One of our Denise moments..

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This is the veggie garden --pretty

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On the top of this is a sprinkler ! There is a hose fitting that you hook up to it. This was in the veggie garden as well.

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How about these guys Cynthia ? They look a bit more demonic that your fur-kids !

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Chelone has the opposite shot to this. The wall to her right is a greenhouse that is cleverly built into the side of a hill. I hope someone has a shot to show you of the wonderful containers they had around the pool area here.

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Kathy in Napa

Fabu-Fabu!

Great pics Kathy! Didn't you just love that vegetable garden? I drooled over those urns with the ram's heads on them. I've never seen a private garden with such a fantastic collection of statuary and urns before. Truly beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Deanne

The first garden of Open Days:

As we came out of a shaded entrance, we were greeted by open views - of course the heat kept us headed toward the pool...anyone have a picture of my favorite pool?:
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Just past the pool - a path to terraces around the house:
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and views of the lake:
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back down to the sunny border:
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That led to the pergola overlooking a lotus pond:
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If I had seen nothing but this garden, I would've been happy with the whole trip. I even loved the contemporary style home. The whole garden/estate was very peaceful to me :)

More pictures of the other piddly gardens later :)

Saucy

LOL, I take issue with the "piddly" others, Saucy -- it's nice that we each have preferences -- I very much preferred the last garden we saw and would have been heart-broken to miss it -- the first garden, despite its ginormous lotus pond and glass overlook, did not provoke that in me, as I did not get a sense of "personal" in it -- isnt it wonderful we are all so different?
--Cindy

Gee, I am glad that someone had a new camera they were anxious to use...loving all your photos Saucy!

That lawn in the first photo looks like velvet. The table and chairs under the pergola looks like quite a cool spot. Wisteria? Must smell great in the spring right?

Looking forward to seeing pics of the other gardens, piddly or otherwise. [g]

Wonderful pics Saucy! Wasn't that lotus pond the neatest thing with the raised path through it? Like Cindy though I just loved that last garden we visited on Sunday before heading home. Looking forward to more pics!
Deanne

Lovely! The pergola looks so cool and inviting...le sigh :)
Brenda

Yes, PM! When I caught the lawn out of the corner of my eye after being in the wooded entrance, I thought it was the pond!

Cindy and Deanne, I did like lots of the rooms in the last garden, but the first felt like "home" to me. Maybe its because my family's home in TN is dripping with green and overlooks water?

I can't wait for next year...I can see now from just a bit of reading how I could've taken shots in a different way. I am happy that cameras come out of the box ready to point and shoot, though :)

Saucy
(anyone have a picture of the Hollywood pool? I was shy because the owner was sitting poolside)

Imagine sitting in that pergola overlooking the lotus pond when you're gazing through a curtain of blooming wisteria. Woody would approve! Fabulous, Saucy. Thanks to everyone for being on camera duty.

The second garden was tucked behind an inconspicuous little ranch....someone thought we had the wrong house! You just never know what's going on in your neighbor's backyard, do you?

There was a sunny little border surrounding a hidden vegetable garden along the driveway
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And then through an arbor to reveal:
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Each stone hand trucked across the lawn to avoid damaging it! There's an Italian gardener out there with a bad back :)

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As we followed the path, we were told not to miss the gate leading to a secret garden:
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It took us down into an old railroad passage:

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And when we were tired, the owner directed us to her favorite chair to partake of her favorite view....

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Saucy

side note: While we were sitting in the chairs, we heard the husband say to the wife: "honey, come over here and meet one of my patients (he's a retired surgeon), Alice Cooper." SunnyD and I whipped our heads around to see if it was the Alice Cooper, but you already guessed, it was an elderly woman :)

So they commandeered a railway easement, too, or was it on their property? The steps and railing, ooooh...

Your choice of pools and views...:

From Garden 1 (Saucy's fav):

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From Garden 4 (my fav) (this property had so many garden rooms, it would be hard to count them all):

Entrance to the garden pool & poolhouse, a secluded "room":

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from poolside there:

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We all took a ton of photos -- some other idyllers need to jump in and show some more wonder shots or post links! (Im idyllying instead of lunching and working....)

-Cindy

A Few more from garden 4...

I though this was a really cool fish fountain

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A look down the border

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In the woodland area, a very large urnlike structure made of dry stacked stone (betcha Deanne has enough rocks to make one of these-she could keep the middle hollow and put a brug in it!)

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Around the corner in the woods and you were greeted by this colorful meadow garden below you-the pic does not do it justice I'm afraid !

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OY! These are wonderful!

Saucy you actually have an artful way with your camera already. Many of the shots you took have a lot of feeling in them. For instance I love that shot of the boat at the dock peeking out from behind the willow. I love the shadow of the boat on the water. I want to go down to that dock and sit in that boat lol.
I knew from looking at the pics of garden 1 that they remind you of TN...I've never been to TN but I do imagine it looking like your pics. Girl,you are just a natural-before you know it you won't be just point and clicking!
That pergola by the lotus pond looks heavenly! I could imagine sipping wine there and reading garden books.
I like that stone edged pool! Some very different gardens but very interesting to see all of them.

Thanks for your different perspectives ladies

~Babs

I definitely like the gardens in the pictures above. They're obviously quite large - I assume they were estate gardens, probably with gardeners, rather than just someones backyard?

I'm enjoying the photos immensely. What I wouldn't give for a couple of those sprinklers as well as the fabu lotus pond, pergola, well there's just so many things that are so interesting.

Michelle

Here's the 3rd garden through my lens....(Cynthia, I did not like the mongrels out front, therefore did not photograph them):

Apparently I was hungry as I took a picture of any table and it's view no matter the garden:
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What I liked about this garden is that there was no bones made about this being HIS garden.....the woman of the garden made that clear. Knowing this brought the garden into a different perspective for me....I considered that Nick might like it (where he has trouble with the chaos of mine at times):

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At the bottom of the bottom of the hill of Kathy's "meadow" garden were the Billy Goats Gruff :)

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And this little beauty posed at the base of the "secret garden"

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Here's some more of Number 4:

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Saucy ! Outstanding pics. My faves, the fish, the Hostas, the door, and the lake. You've been holding out on us !

I never saw those goats, cuz I was on the upper trail-

Kathy in Napa

These are from garden #1, which was also my favorite.

The view of the lake from the lotus pond

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Underneath the huge lakeside willow tree

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The well-concealed greenhouse

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Another view of the steps to the back terrace

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More succulents tucked behind the pergola:

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Boy oh boy, I am loving all these photos. I feel like I am taking the tour myself, which eases my disappointment about not getting to go. I never would have survived that heat anyway, so I get to see it from my A/C easy chair..lol.

I am a sucker for swimming pools that blend into the landscape. I would have been very tempted to jump in. [g] That first pool was very well done with all the rocks and the second one looks inviting too. Amazing crochet field at Garden 4 and always enjoy fish, although I can never figure how people keep the raccoons from eating them. Wendy, I think I had seen a photo of that greenhouse from the other side, so thanks for letting me see the front of it. How ingenious was that?!

Isn't it interesting how different people see different aspects of a garden?

pm2

I've enjoyed all of the other photos. Now it is my turn. I actually liked the 4th garden the best. Although the ravine at the 2nd garden was such an unexpected and pleasant surprise.

1st garden, with its expansive lawn ending in a hillside flower bed:
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On the overlook
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Dragonfly enjoying the flowers
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Exuberant Kathy
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Flower sniffing Chelone
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Happy Saucy, thinking of TN
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Garden 2 ravine/former railroad tracks
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Leaving the ravine
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4th garden-start of the backyard (it went on and on and onÂ)
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I loved the flower and foliage colors, nevermind the great architectural fence
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One of the many buildings on the property
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Hillside down to the large pond
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No pictures from me. It would have been too much to juggle a camera and a crutch. Garden four was my favorite too but I have to admit that ravine in garden two was like nothing I've ever seen. It was way cool how all the neighbors were treating it like a community garden of sorts. I missed garden three because I took a break to drive V to her airport shuttle. Based on the pictures and commentary I apparently missed the garden everyone liked the least.

In the three gardens I visited all of the owners were active in either the design or maintenance of the garden. I believe garden one had a couple of full time professional gardeners, garden two was entirely owner maintained and garden four had helpers but she seemed very hands on. When you've got multiple acres you would have to have help.

Sue