Need ideas for your interior and outdoor spaces? Find inspiration and ideas aplenty at home and garden tours in Portland neighborhoods.
Many of us love being voyeurs—especially when it comes to checking out each other’s home and garden designs (for inspiration, to be sure). With such lovely spring days as of late, gardening efforts have certainly increased. And, with recent economic strains, neighbors are opting to make easy design changes or additions to their home spaces, rather than buying anew, or engaging in major reconstruction efforts.
Whatever your plans for sprucing up your home and garden spaces this summer, trolling some of our favorite home and garden tours should provide you with fresh ideas.
Portland Home Tours
While you may have missed three fabulous home tours this year—the Irvington Home Tour, Goal Net Zero, and the Street of Eames Modern Home Tour—do not despair; you can catch these next year, and enjoy other inspiring options in the coming months.
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Photo courtesy of the Architectural Heritage Center
July 31: Heritage Home Tour
On July 31st, The Architectural Heritage Center will host its first Heritage Home Tour for those of us interested in viewing fine specimens of historic preservation. This nonprofit resource center is focused on historic preservation efforts in Portland, and offers workshops, seminars, events and programs for those fanatics who “appreciate, restore, and maintain vintage homes, buildings, and neighborhoods.” This cool group is also responsible for “one of the largest collections of architectural artifacts in the United States.” If vintage homes are your thing, be sure to check out their web site—and the July tours—to learn more.
Photo courtesy of Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
September 25: 9th Annual Build It Green! Home Tour
Much later in the season is the 9th Annual Build It Green! Home Tour. There were 40 nominations for entries in this year’s fair, and selected sites will be known come June. The September 25th tours will be held from 11a.m. to 5 p.m., followed by a free Information Fair at ecohaus from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. Other sponsors include Metro, Energy Trust, Oregon Home and more. Check the web site for more tour details later this summer, and be sure to mark your calendar to get your green on at Build It Green!
Portland Garden Tours
May 23: Sellwood Garden Tour
This weekend, the Sellwood Garden Tour will showcase a few of the coolest gardens in Southeast Portland. Six gardens, one afternoon, $20. Tickets can be purchased at New Seasons in Sellwood, and sales benefit Sellwood Middle School. Sunday, May 23rd from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Not to be missed!
Photo courtesy of the Sellwood Garden Tour.
June 5: Garden Conservancy Open Days Garden Tour
On Saturday, June 5th, the Garden Conservancy organization hosts five private, self-guided garden tours in Portland. (There are events all over the US with this neat org.) For only $5, you can tour uniquely beautiful garden spaces from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Enjoy!
June 19: 3rd Annual Foster-Powell Garden Tour
The Third Annual Foster Powell Garden Tour is on June 19th, and boasts an interesting array of gardens for your viewing pleasure. The garden categories this year span Traditional, Naturescaped, Edible and Artistic to provide a diversity of styles and sensibilities in garden design. And, if you reside in the Foster-Powell neighborhood (between Foster Road and Powell Boulevard, and between SE 50th and 82nd), you might just want to become a Garden Host for this fun event.
Photo courtesy of the Foster Powell Garden Tour
July 24: Tour de Coops
The Edible Garden category in the Foster Powell Garden Tour will surely feature some animals; but if urban farming is truly one of your passions, don’t miss the Tour de Coops on July 24th. This joyous self-guided tour provides over 25 home garden coops on the Eastside so you can meet and greet chickens in their fancy homes.
September 25: Portland Reading Foundation Garden Tour
Late September, the Portland Reading Foundation will host a benefit tour in select Southeast and Southwest Portland gardens. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. you’ll be able to tour urban gardens with interesting art, naturescaping and more, with the proceeds of each $20 ticket to be used to hire reading tutors for first and second grade children enrolled in Portland Public Schools who need help developing their reading skills. For an extra cost ($15), there will be a one-hour floral designing workshop session hosted in one of the gardens.
If there are any cool home and garden tours on your radar this summer, let us know about it right here!
Here's another one of my fave garden design tours from the Association of Northwest Landscape Designers (ANLD). This year's event on July 10 features North/Northeast PDX and Vancouver gardens. Check it out! http://www.anld.com/GardenTour.asp
The Irvington Home Tour holds a special place in my heart, but I'm looking forward to checking out some of these other options—like Tour de Coops! Thanks for the great list.