Summary

The Travis County Master Gardeners’ Association, in cooperation with the Travis County Extension Center, will present the 2008 Garden Tour, Inside Austin Gardens, on Saturday, April 19, from 9 am – 4 pm. The tour this year is devoted to the principals of sustainable gardening. Much has been written about sustainable gardening, and many different organizations are using the term. However, the planners of this year’s tour made the decision to present gardens that amply demonstrate the elements of integrated, sustainable gardening. The gardens selected represent life long projects by our gardeners, represent a way of living, and have all incorporated features that are earth friendly, bio diverse, and incorporate vegetable, fruit or nut production in conjunction with just beautiful flowers. There is no grass in these unique back yards; rather paths and walk ways, the incorporation of major raised beds, composting on site, judicial use of water systems, and plants with a sense of place and time.

We have secured the cooperation of major organizations in town to help with the educational presentations that will occur at each site. There will be talks on becoming a Green Garden designated site, rain water collection systems, drip irrigation, composting, beneficial insects, backyard vegetable production, bulb selection, butterfly promotion, and alternatives to grass.

The links above will take you to a map of our garden locations, directions and a brief description for each garden, and a list of educational presentations that will occur during the day. The gardens are numbered from South to North.

As Master Gardeners, our mission is to render sound horticultural information to the community through our programs. We charge a nominal fee to help cover our costs, but the real purpose of our tour is to provide you, the home gardener, with practices that can easily be translated to your garden.

Tickets are $10 (or $5 per garden, if you only have time to see one or two). Children under 12 (with an adult) are free. Tickets may be purchased at each garden location.

We look forward to seeing you on April 19th-