It’s amazing what you can find behind a fence.
There’s a Zen garden, a vintage phone booth and a serpentine cedar tree with branches hanging like blue icicles.
The antique phone and the gardens (all in Marietta) are private and off-limits. This month, they’ll be open for a rare look inside. Garden tours in Columbia, Strasburg and Marietta will open the gates at 23 private properties to raise money for community groups and highlight horticultural creativity.
“There are so many nice little gardens hidden away,” says Karen Sullivan, chairperson for Marietta’s garden tour.
Here’s more about three upcoming garden tours.
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Art in the Gardens
When: Saturday, June 8, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
What: Tour eight gardens in Columbia, including residential properties, a church and Wright’s Ferry Mansion. Each stop has one artist (or more) painting en plein air. Some stops will have musicians.
Cost: Tickets are $15 and will be sold the day of the tour at Columbia Market House, 15 S. Third St., from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Benefits: Create Columbia’s upcoming grant program for a community art project.
More information:
Not to miss: Removing trees created sunnier spots in four of the gardens on the tour. Each gardener took a different approach to redesign and keep both plants and people happy.
Secret Gardens of Strasburg Tour
When: Saturday, June 8, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, June 9, noon to 4 p.m.
What: Tour nine private gardens plus the Strasburg Community Garden.
Cost: $15 for and Main Street Antiques and Speckled Hen Café. The days of the tour, tickets are $20 at First Presbyterian Church, 101 S. Decatur St., Strasburg.
Benefits: Strasburg Heritage Society, a group committed to preservation, education, appreciation of the area’s cultural inheritance and historic building restoration.
More information:
Not to miss: The Gonder Mansion on West Main Street was built in 1905 by railroad magnate Benjamin Gonder as a summer home. The home has seven bedrooms, four interior staircases and, according to legend, a ghostly visitor. Outdoors, the Victorian-style garden has pink roses, white hydrangeas plus traditional boxwood shrubs, ferns and lilacs. It’s a beautiful, impressive home that many are curious to explore, says Heather Reynolds, garden tour co-chair.
Marietta Garden Tour
When: Sunday, June 16, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
What: Tour eight homes and join floral design seminars from Gretchen Montayne of Pebbles and Petals. There’s also are pork barbecue meals ($10) at Marietta Community House.
Cost: $12 in advance at plus Bron’s Deli, Marietta; River Road Produce; Floral Designs of Mount Joy and Murphy’s Mercantile at Hinkle’s Restaurant, Columbia. The day of the tour, tickets are $15 at Marietta Community House, 264 W. Market St.
Benefits: Renovations at Marietta Community House, including upcoming kitchen upgrades.
More information: or Karen Sullivan at 717-994-6661.
Not to miss: George and Pat Shinkosky used to store construction equipment on a gravel parking area at their home on West Walnut Street. Over a year, they’ve transformed the two-level space with a mix of yard sale finds, architectural pieces and containers, Sullivan says. Look for a greenhouse made from vintage doors, a carousel horse and a piano filled with plants.
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