If you ever wanted to peek into your neighbors’ yards, now’s your chance. On June 1, the Mt. Airy Learning Tree (MALT) will offer its Annual Hidden Gardens Tour. The self-guided tour showcases seven noteworthy local gardens, and, for the first time, offers a Native Plant Stroll of six front yards in a four-block section of West Mt. Airy.
“We look for variety and present brand-new gardens each year,” said MALT executive director Janet Greenwood Gala, who selected this year’s spots along with board member Janet Hoffman. 2025’s entries include three historic Germantown properties, a rowhouse where a berry patch replaced the driveway, a shady lot with a stream running throughout, and a vegetable garden equipped with a shed made from clay.
“It’s a great way to start the garden season,” said Mt. Airy resident Patty McGlone, who has taken the tour with the same two friends for the last 10 years. They are among the 350 to 400 people who explore the local spots annually.
Locations are not revealed until tour day, when attendees register at Ned Wolf Park in West Mt. Airy and pick up a map. “It's a secret as to where the gardens exactly are, which is part of the fun,” said Gala.
Some serious gardens
Last summer, MALT volunteer Hap Haven came up with the idea for the Native Plant Stroll while he was walking his dog in West Mt. Airy. He passed a front yard filled with greenery and spotted a sign saying the site is a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Created by the National Wildlife Federation, the certification means that an area provides food (such as nectar from native plants), water, and shelter for wildlife such as birds, bees, and butterflies.
Haven then looked across the street and saw a plaque signaling that the property is a Monarch Waystation. These waystations offer patches of milkweed, a native plant, to nourish monarch butterflies. The use of herbicides by farmers to kill milkweed has contributed to a huge decline in the monarch population.
“I thought, ‘Wow! There are some serious gardeners here,’” Haven recalled. Then he looked for — and found — several more ecologically sensitive gardens within a few blocks. Eventually, Haven created a 45-minute walking tour of the area.
The nearby Mt. Airy Coffee Co. will provide a sort of rest stop, selling coffee and offering access to restrooms. The coffee shop is providing a table for a volunteer from the Xerces Society, which works to conserve invertebrates (such as mosquito-eating dragonflies and other insects) and their habitats. The volunteer will answer tourgoers’ questions about creating environments that nurture wildlife.
Throughout the entire tour, garden hosts will also be on hand to speak with visitors. The interaction between gardeners and attendees is an important element of the event, said Gala. “You’re going to get a story, a story of how the garden began, what the gardeners inherited, what they plan for the future.”
DIY sustainability
Mt. Airy resident Jim Kohler said he appreciates that the hosts are willing to share their failures along with their successes. And, like many visitors, he walked away with new ideas. “One gardener on the tour last year had replaced a large swath of his lawn in front of the house with native wildflowers. That inspired me to seek out some low-growing, pollinator-friendly plants like creeping thyme and a variety of clovers to sow among the grass in front of my condo building,” Kohler said.
In addition, he said, “you always see creative ways gardeners strive for sustainability using rainwater harvesting, composting, water features, or native plants to make their gardens ecofriendly.”
For Mt. Airy’s McGlone, the do-it-yourself gardens are a special highlight. “You know the owners didn’t have a lot of money but they did things creatively,” she said.
But perhaps most of all, she relishes taking a break from focusing “on what’s going on in the world. The tour is a chance to come out of your day-to-day life and see something beautiful.”
Garden owners benefit, too. Mark Klempner, who shared his Chestnut Hill garden two seasons ago, called hosting, “a unique, positive experience. My small, hidden garden is not often visited by others, so to have 400 people come through in an afternoon was a rush,” he said.
The Annual Hidden Gardens Tour is MALT’s main fundraising effort and raises between $16,000 and $20,000 each year, according to Gala. About 45 people function as volunteers for the tour, some working as docents or handling registration.
Advance registration via web (mtairylearningtree.org) or phone (215-843-6333) is encouraged. Tickets are $35 in advance or $40 day of tour. The tour is rain or shine.
Attendees can pick up their maps and wristbands at Ned Wolf Park, 7018 McCallum St., between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Gardens remain open until 4 p.m. Tours of the exquisitely planted Ned Wolf Park are free.
