Here are a few garden tours from around the country. Call ahead for reservations, fees and visiting hours, which often change with the seasons. Ask about customized group tours, which are available at
Here are a few garden tours from around the country. Call ahead for reservations, fees and visiting hours, which often change with the seasons. Ask about customized group tours, which are available at many botanical gardens.
GARDEN AND ESTATE TOURS
Atlanta Botanical Garden: www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org or (404) 876-5859. Docents lead tours each Tuesday afternoon (free with admission). Private group tours can be arranged.
Bloedel Reserve: Bainbridge Island, Wash., www.bloedelreserve.org or (206) 842-7631. Reservations required to visit the reserve. Free group tours for six or more; call well in advance.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Brooklyn, N.Y.; www.bbg.org or (718) 623-7200. Guided tours (free with admission) offered weekends, 1 p.m.; no reservations needed. Group tour offerings ([718] 623-7220, for 20 people or more) include garden seasonal highlights with buffet lunch, 32 a person; Palm House luncheon tour, 53- 63; "Meet the Curator" tour, 40 (with lunch 60); art and garden tour, 45.
Chicago Botanic Garden: Glencoe, Ill.; www.chicagobotanic.org/tours or (847) 835-5440. Earth Day Walk in search of wildflowers, April 28; Heritage and Lakeside Gardens tours, May 5; tree care tours, May 12 and 19. Spring Garden Walks, Saturdays, 1 p.m., April 28-May 26, free. Ticketed tours, 4- 32, include tram tours (starting in April), walking tours, group tours, behind-the-scenes tours of greenhouses and laboratories, a "Bright Encounters Tour" by tram (Heritage, Rose and English Walled Gardens), twilight tours on summer evenings. Boxed lunch option on some tours.
Denver Botanic Gardens: www.botanicgardens.org or (720) 865-3533. Drop-in tours, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays; themes include general highlights, water gardens, trees and other subjects.
Desert Botanical Garden: Phoenix, Ariz.; www.dbg.org or (480) 941-1225. Daily public tours, "Taste of the Desert" tours, nighttime "Summer Flashlight" tours (free with admission). Beginning March 1, birdwatching and spring wildflower tours.
Garden in the Woods: Framingham, Mass., www.newfs.org or (508) 877-7630. Open April 14-Oct. 31. New England Wild Flower Society offers tours ( 10 per person) of seasonal highlights, cart tours for visitors needing mobility assistance.
Huntington Botanical Gardens: San Marino, Calif.; www.huntington.org or (626) 405-2240 (for tours). Informal, walk-in tours available with admission. Tours requiring reservations include estate tours, 17; and "Tea & amp; Tour," 49 (groups of four or more).
Middleton Place: Charleston, S.C., www.middletonplace.org or (843) 556-6020. "Camellia Walks" tours (free with admission) focusing on camellias; 11 a.m., Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, March 20, 22, 24; reservations required.
Missouri Botanical Garden: St. Louis, Mo.; www.mobot.org or (800) 642-8842. Guided walking tours (free with admission) offered daily at 1 p.m. Reservations required for tours of the park's Woodland Garden, Ottoman Garden, George Washington Carver Garden and more; fees vary.
Monticello: Charlottesville, Va.; www.monticello.org or (434) 984-9822. Guided tours of Thomas Jefferson's restored flower and vegetable gardens, tree grove and fruit orchards offered eight times daily April 1-Oct. 31 (free with admission).
San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum: www.sfbotanicalgarden.org or (415) 661-1316. Daily docent-led tours, family walks and birding walks (free with admission).
TOURS OF PRIVATE GARDENS
Atlanta: Gardens for Connoisseurs Tour, May 12-13, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org or (404) 876-5859. Tickets 30 ( 20 in advance). Fundraiser for the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Tour includes 11 private gardens, from a Japanese-themed garden to a woodland garden.
Charleston, S.C.:
Ashley Hall Tour of Homes and Gardens, April 21, 2 to 5 p.m. Tour of private dwellings and gardens in the historic district, to benefit Ashley Hall School, whose alumnae include Barbara Bush. Tickets, 35; (843) 965-8454.
Festival of Houses and Gardens, Thursday through April 14; www.historiccharleston.org. Tours of private gardens in 150 historic houses in 11 colonial and antebellum neighborhoods.
Garden Club of Charleston Annual Walking Tour, Saturday through March 24, 2 to 5 p.m., www.thegardenclubofcharleston.com or (843) 530-5164. Tickets, 40.
Natchez, Miss.: Symphony of Gardens Tour, May 4 and 5, www.natchezpilgrimage.com. Thirteen town and estate gardens open to the public for self-guided tours, including Monmouth Plantation and Rosalie, an antebellum house owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Tickets 7 and up.
Newport, R.I.: Secret Garden Tour, June 15-17; www.secretgardentours.org or (401) 847-0514. Self-guided walking tour of private gardens in the Historic Point section. Tickets, 25 ( 20 in advance).
Virginia: Historic Garden Week in Virginia, sponsored by the Garden Club of Virginia, April 21-28, www.VAGardenweek.org or (804) 644-7776. Thirty tours, ranging from private homes and James River plantations to the University of Virginia Pavilion Gardens, which were designed by Thomas Jefferson. Tickets 10- 40.