LANSDALE — Get your walking shoes on for the 2025 edition of the annual Lansdale Open Gardens Tour.
“Private gardens from all around town are opening to the public for visitors on this open-house style, self-guided tour,” said organizer Jenniah Caldwell.
Starting in 2022, Caldwell has organized free public tours of gardens throughout the town, as gardeners showed off their growing skills while those who toured donated several carloads and several hundred dollars for a local food bank. The first tour proved so popular that a second tour was held in June 2023, yielding hundreds of pounds in additional food donations, followed in August 2023 by a second tour that year.
In 2024, the local gardeners started an informal Lansdale Garden Club that meets monthly at the town library, held a plant sale that May, and hosted a first tour in June before the summer heat caused the second to be called off in August.
Lansdale garden tour yields hefty donation to Manna
This year’s edition will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 14, with the garden club partnering with borough nonprofit Discover Lansdale. A list of gardens taking part in the tour will be posted on the event’s Facebook page the night before, according to Caldwell, and hard copies of that list will be available at Whites Road Park from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. that day.
“We have fan favorite gardens returning this year, along with new kids on the block,” she said.
Lansdale Open Gardens Tour organizer Jenniah Caldwell, left, and Manna on Main Street Food Resources and Operations Director Jim Lynch pose with several hundred pounds of food donated by garden tour attendees in 2023. (Photo courtesy of Jenniah Caldwell)
There’s no cost to attend, but donations of food in support for Manna on Main Street will be accepted at gardens throughout the tour or at Whites Road Park, Caldwell added. There’s no recommended route, and a second summer tour has been tentatively scheduled for August 9 focusing on veggie gardens and native plantings; the June 14 tour will be held rain or shine.
Check the event’s Facebook page for updates and anyone interested in volunteering can contact Caldwell at Lansdaleopengardens@gmail.com