Take in some of Columbia’s special gardens during tour

Saturday, Columbia Green’s annual Festival of Gardens will offer tours of 10 diverse private gardens in the Rose Hill and Wales Garden/Hollywood neighborhoods.

Highlights include outdoor garden dining rooms, a hundred-year-old magnolia tree, peaceful ponds, secret pathways and soothing fountains. At each stop on the tour, Master Gardeners will be on hand to share information about the plants, special features to observe within the space and tips for creating beautiful gardens.

Tickets will be on sale both days beginning at 9 a.m. at the Garden Club Council Building in Maxcy Gregg Park, 1605 Park Circle Road. Tickets to the Festival include mid-day refreshments and the sale of plants and garden-related arts and crafts.

Entry to all gardens is $35; tickets for members of Columbia Green are $25.

Save those tickets: garden-goers will receive discounts at Di Pratos, Publico, and Il Giogione restaurants Saturday.

Proceeds from the festival go to fund beautification projects around the Columbia area. Those include landscaping for the medians around town and the hanging baskets on Main Street and plantings at the fountain on the north end of Saluda Street, the Greene Street entrance to Martin Luther King Park, the medians along Elmwood Avenue, Bull Street and Fort Jackson Boulevard as well as areas at the Columbia Museum of Art and S.C. State Museum.

“Our original motto, ‘strong neighborhoods through gardening,’ has evolved to include significant projects throughout the City and public spaces,” said Columbia Green member Tad Abrams. “Columbia Green has provided substantial funding to well over 100 neighborhood associations, local groups and institutions, allowing them to purchase and install plant materials, which further enhances the true beauty of our city.”

For more information, visit www.columbiagreen.org

Katie McElveen, Special to The State