Warwick Garden Tour

For me, one of the highlights of June is the Warwick Valley Countryside Garden Tour. I have been going for years and in fact many of the plants in my garden; I first discovered growing in someone else's, during one of the tours. The route is self-guided and at your own pace. When I bought my ticket ($15) I was given a yellow flower sticker to wear and a tour booklet with information on each garden and explicit directions from one house to the next. At each turn along the way, there are yellow flower arrows clearly pointing the way.

This year there were 8 houses on the tour. Starting with the lovely garden in the picture, I wandered through a front yard transformed into a putting course, a wood nymph's playground outside of the community of Amity, 4 petite gardens on one block, including a white garden (the first one I had ever seen) and I ended in Greenwood Lake, NY at the most incredible lakeside property I have ever been on. Gardening in a microclimate is tough, whether on top of a mountain or lakeside. They have done an amazing job; around each curve there were surprises.

I did not find anything new that I HAD to run out and buy, but I did get lots of ideas on how to deal with the rocks. AND a yen to have my garden on one of the tours, maybe even next year.