing development behind it, but it also beautifully highlights the hydrangea. The look is so simple and yet so stunning. I realized it's the perfect solution for camouflaging the ugly wood retaining walls in an area of my own yard.


This homeowner replaced his lawn with a long grass, Nepeta, and oregano. He did it himself in stages, and it has a free-form flow that is natural and pleasing.


These wine bottles aren't just decorative; they're shoring up a portion of the yard that would otherwise get washed away in a big rain. The homeowner was quick to say that friends gave her and her husband many of the bottles, although she purchased a few of the cobalt ones, her favorites.


This small vegetable garden packs a lot into a tiny space. A gate and curving path like these would make mundane tasks like weeding and watering a delight.


I liked how this homeowner planted this palette garden with strawberries and impatiens to create a practical and lovely display all summer long.

Create Your Own Garden Tour

Although this was the first time I have taken a formal garden tour, I realized I have been making my own tours for years. Even if you don't have access to any formal garden tours locally, everywhere you look there are places ripe for a DIY version.


Public and private gardens and parks. I am fortunate to live close to Meijer Gardens, a botanical garden and internationally acclaimed sculpture park. We have been members for years and love to tour the gardens. When we were rebuilding our house, I paid special attention to shrubs, particularly those planted in swaths.


Local nurseries. One of my favorites has a children's garden. It features vegetables and herbs as well as many perennials and self-seeding annuals. Even on an overcast day, this is a bright spot.


In my own previous gardens, I've had foxgloves as a major feature, but I hadn't gotten them established in our new home. This display inspired me to do it.


I already had a few washtubs and buckets, but this casual and pleasing display galvanized (sorry, couldn't help myself) my desire to collect more.





Even if a garden center doesn't have a formal display garden, there will usually be extensive plantings. I always pay attention to the use of color.


I also like to observe the mix of annuals with perennials and shrubs.


A beautiful planter is always a good thing to record.


Businesses. Some companies have large budgets for their grounds. I took these pictures at my husband's office when I was thinking about underplanting our evergreens.


This hedge of viburnum helped me figure out how many I would need to have the same effect.


Neighborhood entrances. Several gated communities with elaborate entrances are within walking distance of our house. I walk by this one almost every day. You can tell this was a quick snap, taken while I was walking the dog last fall, but it helped me remember the particular shade of purplish-pink Cleome when I was buying annuals last spring.


Medians. I took this at a stoplight, because I liked the mix of perennial grasses with the salvia and annuals. You'll notice salvia in many of my pictures, because last year I added a grouping of them that was a little bluer than I expected, and I was trying to figure out what to plant alongside.

Neighbors' yards. I've already confessed to being a house stalker, so it should come as no surprise that this involves garden stalking too. I don't take pictures, though ... yet.

How about you? What DIY garden tours have you created? Share what you've seen in the Comments.

More: How to Cultivate a Young Gardener | Inspiring gardens

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