By Dennis Patton

Admit it. You have always wanted to poke your nose into that tantalizing Extension Master Gardener yard around the corner, but you don’t know the owners.

The Public Garden Tour gives you a legitimate excuse to poke around and more! The Johnson County Extension Master Gardeners biennial garden tour on May 17 and 18 is made for looking, learning and exploring. The 2024 tour features six gardens within miles of each other in Johnson County.

A garden tour is your chance to step into your neighbors’ gardens and discover ideas, inspiration, and enjoyment. A tour ticket provides access to learn from the best and most talented gardeners. The gardens selected will showcase a variety of styles, plant materials and creativity.

Weishaar Garden. Relaxation is a true asset to gardens, and the Weishaar Garden’s eye-catching containers of annuals and perennials brimming with color and personality will provide this serenity. This backyard sanctuary was created to be a welcoming retreat after a long day. This elegant landscape includes an extraordinary corner pergola with climbing heirloom roses and clematis and fabulous garden décor, making this garden anything but average.

Ecklund Garden. This overflows with variety and creativity. A welcoming patio graced with colorful planted pots invites the visitor to stay and enjoy all the sights, sounds and fragrances of this beautiful garden. Garden décor is paired artfully with plantings and gives the guest so much to see you will surely want to take your time and enjoy it all.

O’Neill Garden. This continues the creative garden theme. It will delight with its combination of art and plants. With so much personality, you will want to linger for a long time and enjoy everything it has to offer. Birdbaths and unique garden ornaments, among fabulous plantings, will capture your imagination.

Livingston Garden. Perhaps you would like to step into a shady wonderland that the Livingston Garden will provide. A winding path will lead you down into a valley covered with various plants that thrive in the shade, especially hostas. You will see unique fountains and an inspired tomato garden with the prettiest supports you have ever visited.

Rosché Garden. This playful and charming haven features unique, one-of-a-kind glass art pieces blended lovingly with beautiful plants. These talented gardeners’ use of space, color, texture and balance highlights their talents both as designers and gardeners.

Patton Garden. Lastly, the Patton Garden has a meaningful collection of plants and a budget-friendly landscape. Come and view this garden that looks like a million bucks: the result of talent, hard work, ingenuity and know-how. Get some great tips that will help you create a landscape that will be the envy of your neighborhood.

While on the tour, you will have the opportunity to visit our Garden Thyme Marketplace. Back by popular demand are hand-cast concrete leaves and steppingstones. New this year are decorative mosaic mushrooms, beaded plant stakes, floral plant containers, tool bucket caddies, hand-painted garden art poles, insect houses and so much more will be available.

Tickets for the 2024 Extension Master Gardeners’ Garden Tour are $25 per person until May 1. After that date, tickets are $30 each. Complete information on purchasing tickets and a sneak peek of each garden can be found after March 15 at johnson.k-state.edu or by calling 913-715-7000.

Proceeds from the tour help fund educational projects of the JoCo Extension Master Gardener program, including a gardening hotline, speakers’ bureau, nine demonstration gardens and youth education.

We hope to see you on the tour.

Dennis Patton is horticulture agent at the Johnson County K-State Research and Extension Office.