Homeowners open their gardens and grounds to guests

The Northwest Louisiana Master Gardeners will hold their annual spring garden tour, Le Tour des Jardins, on May 12 and 13. This year’s garden tour will take you through eight beautiful private gardens throughout Shreveport. Tour hours will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 12, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on May 13. Advance tickets are $10 and can be purchased at any Citizens National Bank, or by calling the Master Gardener office at (318) 698-0010. Tickets may also be purchased at any garden on the days of the tour for $15.

Here is a glimpse of the gardens featured on the tour:

Patty and David Leeth Garden. Located in the Ellerbe Road area, when you enter this yard through a jasmine arbor, you will find Turk’s cap, Mexican petunia, false indigo, shrimp plant, black elephant ears and raised vegetable beds with brick and stone from Patty’s grandmother’s house. A special feature is a greenhouse constructed from salvaged windows. The greenhouse is surrounded by citrus and an organic garden.

Judy and Dan Roemer Garden. This beautiful shade garden in Spring Lake has a forest of big trees in front of holly, Japanese maple, pittosporum, azaleas and caladiums along the front porch. Follow the gate to a lovely brick patio surrounded by seasonal colors of pentas, mock orange and sasanquas, birdbaths and wonderful statuary. The backyard is an established shade garden.

Ann and Ron Stokes Garden. This Pierremont modern garden is located across from Norton Art Gallery’s beautiful grounds and has a front yard blooming with a fig tree, violets, Mexican petunia, Carolina Jessamine, white butterfly ginger and shady perennials. Through the gate is a wonderful deck and patio in back with a stone waterfall and seating areas surrounded by a large container garden.

Sarah and Howard Scott Garden. The Scotts tend a unique garden in Highland, and because of its size and shape, the variety of small garden rooms fill the property with delightful ideas around every corner. Walk up the driveway decorated with seashells and through the gate covered with ivy and lined with Louisiana iris. There is a whimsical sink and greenhouse housing a 25-year-old bonsai Gingko tree and orchids. Banana trees and ferns surround a cabana and plenty of yard art. Look for heart shapes hidden everywhere in topiary, birdbaths and water features!

Mimi and Lee Harvill Garden. The front garden in River Bluff on the Red River in the Benton Road area, is filled with Little Gem magnolias, holly, foxtail fern, pink hidden ginger, hibiscus, roses and much more. There is a secret patio tucked into a shady cove, and around the corner is a great river view with climbing roses, loquat trees, crepe myrtle and an herb garden surrounding a pool and outdoor kitchen.

Sue and Al Wyche Garden. In front of the house in River Bluff on the Red River also in the Benton Road area, there is a large stand of lavender muhly grass blowing gently in the breeze, elephant ears and a pretty stone patio with a beautiful fountain, holly and seasonal color leading to the front door. Walk through the gate to the back vista at the bend of the Red River. Sasanquas and crepe myrtles line the fence down to the river. The outdoor kitchen holds pots of creeping rosemary and a huge philodendron. Beds are filled with roses and pink bubble gum petunia.

Susie and Ford Stinson. Walk up this Benton Road-area driveway alee of cedar trees and Indian hawthorns to four-plus acres planted with cypress trees, Meyer lemon, apple, plum and pear trees. Ford is an expert daylily hybridizer, raising 2,550 daylily plants for his own enjoyment and testing hundreds of these for other hybridizer friends. Don’t miss the fenced butterfly garden containing primroses, bananas, lantana, butterfly bush, roses, redbud and birdhouses surrounding the pool and patio.

Benton Heritage Village. A former Master Gardeners’ grant recipient, Cypress Area Garden Club will be featured this year for their project of maintaining the landscaped grounds surrounding Heritage Village in the town of Benton. It includes historical buildings moved and restored at the site. The Hughes house, built in 1845, the 1884 Heath log cabin, a one-room school house owned by the Bossier PTA, and a blacksmith shop are just some of the sights to see. The gardens surrounding these historical buildings are blooming with roses, cannas, butterfly bush, a Grancy Greybeard, daylilies and redbud trees.

A Garden Bazaar will be held during the tour at the Pioneer Heritage Center at LSUS, and while there, enjoy a tour of the Heritage Center Gardens, a project of the Northwest Louisiana Master Gardeners. The gardens contain an herb garden, a medicinal garden by the doctor’s office and native trees, plants, and flowers that grow well in our climate. Admission to the Heritage Center is free.

Proceeds from the garden tour fund future Master Gardener projects and help promote the Master Gardeners’ mission to enhance the quality of knowledge for gardeners in the community.

For more information, contact the Master Gardener office at (318) 698-0010 or www.nwlamg.weebly.com.

– Judy Roemer