Patio Planters

Ambassador Lindy Boggs greets guests in her Vieux Carré courtyard.

The 2009 Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré is scheduled for Saturday, October 10, and Sunday, October 11, 2009, from noon until 4pm.

The gardens of the Beauregard Keyes House at 1113 Charters St. will be available for viewing on Saturday, October 10th, where guests will be served complimentary refreshments. The Sunday, October 11th location for viewing and complimentary refreshments will be the Hermann-Grima House at 820 St. Louis Street. There will be at 7 additional courtyards available for viewing each day. Tickets are $20 per day, and will be available at Creole Delicacies, 533 St. Ann Street (at Jackson Square). Tickets will also be sold on each day of the event at the Beauregard Keyes (Saturday) and the Hermann-Grima (Sunday).

The following description is excerpted from www.asla.org:

[The Secret Gardens] tour is very special because it includes access to gardens that few of the public, including locals, ever get to see. An aerial view of the French Quarter reveals the never-seen cavities and alleyways that make the Vieux Carre so unique. The tour will reveal the many lush, semi-tropical courtyards found in these cavities and show how masterfully garden designers take advantage of small spaces. The miniaturized courtyards were cool and private hideaways that suited the Louisiana climate and the styles of the early Spanish, French, and later Creole architecture.

The Patio Planters du Vieux Carre, the venerable French Quarter garden society which hosts these private courtyard tours, was established to preserve the qualities of these “secret gardens” and is very protective of their condition. Access is limited, and only small numbers may visit at any one time in order to prevent damage through human impact.