©2004/5 Eugenia Uhl

Thank you for attending our past 2009 Secret Gardens Tour! With donations from our sponsors and donors and from ticket and merchandise sales this year, we were able to raise $40,000 our first year back after Katrina. These funds will be going to several brain injury recovery programs including the Brain Injury Alliance of Louisiana, the Acquired Brain Injury Survivors Support Group and St. Andrew’s Village, a housing development for the disabled. (Click on the links to their websites on the lower left side of this page for more information about what they are doing to help brain injury survivors.) Most importantly, The Greater New Orleans Resource Guide to Brain Injury Recovery has been updated and is can be downloaded from this site. In the fall, printed copies will be distributed to area locations focusing upon brain injury recovery.

The Secret Gardens Tour® reveals to the public many of the most spectacular private gardens in Uptown New Orleans. Word of mouth has established the tour as one of the best outdoor garden events in the city, boasting thousands of participants annually from New Orleans and beyond. During the tours, volunteer docents direct visitors through the gardens, while renowned landscaping experts and homeowners are on hand to answer questions and offer insider details. Aside from the tours, visitors come to enjoy musical performances, walking the labyrinth and perusing Secret Treasures, an outdoor boutique offering garden accessories, gifts and art by local artists and merchants. Additional attractions that have been added to last year’s festivities include private guided walking tours and boxed lunches.

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 garden variety of information including everything from local traditional healthcare systems to locating alternative healthcare providers while informing the public about causes of brain injuries and brain injury prevention.
Thus, the seeds were sown for the first Secret Gardens Tour® in March 2004, followed by another successful tour in March 2005 and a four-year break due to Hurricane Katrina.

We look forward to presenting the magnificent gardens of the 2010 Secret Gardens Tour® on Exposition Boulevard along Audubon Park in Uptown New Orleans on Friday, March 12 and Saturday, March 13. Join us!

Best,

Kathleen Waring
Co-Chair
2010 Secret Gardens Tour

Marianne Mumford
Co-Chair
2010 Secret Gardens Tour