What is a Garden Tour?
What exactly is a Garden Tour? We’ve often heard this question asked by both men and women, young and old. Many think it’s some sort of tea party. Others think it’s a day set aside for planting. In reality, it’s neither of these, but in today’s drought tolerant reality, even the word “garden” takes on new meaning.
So, let’s start by asking ourselves “what defines a garden?” At one time, the term garden might have brought about images of a manicured English garden brimming with a variety of plush roses and sculptured hedges in the shapes of animals. Or it may have conjured up a tropical paradise filled with lush foliage and scented blooms. But in today’s ever warming Southern California climate and diminishing water resources, most Los Angeles gardens have evolved to become beloved private outdoor spaces which allow for a vast array of creative expressions to enhance our ability to enjoy the great outdoors year-round by simply stepping out our back doors, and in some cases, out our front doors as well.
In this broader definition, a “garden” includes everything from full outdoor kitchens (with or without pizza ovens), fireplaces or firepits, an oversized TV or even a movie projector and screen, multiple seating areas, rain barrels, raised vegetable boxes, pots of herbs, native plants, cacti and grasses, and possibly some artificial turf and rocks. In other words, it’s limited only by one’s imagination. In some cases, people hire landscape designers and professional contractors to bring their vision to fruition, but more often than not, it’s the homeowners themselves who do much of the work to make their vision a reality.
More suitably, our garden tour should probably be named the “Leimert Park Backyard Tour,” or to borrow from Austin, TX, “The Outdoor Living Tour.” We chose to maintain our tour’s name as the Leimert Park Garden Tour rather than rename our tour, but we hope you’ll expand your concept of what a garden tour is in the 21st century in Southern California, and more specifically, in Leimert Park, where creativity and outdoor living abounds!
Now to answer the question, “What exactly is a garden tour?” Simply put, it’s your opportunity to take a self-guided stroll around the normally private backyards of a selected handful of Leimert Park residents who have generously opened their gates to our tour goers. In the process, we sincerely hope you’ll be inspired, as we have been, to create your own personal outdoor space where you can kick back, alone or with friends, and enjoy everything we love about living our best LA lives.