The Hoboken Secret Gardens Tour is back!
On Sunday, locals can see nine secret (OK, and some not-so-secret) gardens around the Mile Square City, from kid-friendly yards that are easy to maintain to gardens with breathtaking Gothic arches and lush green getaways that have been carefully groomed for years.
The guided tour is organized by the Hoboken Historical Museum, which started the event as a tribute to Colonel John Stevens of the historic Stevens family.
Stevens was an enthusiastic gardener who exchanged seeds and letters with famous horticulturists in Europe and growing the first camellia, chrysanthemum and peony plants in the U.S.
Museum spokeswoman Melissa Abernathy also notes that Stevens grew vegetables, fruits, coffee plants, flowering shrubs and other plants in greenhouses on the Stevens estate and on landscape terraces. (If you want to learn more about the colonel, check out current exhibit on the Stevens family at the museum).
Abernathy says this year's tour will showcase some of Hoboken's modern-day innovators.
"The tour can give you some great ideas for garden designs and layouts, including interesting uses for terraces, built-in plant beds and built-in fixtures like benches and fire pits," said Abernathy. "Our gardeners are always happy to talk about what's worked for them and what hasn't, and what they've learned gardening in an urban environment like Hoboken."
The tour runs on Sunday, June 7 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and kicks off from the Hoboken Historical Museum, 1301 Hudson St., Hoboken. Rain date is June 14. For more information, visit HobokenMuseum.org.
Summer Dawn Hortillosa can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Facebook or Instagram @summeringo for Hudson County arts and more.