***WARNING: The photos contained in this post may cause garden envy.  Use extreme caution if viewing within driving distance of an open garden center.***

Master Gardener \ ˈmas-tər ˈgärd-nər \: 1) A title worthy of respect and admiration 2) One of my life goals 3) Owner of an amazing private garden

Perhaps amazing is an understatement — it certainly would be if all of their gardens look like the ones I toured on the 2018 Johnson County Master Gardeners Tour.  The 7 gardens on display were like something straight out of a magazine.  If you were in need of garden inspiration, this was the place to get it.  (And I certainly did!)

Now, consider this a teaser post.  I’m a serious garden blogger, after all, so I took over 700 photos during the two-day tour.  Not only is it impossible to whittle down that number to a handful for one blog post, I wouldn’t want to deprive you of the unique beauty each of these 7 magnificent gardens.  I’ll dedicate a full post to each one over the next few months.

Touring these gardens was a thrill for me, as it’s not often that you get to peek into the private gardens of people who are passionate about gardening.  I came away with inspiration, education, and a new Japanese Maple.  (Hence the warning above.)

Now on to the gardens…

Garden #1: Big impact with annuals and containers

We began our tour with the sunny garden of a Tuscan-style villa in Leawood.  This garden was a fabulous example of using containers and annuals throughout the garden.  I couldn’t believe that their begonias were already full and blooming in early May!  The display started in the front yard with a garden bed bursting with color:

…and continued as you wandered through the courtyard and around the side of the house to the backyard:

This garden was a great way to start the tour, and I wrote down the names of several annuals to add to my seed-starting and container line up for 2019.

Garden #2: You can’t rush perfection

Next up was a charming garden in part shade that had evolved over the course of more than 30 years.  It was a great reminder to my impatient self that building an incredible garden takes TIME, and some things can’t be rushed.

Like any good gardener who has mostly shade, this master gardener took advantage of a small section of her garden that sees some sun:

This gardener had a board with pictures of her garden’s progress on display. I love seeing a garden’s “story”!  Not only did I get great ideas for shade plants, I also got a lesson in taking your time to build a masterpiece.

Garden #3: A suburban oasis

The third garden we visited was stunning….and amazing…and inspirational…and (sigh) full of a magic that is difficult to capture in photos.  As we were walking up to the house, others leaving told us we were in for a special treat, and they were not exaggerating.

This backyard paradise was made for entertaining —  a private oasis in the middle of town.  A tiered garden surrounded the pool, and multiple seating areas tucked in to the landscape beckoned you to sit and relax for awhile.

I’m saving the best pictures for the full post.  I can’t wait to share them with you!

The garden was full of “vignettes” that slowed your pace and made you notice the details.  It’s a great concept that I began incorporating in my garden this year.

Garden #4: An artful garden

The last garden for us on day 1 of the tour was a garden clearly owned by an artist.  There were numerous beautiful color combinations and the design was clearly well thought-out. (The same cannot be said for my garden, which you may have noticed!) It made it easy to capture beautiful photos like this:

An arbor with honeysuckle trumpet vine stood as a gateway to the garden:

Surprisingly, this house was for sale, so some lucky garden tourist may have snatched up a home with a ready-made master garden!

Garden #5: A stress-free zone

We kicked off day two of the tour at a beautiful shade garden with a zen feel.  This garden incorporated water throughout with a waterfall, fountains, and a pool.  There was an amazing display of perfect, non-bug-eaten hostas (HOW?!?), a stunning white Japanese Maple, and some beautiful peonies.

An even more amazing touch was the yoga deck/shed they built in the corner of the backyard.  Yoga in the garden?  Now that’s motivation to stick with a daily yoga practice!

I remember reading a garden profile where the gardener said that her vision was to have visitors use terms like “peaceful,” “restorative,” and “tranquil” in describing her space.  That is exactly how I would describe this garden.  It is a wonderful reminder that a muted palette doesn’t mean “boring” and can be used to create a divine space for letting go of your worries.

Garden #6: A four-season garden

From that peaceful garden we moved to a garden that I would consider a must-visit for anyone who is getting started in gardening — the owner is a plant collector and loves conifers!  This slice of plant heaven would be amazing year-round.

This stop also happened to be where I found the Japanese Maple that I HAD to have…

I learned an important lesson when talking to this gardener: if it’s not happy, MOVE IT!  Don’t give up and wait for the plant to die; many are resilient if you just move them to a better place.  It may seem obvious, but that concept hadn’t occurred to me and far too many plants have been victims of my ignorance.  The tip motivated me to move my Dwarf Hinoki Cypress — and it’s much happier now!

Garden #7: A suburban surprise

Our final stop on the tour was a great wrap-up: it had gardens in both sun and shade, and a number of small details to draw your attention without feeling distracting. This was where we got the scoop on the Master Gardener Tour — and why we shouldn’t feel bad about our gardens.  Each garden selected for the tour has 10 master gardeners assigned to it for preparation, and each of those 10 volunteers commits 2 hours per week for 6 weeks leading up to the tour!  No wonder they look so amazing. This garden had pops of color from both plants like this purple clematis and fun ceramic decor in the shape of fish and turtles.

Each area had a near-perfect combination of colors, shapes, and textures. Cheerful pottery brought extra life to this bed:

One of the master gardeners stationed at this stop on the tour was sharing knowledge about hostas and how to identify damage from cutworms vs. slugs.  Which reminds me to tell you — yes, the gardens are very inspiring, but having master gardeners available at every garden to answer questions and share tips is what helps us amateur gardeners turn that inspiration into action.

The only problem with the tour was that there were only 7 gardens…we still had a few hours of daylight left and were hungry for more!  What a fabulous way to start off the gardening season each year.  You can bet I’ll be a regular from now on!  I’m looking forward to sharing more pictures of each garden with you as we suffer through survive winter together again this year — now that the gardening season is pretty much over, you’ll likely see an increase in the frequency of my posts.  What else am I supposed to do when I can’t be playing in the dirt?

Hope you all had a wonderful gardening season!