Gardeners are inventive people so when you take a garden tour your bound to come away with some ideas or inspiration. I've had time for just one garden tour so far this year … the 2011 Lyme/Old Lyme Garden Tour with proceeds going to a worthy organization - the Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut. Each property had some noteworthy design features worth sharing here.

One garden used color repetition to tie different areas together.

Orange, featured in plantings and the seat cushions, is beautifully contrasted by the brown decking and umbrella …

then it's picked up as the feature color in adjoining areas …

to tie the gardens together.

A highlight in another garden … masses of common plants.

A row of daylilies (Hemerocallis) beautifully offsets this magnificent stone retaining wall.

Bachelor's buttons (Centaurea) provide airy, understated, cooling color in a full sun garden.

One set of gardens stood out for their wow factor and inventive ideas.

This small birch grove, underplanted by ferns and featuring a rather large praying mantis, welcomes visitors to a most unusual and unexpected series of gardens carved out of neighboring Connecticut woods.

The property owners literally went with the flow to deal with drainage issues. They created curving dry stream beds where water flowed naturally.

The creamy round rock dramatically contrasts against the black mulch. Native flat field stones bridge pathways crossing over the streambeds.

Besides the resident botanist's collection of shrubs and trees …

the totally fenced in 'back yard' included a raised bed vegetable garden

and a pond and all it's associated sounds.

Drama continued inside the greenhouse with this centrally located green wall … whimsy surrounded by heat loving greenery.

Many of the properties highlighted vegetable gardens to give visitors ideas to use in their own gardens …

mostly raised beds and all fenced from predators.

One vegetable garden brought in a cozy feature … brightly painted chairs and a table that encouraged visitors to sit a spell and enjoy the beauty of edible plants.

My favorite gardens evoked a sense of peaceful relaxation …

of beauty and interest and an understated drama around every turn and from every view.

Many of the gardens enticed me to sit and enjoy the views around a home, along a wall, on a slope, on the edge of a field,

or in the woods.

This view left visitors with welcoming feeling even on the way out. I love the use of nepeta along the outer  edge – instead of farther back in this driveway planting.

I like taking garden tours to get ideas … and to spend time with my best friend and garden touring buddy. While touring I pay close attention to the way I feel when I walk through gardens. Those that work for me give the sense that I could live there.

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