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Secret gardens revealed in tour

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A dozen noteworthy gardens hidden behind fences and at the end of private drives will open to the public for the 2014 Secret Garden Tour.

The tour, organized by the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, will take place Sept. 19-20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Gail Burke, chair of the committee tasked with selecting the gardens, said the opportunity to glimpse hidden spaces is not the only thing that sets the tour apart from other local garden tours. Most of the gardens are designed and worked by the people who later enjoy them over a morning cup of coffee or an al fresco meal with friends and family.

“Because our garden owners have dirt under their fingernails, that makes a difference,” Burke said.

The tour typically showcases gardens downtown, but damage sustained to many gardens during the harsh winter forced the selection committee to branch out for the 2014 tour, with gardens scattered from downtown to the banks of Hewlett’s Creek.

Five gardens downtown and four in Forest Hills are clustered together, so attendees can park and walk to each stop. The remaining three are located on Oriole Drive, Oleander Drive near the Wilmington Municipal Golf Course and off Greenville Loop Road.

Mort and Judy Neblett’s garden in Joshua’s Landing offers many distinctive features. Mort Neblett suggested the containers dotting the property, imported mostly from Asia, some large enough for a grown man to climb inside, are the most notable.

Neblett traces his interest in gardening and landscaping back to childhood trips to greenhouses with his mother, but he now finds his stride creating small ecosystems in vases and pots by stacking layers of rock, sand, topsoil and then plants. He drills a small hole in the bottom of each container to connect it to the sprinkler system.

“It’s a lot of containers to be filled by hand. It’s complicated and it takes a long time to do that. Most people wouldn’t have the patience, but it’s very therapeutic for me,” Neblett said.

The Neblett garden will be open Saturday only.

Burke said the harsh winter was an obstacle for the selection committee, but opening the tour to include gardens like the Neblett space led to a more interesting event.

“It made us work harder but I think we ended up getting more variety and a different atmosphere. I’m really pleased with how it turned out,” Burke said, adding the tour will likely stretch beyond downtown again for future tours.

Also new to the 2014 tour are five curbside gardens in the historic district of downtown Wilmington. Burke said the committee wanted to showcase the not-so-secret spaces, which are owned by the city but maintained by local residents.

“They’re not hidden but people might not notice them, and we think it’s a pretty custom,” Burke said.

Tour attendees are invited to attend two complimentary demonstrations Sept. 20. Dee Ivey of The Plant Place will explain how to create a fairy garden at 11 a.m., followed by a 1 p.m. presentation by Maria Williams from the Church of the Servant Episcopal Church on flower arrangements for the sanctuary.

Tickets can be purchased directly from the historical society online, at www.hslcf.org, or by calling the Latimer House at 910-762-0492. The cost is $15.

Proceeds from the Secret Garden Tour facilitate other programming offered by the historical society throughout the year.

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