Founded in 2003, the Secret Gardens tour of New Orleans offers a peek at some of the city’s hidden botanical treasures. With the proceeds being donated to brain- and spinal-cord injury recovery, this fund-raiser benefits both flower enthusiasts and the Louisiana community.
All of the downstairs rooms at the Baus home on Prytania Street, in New Orleans’s famed Garden District, open to the lawn, terrace, or patio.
Espaliered plants crisscross privacy walls, framing classic statuary and fountains.
Visitors who wander among the secluded walkways in the Garden District will find surprises around every curve, such as a boxwood- and brick-lined pool and patio at the Manning home—a refreshing oasis bordered by privacy hedges.
Designed by noted New Orleans landscape architect René Fransen, the garden surrounding the Spencer family’s stately Victorian is filled with lush crepe myrtles, confederate jasmine, and Louisiana irises.
Often thought of as strictly cold-weather shrubs, certain Camellia species brighten early-spring gardens.
Renovation of the Stalls’ two-story masonry home and yard was interrupted by Hurricane Katrina, but the final outcome is nothing short of breathtaking.
Photography Mac Jamieson
To learn more about New Orleans, see “The Gardens of the Crescent City” on page 23 of the March/April 2016 issue of Victoria.
