Theodore Payne Tour Will Explore Gardens In NELA and Beyond

Tickets are still available for this weekend's 9th Annual Theodore Payne Native Garden Tour, which will makes stops at homes from the San Gabriel Valley to Northeast Los Angeles to the Westside.

Keith Malone, a spokesman for the Theodore Payne Foundation, said that the upcoming garden crawl is no ordinary tour, as it provides tour goers an opportunity interact with homeowners and learn about the environmental benefits of native plants.

"While gardens tours have the stereotype of being shallow events focused on beauty and design, this tour offers much more. Attendees learn from interacting with homeowners--a number of whom have designed, planted and tend their gardens)--volunteers and, in some cases, landscape designers. And they learn from other attendees, too, some of whom already garden with natives," Malone said.  "In short, this tour is about changing behaviors and cultural preferences"

This year's tour will visit 37 home gardens--one-third of which are new to the tour--including Saturday stops in Highland Park, Eagle Rock and Atwater Village.

The Highland Park garden--which is new to the tour--is a "miniature Southern Oak Woodland dominated by Quercus agrifolia, featuring an assortment of flowering groundcovers and shrubs," according to the Theodore Payne website.

Sunday's portion of the tour will take tour goers west, focusing on coastal gardens from Santa Monica to Redondo Beach and points between.

Tours are self-guided and the gardens are available for viewing from hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tickets for the event are $25 and can be purchased online here, or by calling the Theodore Payne Foundation at (818) 768-1802. Included with the price of tickets is a brochure that provides addresses to each of the stops.