Thirty years after the first Garden Tour of Athens, the Piedmont Gardeners continue to showcase the beautiful gardens of Athens. Whether you are an experienced gardener, collector of unique plants, or a beginner gardener, this year’s Spring Garden Tour has something for you.
To celebrate 30 years of garden tours, this year’s tour will feature six gardens, instead of the usual four, for the first time ever. The first tour was held in 1992 and grew out of a serendipitous discussion of gardening enthusiasts with Allan Armitage, at the time a horticulture professor at UGA, now retired, and author of dozens of books on plants and gardens. Now, all these years later the tour features Armitage’s delightful in-town garden! He will be on hand as well to share his botanical wisdom.
Around the corner from him, you will get to enjoy two additional gardens – one with exuberant colorful flowerbeds, green flowing vistas, and a small Zen garden. The other is a compact garden located in the historic Woodlawn neighborhood which defies its limited space with an impression of luxury and elegance. For lovers of a romantic garden style with its roses, clematis, and peonies, enjoy the experience of an “oasis in the city” on Prince Place.
A little further afield you can visit a more formal garden incorporating arbors with elegant urns and the prettiest “She Shed” around. Finally, located on the banks of the Middle Oconee River, you will see a true gardener’s delight with landscaped terraces and courtyards.
Proceeds from the Tour fund generous annual scholarships which The Piedmont Gardeners award to UGA students of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. This year’s tour will take place Saturday, April 15th, 2023 from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Rain or Shine. Tickets are $20 at vendors, $25 online and at the Gardens on tour day, $10 student with ID. Tickets are available at: Appointments@Five, Athens Interior Market, Athens Seed Lawn & Garden, Cofer’s Home & Garden Showplace, Farm 441@Thomas Orchards, The State Botanical Garden Gift Shop, Wild Birds Unlimited, online at piedmontgardeners.org and at each garden on the day of the tour. For additional information please visit www.piedmontgardeners.
