Hoboken Garden Tour

(click on photos to enlarge)

TD was on a business trip this weekend and Sunday was a beautiful sunny day so I decided take myself on the Hoboken Garden Tour. Hoboken, New Jersey, is located across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Several friends have moved there, but I had never been and was curious to check it out. I'm a big fan of house tours and garden tours because they really give you a good sense of a new neighborhood; I've been on tours in Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill and Fort Greene, all in Brooklyn. And on garden tours, you often walk through the house to get to the garden so you get to see the house as well. 

Before I struck off in the morning I took some snaps of a few of our pots out front which now have pansies, impatiens and ivy. Soon the pansies will fade away when it gets hotter but now I like the colors. 

I jumped on my trusty blue bike and bicycled up to the ferry boat terminal at 38th Street for the boat ride across the river. I was the only one on the boat! 

I love a boat ride on the Hudson. Several years ago we took a boat ride with friends up the Hudson to tour Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate, and then took the boat home. This is looking north to the George Washington Bridge.

Looking south, I can see the building where I work.

Good bye Manhattan for now.

Arriving in Hoboken, a pretty water front.

I bought a garden tour ticket at the Hoboken Museum, and had to cool my heels waiting for the next guided tour.

Off we went, about twenty people with a Hoboken resident who knew a lot about the architectural history of the city. We saw ten gardens and walked for more than two hours which was quite a schlep and a good work out. Streets were lined with brownstone houses and then gave way to newer buildings. In this garden fat pale peonies bloomed under a really beautiful pink birch tree; I have never seen a pink birch tree -- I have to remember that. 

This garden had a living room feel with indoor/outdoor furniture.

The homeowner built this ruin and put yogurt on the stone to make it look aged.

Several homes opened on to this community garden -- very Tales of the City.

Pink roses climbed up a black iron porch.

After the tour I got back on the boat home.

Heading toward Manhattan. 

Good bye New Jersey.

It was a fun to see a new place, and for me, flowers plus water is a nice day. The garden tour made me realize how much I would like to have a garden again. After the tour I saw flowers in my mind -- visions of roses danced in my head.