Six Aquidneck Island home gardens will be featured in URI’s Gardening With the Masters 2019 Garden Tour on Saturday and Sunday, June 29 and 30. The biennial event is the only time when graduates of the URI Master Gardener Program put their own properties on display to support the program’s educational mission.
While the tour is statewide from Charlestown to Chepachet, and styles range from woodlands and meadows to ornamental showcases, on Aquidneck Island, five of the six gardens have never been on the tour before.
On Sea Meadow Drive in Portsmouth there is a garden described as a “Pollinators’ Paradise” designed to attract hummingbirds, bees and butterflies. Three of the gardens are in the Point section of Newport and focus on varieties of plants that thrive in intimate backyards. A garden on Ellery Street in Newport offers guests a glimpse of “Biodynamic Urban Gardening” with its mix of vegetables, berries, fruit trees and chickens. On Rhode Island Ave there is a shade garden and mature trees.
The tour is from 10 to 4, rain or shine. One ticket gives entry to 26 gardens around the state and is valid both days. Tickets are $25 each but discounted for multiple-ticket buys to $22. Children under the age of 18 are admitted free.
Tickets may be purchased online and picked up at certain designated gardens. Locally tickets may be purchased on the days of the tour at 189 Rhode Island Avenue in Newport. For more information, contact 401-874-2900.
