Thanks to everyone who helped make the Secret Gardens Tour 2010 a success!

Please stay tuned for exciting details on the 2011 Tour...

©2004 Katie Rafferty

The beauty of New Orleans is truly unique. Each pocket of the city— from the North Shore to the South Shore, from the East Bank and West—has its own special treasures. Since its inception in 2004, The Secret Gardens Tour® has been revealing the treasures found in the private gardens of Uptown New Orleans. More than 1,000 locals and tourists attended last year’s event, and over $40,000 was raised and allocated to several brain injury recovery programs including the Brain Injury Association of Louisiana, the Acquired Brain Injury Survivors Support Group and St. Andrew’s Village, a special community for disabled adults. Additionally, The Secret Gardens Tour® funds The Greater New Orleans Resource Guide to Brain Injury Recovery.

Word of mouth has established The Secret Gardens Tour® as one of the best outdoor garden events in the city. During the main tour on Saturday, renowned landscaping experts and some homeowners will be on hand to answer questions and offer insider details. Aside from the tours, visitors come to enjoy musical performances, the floral labyrinth, and gourmet boxed lunches for sale. They also enjoy exploring Secret Treasures, an outdoor boutique offering garden accessories, gifts and art by local artists and merchants. This year, we are proud to announce that several local hotels, restaurants and retailers have joined in our celebration, and will be featuring Secret Garden-inspired special rates, menus, and window displays as well as other Secret Gardens Tour® promotions.

For an additional donation, private guided tours are available on Friday. Led by volunteer docents, visitors will have the opportunity to meet the professionals responsible for creating or maintaining each garden. Each expert will deliver a short summary of his or her involvement with the garden. Some will discuss the project as a “before and after” complete with visuals, while others may discuss the style of the garden, point out its highlights, and answer questions along the way. Visitors attending the Friday tour will benefit from a preview of the gardens and exclusive time spent with the gardens’ experts. Tickets to the Friday tour also include return admission for Saturday.

The first Secret Gardens Tour® began with a group of New Orleans families who had been personally touched by the challenges and triumphs experienced throughout brain injury recovery. Much like a secret garden, there was little known about brain injury and few resources available to help those navigating the route to brain injury recovery. These families sought a way to provide a variety of information including everything from local traditional healthcare systems to locating alternative healthcare while informing the public about causes and prevention of brain injury. Thus, the seeds were sown for the first Secret Gardens Tour® in March 2004, followed by another successful tour in March 2005 with a four-year break due to Hurricane Katrina. The Secret Gardens Tour® was presented again in March 2009.

The 2010 tour, themed Art in the Garden, will be among our most spectacular tours yet! Not only will it showcase the natural beauty found within 10 private gardens near and along Exposition Boulevard and Audubon Park, but it will also highlight the man-made beauty that is found in many of the gardens’ unique outdoor art installations. Bird Island, the man-made island situated in the center of Audubon Park, will be a featured stop on the route as well.   

It is our pleasure to present to you Art in the Garden, the 2010 Secret Gardens Tour®. We hope you will join us on Friday, March 12 and Saturday, March 13 on historic Exposition Boulevard along Audubon Park.

Best,

Kathleen Waring
Co-Chair
2010 Secret Gardens Tour

Marianne Mumford
Co-Chair
2010 Secret Gardens Tour