The Maine Music Society’s 13th Annual Garden & Home Tour featuring seven new gardens will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 14, rain or shine. This year’s tour consists of eight separate locations, including five gardens and four home interiors.

1 Helen Archambeault, Lewiston house

This lovely home is a treat for those who treasure a traditional interior filled with family memories. Once a farm surrounded by fields in Lewiston’s early years, the stately white house now sits on a street in a busy neighborhood.

2 Betty & Norm Turgeon, Lewiston garden

Betty remembers growing up in western New York where her grandmother had flower gardens at every house she lived in. Summer months always included walks around the yard to look at what was in bloom. Betty’s husband, Norm, has indulged her love of flowers and is always there to do the heavy and dirty work. The gardens slowly evolved from a 20-year-old windy cow pasture. Throughout the years, new sections have been added. Now, the couple are revamping older sections with different perennials because sections that used to be full sun are now shady. The gardens consist mostly of perennials with a mixture of annuals at the front and in containers. Summer brings endless blooms of daylilies and Asiatic lilies, bleeding hearts, hosta and columbine throughout the grounds. There is also a vegetable garden, thornless raspberry patch and high bush blueberries.

3 Lewiston High School memorial courtyard garden

The memorial garden at Lewiston High School offers specimen trees, daylilies, Asiatic lilies, hosta, and astilbe; and features a commemorative plaque honoring World War II armed forces. Public restroom facilities are available at this location.

4 Sandy & Joe Norton, Auburn house and garden

Two new condos are included on the tour this year. The first floor of the condo owned by Sandy and Joe Norton has a sunny open space plan, including kitchen, dining area and living room. They have selected a contemporary Asian theme for their decorating, resulting in a cool, serene living space accessorized with interesting and unusual pottery and artwork that Sandy created. The garden is just getting started at the front and side of the condo. Perennials, shrubs and trees have been planted to take advantage of the southern exposure.

5 Diane Landry and Rick Moody, Auburn house

Next-door to the Nortons, Diane Landry and Rick Moody have taken a similar spaced condo and filled it with Shaker-style furniture made by the Pennsylvania Amish. The sleek lines of the cherry furniture complement the modern painted walls and paired down placement of accessories. Diane’s love of cooking is evident with the upscale stainless steel appliances, granite countertop and painted white cabinets with glass doors.

6 Becky & Bill Gould, Minot house and garden

You wouldn’t know the Gould’s built their retirement home only five years ago. Becky instructed her contractor to build the new home to look rustic – and they succeeded. Features include a brick fireplace in the living room and Becky’s collections of birdhouses, lamps, blue glass bottles and kitchen ceiling beams lined with drying florals of rainbow colors. The neat and meticulously kept gardens have a settled-charm feeling about them as well. Becky’s husband, Bill, made the arbors and fences, and they both set the stone walls with rocks found on the property. The garden boasts 21 different clematis and lots of English delphium. Daylilies, hostas, old-fashioned roses, daisies, hydrangea and poppies whose seeds were sown by a grandson are among the many varieties of plants and flowers adorning the cottage-style garden.

7 Frances & Paul Lodge, West Minot garden

The Lodges applied the phiposophy “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” to their flower gardens. When the ice storm of 1998 destroyed many trees on their property, Paul saw an opportunity to create additional flower beds. The gardens have since expanded to cover more than 3 acres, meandering from the roadway, across a small stream, around a vernal pool, and through the woods. Paul has developed more than 20 unique garden areas separated by grass and stone pathways. Using the ample supply of available rocks, he has defined some of the flowerbeds with stone walls. Large rocks and boulders have become focal points. Native wildflowers, annuals and hardy perennials found in traditional cottage gardens are interspersed with less-common plants. Some heirloom varieties have been grown for more than 70 years in the old flower gardens originally established by Frances’ paternal grandparents, Merton and Etta Rowe. The right plant selections were essential, considering the challenges of sandy soil and hilly terrain, a few swampy sections, limited sunshine, and areas of almost full shade. The gardens are truly a labor of love.

8 John and Rosey Hayden, Auburn garden

The landscaping and gardens of the Haydens were started in 1998. Their motivation was the restoration of an antique home built in 1780 as part of the Bakerstown Plantation settlement. Remnants of old gardens started by previous owners Dr. Tibbetts and his wife were uncovered and enlarged. Cottage-style gardens are featured with collections of daylilies, Siberian and Japanese irises, specialty conifers and shrubs, clematis, and hostas. The garden also boasts a large pond, inground pool, statues, a garden bench, a “moon gate” arbor, stonewalls and westerly views. The Haydens have many favorite views depending upon the season and what is blooming. Annuals are mostly planted in containers and urns around the pool area and dooryard. The Haydens describe their garden as young and evolving.

Garden tour tickets, $10, may be purchased in advance at Provencher Landscape and Nursery and Mr. Paperback in Lewiston, at Ivy Cottage inAuburn, at Lewiston and Auburn Hannaford and Shaw’s supermarkets, and through the Maine Music Society office by calling 784-1403. Tickets will also be available for $12 the day of the tour at all the gardens.

If you have suggestions of homes and gardens in the Lewiston and Auburn area for future tours, or if interested in volunteering on tour day, contact Melanie Ness at 783-6764.

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