Master Gardeners present Le Tour des Jardins

Le Tour des Jardins, an annual spring tour featuring some of the most beautiful private gardens in Shreveport, includes five stunning properties this year. The event, presented by the Northwest Louisiana Master Gardeners, will be on May 11 and 12. Tour hours will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 11, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on May 12. 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.

A glimpse of the gardens featured on the tour:

Dr. Gordon and Laurie Calahan Garden

Located in the Lakeside on Long Lake neighborhood, you will find ornamental azalea and annual plants in the front garden and enter through the gate to find native trees in the back such as sassafras, maple, beech, mayhaw, bald cypress, American holly, Shumard oaks, big elms and sycamore. There are dogwoods purchased from Dr. Willis that came from Tennessee, a thornless blackberry, Turk’s cap, hydrangeas, an Asian persimmon, banana magnolia and southern magnolia, sweet olive and a buckthorn that brings birds into the garden. The lake in back is beautifully surrounded by pond cypress, climbing muscadine grapes and Louisiana iris.

Dr. Jim and Lynn Burke Garden

This gated garden off Overton Brooks Road fills 2.5 acres with a variety of shade and sun plants including hosta, azalea, lantana, forsythia and bottlebrush in the sizeable front drive area. Around the side garden are a snowball viburnum, daylilies, plumbago, agapanthus, roses, gingers and a gorgeous light pink camellia. The obedient plant attracts butterflies and bees. The backyard is landscaped around the stoneedged pool with yellow Esperanza, Baptisia, grasses, oleander and a pond within a wooded area of cypress, willow and river birch trees.

Dr. Charles and Kim Lyon Garden

This large garden in Southern Trace backs up to the golf course and has an expansive view. A fountain in the circle drive is planted with annuals around the border and a dry-stream river rock bed crossing the circle. Holly trees anchor the front beds with annuals. In the back and around the pool, you will find palm trees, an outdoor kitchen, roses, red oaks and terracing leading down to the basketball court and golf course view.

Mark and Nannette Crews Garden

This smaller garden in the Ellerbe Road area is packed with personality. The front beds are filled with annuals, and as you enter the side gate, you will see pots filled with parsley, rosemary, basil and wire vine. There are camellia, sasanqua and sweet olives near the covered patio overlooking a wooded area with a river rock creek and a variety of trees with layers of varying textured foliage including Little Gem magnolia, weeping willow and pines. In sunny spots, there are daylilies in orange, yellow and pale pink, and a screen serves as a base for a climbing pink Mandevilla and pink sweetheart roses.

David and Peggy Murphy Garden (Shown on these pages)

This shady garden in the East Ridge neighborhood with a rolling front yard is filled with crepe myrtles, Japanese red maples, sweet olive, azaleas, iron plant, agapanthus and ferns with annuals near the front door. Go through the gate to find a screened summer house in back with large oak trees, colossal cedar screening the fence, vitex – chaste tree, plumbago, cannas and Little Gem magnolias. In one corner is a prayer garden with a variety of crosses and juniper ground cover. Along the walkway, you will see holly, shi shi sasanqua, society garlic, rosemary and grasses. On the raised back patio, there is a beautiful fire feature and an outdoor kitchen, water features, art and a small greenhouse.

Greenwood Cemetery

A former Master Gardener grant recipient, Greenwood Cemetery’s restoration began in 1997 as a joint partnership between the City of Shreveport and the Shreveport Garden Study Club, a member of Garden Clubs of America. This major project of the garden club is designed to restore, preserve and beautify historic property. A gatehouse has been added at the entrance, and wrought-iron fencing surrounds the property. Drive up the left lane to the beautiful pavilion built with a grant from the Community Foundation. A grant from the Master Gardeners assisted in adding 100 native trees around the pond and the grounds and a pollinator garden containing pink muhly grass, Liatris, buttonbush and milkweed, which is a host for the monarch butterfly. Many gravestones are historical and are stunningly beautiful.

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.