Spring Tour Showcases Tyler Gardens Today

The Smith County Master Gardeners Garden Tour Committee has named five gardens to be featured in the 2011 Home Garden Tour that will be held today from 9 am to 4 pm.

GARDENS

Just south of the Loop 323, Master Gardener Eloise Muxworthy has transformed her large, hot, grassy backyard into a cottage-style garden filled with Japanese maples, hydrangeas, azaleas and numerous perennials. Three large topiaries, a recycled concrete wall and bubbling fountain add whimsy and interest.

In her mid-town garden, Karen Goforth has reclaimed beautiful beds and brickwork created by the original owner in the 1930s. More than a dozen camellias along with azaleas and colorful annuals enhance the character of this new “old” garden, Ms. Bowman said.

Located in The Cascades, the Diedrick garden blends a natural forested area with a more formal landscape filled with hydrangeas, roses and azaleas. The garden frames a spectacular view of the golf course all the way to downtown Tyler.

Going north to the Swann area, the Kindig garden is a refreshing island in an open countryside that incorporates feng shui principles of design and creates an especially peaceful garden filled with roses, azaleas, annuals, perennials, and crape myrtles for all year color.

Farther north off Harvey Road is the Holey estate garden, the creation of three generations of rose growers and nurserymen. Several garden “rooms” include a kitchen garden, an all-white garden, an herb garden and a formal rose garden. A creek bed shaded by 50-year-old bald cypress trees, oaks, pines and hollies is planted with azaleas, dogwoods, hydrangeas and ferns.

TICKETS

Tickets are $12 the day of the tour.  Tickets are available at the Potpourri House Restaurant, 3320 Troup Highway; Brookshire’s, 100 Rice Road; Horaney’s, 5520 Old Jacksonville Highway; Harris Nursery, U.S. Highway 69; and Blue Moon Gardens, 13602 FM 279 in Chandler.