Walking the Portsmouth Pocket Garden Tour

How does your garden grow?

Jim Cerny, text and photographs

The South Church's 19th annual pocket garden tour in Portsmouth was held on the weekend of June 21st, with nine gardens on a two-mile route in the South End, starting at the historic Thomas Bailey Aldrich house on Court Street, home of his fictional "Bad Boy," which is part of the Strawbery Banke Museum site.


Grape arbor in the Thomas Bailey Aldrich House back yard.




Aldrich garden grape vine, finial, and glimpse of house.

Bad boy's bedroom in the Thomas Bailey Aldrich house.

In pocket gardens it is often the layout of decking, walks, and sculpture that is more notable than the flowers. What follows is a photo essay to show things of photographic interest — it is not an attempt to capture or profile each garden. And it is not limited to the tour gardens, since this is a historic neighborhood with attractive and picturesque objects at every turn.

Images are organized by sections with a brief comment: Artists, Sculpture and Objects, Flowers, and Transitions.

Artists …

Art was integrated with the garden experience, allowing tour-goers to bid on art, watch artists working, listen to music, or buy art!


Pocket Gardens tour poster by Denise Brown (detail shown).




Caricaturist Bob Nilson drew this sketch, which was auctioned, of the Englebach garden. (detail from the larger sketch)




Watercolorist Denise Brown is preparing to paint in the Aldrich garden.

Musician Jeff Warner is captured in motion with his concertina playing in the Aldrich garden.



Gail Kennedy working in pastels in the Wright garden.




Garden owner Melissa McLeod has her "sophisticated naive" art on display on the porch.


Sculpture and Garden Objects …

The diversity and creativity of garden objects always amazes me.


Granite post with sculpture.




Mailbox with birds.



Wood Sprite by sculptor Linda Preble McVay.

Faun-like head sculpture.




Blue crane sculpture.

Bird house with human figures.



Terracotta hen with begonia.




Rose floating in a bird bath.


Water trough with ferns and rose petals.



Garden greenhouse with decorative finials.


Flowers …

Oh yes, there were the flowers of the season, represented by this sample.


Lupine.

Red roses.



Campanula.

Pink poppies.

Transitions …

Walking between gardens you can expect the unexpected, as shown by these few examples.


Hanging petunia planter at the Dunaway Restaurant … "I'm a lonely little petunia in Strawbery Banke, Strawbery Banke … ".




Unusual "bug" in a garden bed at Prescott Park.




Propeller with rich patina at the Marcy Street shore.


Finally …

Zzzzzz …


"Angel" is supervising a pocket garden and its visitors.





July, 2008



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