Throughout the southern end, there’s a farmhouse with plants and trees dating to the 1800s. There’s another space with a fence made of shutters, a porch made of vintage doors and a flower-filled farm wagon. Another house is surrounded by a collection of treasured roses.
Usually, these places are private and off-limits. Saturday, June 14, they’ll be open for the rare walk-through. Garden tours through southern Lancaster County and Columbia as well will open the garden gates at 14 private places. The two tours raise money in two communities plus show off green thumbs and creativity.
“If people see one thing that’s an aha moment or a takeaway or something that speaks to them, then it’s successful,” says Betsy Musser, coordinator of the southern end’s Porches and Posies tour.
The same day, Create Columbia will have a garden tour throughout Columbia. The stops include a Buddhist prayer garden, an arboretum and a school garden where young growers harvest hundreds of pounds of produce. In a nod to the tour’s roots as an arts fundraiser, each of the eight gardens will have an artist on site, says Kathy Hohenadel, a garden tour committee member.
Here’s more about two upcoming garden tours.
READ: GO Lancaster! gets kids exploring local parks with their families – and it’s free
Dale and Deb Schober’s garden is on Columbia’s Art in the Gardens tour.
Dale and Deb Schober
Art in the Gardens
When: Saturday, June 14, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
What: Tour eight gardens in Columbia, including four residential properties, plus a Vietnamese Buddhist church, Wright’s Ferry Mansion and more. Each stop has an artist painting or creating en plein air.
Cost: Tickets are $15 and will be sold the day of the tour at Columbia Market House, 15 S. Third St., from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Benefits: Create Columbia’s work supporting art and culture.
More information: facebook.com/createcolumbia
Not to miss: One property required a lot of work to deal with invasive plants. Within three years, it became a certified arboretum, only the second in Columbia.
Tony and Tawn Battiste added a porch to their property near Quarryville. The porch includes four doors from the Quarryville movie theatre. The flooring is old barn boards.
Tony and Tawn Battiste
Porches and Posies Garden Tour
When: Saturday, June 14, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
What: Tour six gardens in the southern end, including a space with a porch made with doors from a Quarryville movie theater.
Cost: Tickets are $20 the day of the tour, sold at Chestnut Level Presbyterian Church plus three homes on the tour (20 Kreider Road, Willow Street; 118 Sand Hill Road, Conestoga and 242 Sleepy Hollow Road, Nottingham). $10 for children ages 10-16. $15 when purchased before June 7.
Benefits: Chestnut Level Presbyterian Church’s latest renovations. During the tour, the church family life center will host a garden bistro with strawberry desserts, beverages and lunch as well as local fresh produce and flowers from Henry’s Greenhouse.
More information: 717-548-2763.
Not to miss: A 175-year-old one-room schoolhouse will be decorated with flowers. Outside the school, flower and vegetable gardens include more than 500 heirloom and hybrid tomato plants plus thousands of annual and perennial flowers. The farmhouse across the street has even more edible and ornamental gardens.
Want seasonal gardening articles and tips sent to your inbox weekly? Sign up for our Gardening newsletter here.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.