Touring Carolyn Booth’s garden is a guided journey down a brick-and-pavers path, surrounded by plants on different levels.
As we walked the verdant-lined path on Tuesday, Booth noted that it’s still a work in progress for The Cary Garden Tour, coming up on May 30 and 31.
Booth’s garden at her home with husband Dick in MacGregor Downs is one of 13 private and public gardens on the tour. This year, the featured gardens are in downtown and south Cary.
“The Cary Garden Tour offers a unique opportunity to see some of the best private gardens in Cary,” tour co-chair Wendy Payne shared in a release.
One such garden is Carolyn Booth’s terraced garden. The brick-paved path makes it easier, and safer, for Booth to get around and garden. She turns 90 this year and stays active in the garden with the aid of an electric tugger cart that allows her to tow gardening supplies.
The garden’s history traces the Booths’, who built the house on a sloped lot in the 1970s. In 1989, Dick Booth, an engineer, drew the plans to level it out. The garden has bricked walls of various heights, creating elements like a retaining wall flocked with creeping fig and a tucked-in garden fountain.
Booth draws inspiration from the places the couple has traveled, brought to life in Cary. Her garden is influenced by the gardens she visited in France, Italy, and England. Some sculptural pieces are a nod to Savannah, Georgia. An archway to the backyard garden was created by an ironworker in Apex, while a sculpture in the perennial garden at the front of the house was made by her grandson.
The entire garden is dotted with benches and seating, much like an English garden, where “there’s always a resting spot,” Booth said.
During the interview and tour, Booth pointed out plants by name, like a newer “Miss Molly” butterfly bush. For those on The Cary Garden Tour, labels will be added for attendees’ reference.
Playful planters, such as Booth’s “face pot,” are whimsical additions. Currently the planter appears as if Portulaca is growing out of its head.
The mix of plants trends toward blues and purples, which balance out the red of the brick, and include a mix of seasons where different plants thrive.
“There should always be something you can cut and bring inside,” Booth said.
A kitchen garden, with a perforated brick wall, includes a raised bed with tomatoes, fresh Italian parsley and basil.
The Booths enjoy hosting cocktail parties, and the setting is frequently in the indoor garden room–which tour attendees will also be able to peek into–or in the garden in the gazebo.
Booth said she sees the indoor garden room, with its enviable collection of plants including a mature fig tree and orchids, as an extension of the garden.
Read more about The Cary Garden Tour below the gallery:
The Cary Garden Tour
The two-day tour will be 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, May 30, and 1-5 p.m. Sunday, May 31. Addresses of the 13 stops will be emailed to ticket holders 72 hours in advance.
Proceeds will support the Cary Woman’s Club, a charitable and service nonprofit organization, and MOM’S Valentine for You, which gives floral arrangements on Valentine’s Day to widows and other experiencing loneliness in Cary, Apex, and Morrisville. Last year, the nonprofit delivered 800 arrangements.
Tickets: $30 for adults and free for children. A boxed lunch from Jason’s Deli is available for advance purchase for $15 for Saturday attendees. Water will be available at the gardens.
What else: Artists from The Fine Arts League of Cary (FALC) will be on-site at the Page-Walker Arts and History Center and at each of the gardens. Cars from the Tar Wheel A’s and the Corvette Club will be on display.
Share your thoughts on gardening, Western Wake events, or other thoughts about our community at line@theassemblync.com.
