We have many things to be grateful for here in Cape May, not the least of which are our gardens and our artists. From the Physick Estate to the B&Bs and hotels to the private residences, flower gardens have been a priority since the Victorians and where beauty reins, art is soon to follow.

 The Center for Community Art’s annual June fundraiser – the Art in the Garden Tour –  honors these efforts. This year, the tour featured a number of Cape Island gardens and the works of 20 local artists and artisans. CapeMay.com’s photographer, Sara Kornacki, toured the gardens with some lovely results beginning with Marie and Wally Stuard’s garden on Benton Avenue in Cape May.

 An “Historical Marker” welcomes visitors to the Stuards’ garden – “On This Site Absolutely Nothing Has Ever Occurred,” it reads. Au contraire mes amis. This lovely backyard garden, with its lush green grass and border of colorful flowers set against a white picket fence was the perfect backdrop for artist Lois Smith’s oil paintings. A winter landscape, for example, was on display in front of the white deck. A dense border of deep green hostas just below the easel is a calm reminder that although summer is here, winter is never far away. The bark of the large tree trunk is a perfect retreat for Lois’s still-life paintings. All in all, a wonderful mix of garden and art.

At Fourth Avenue in West Cape May, the garden of Mimi and Chris Wood played host to two artisans – Laura McPherson and Eliza Dietz. Laura specializes in small clay sculptures and whimsical fish. Mimi makes her own jewelry and both ladies sat amid a garden of rose bushes, magnolias, hydrangeas and fig trees. Purchased in 1997, the residence and the garden were renovated three years ago. Color is the dominate theme in this garden. Laura’s colorful sculptures and Eliza’s jewelry blend nicely with nature’s own colors – Black-eyed Susans, yellow and orange daylilies and the lush greenery.

 The tour took a turn onto Stevens Street in West Cape May. The gardens are tended by Art Joblin and Anna Marie Zabielski, whose art is inspired by her gardens. A traditional border garden greets visitors as they approach the house but behind the property is a 15,000 square foot meadow. A wooden grid-like structure built in the meadow features a number of vines which flower at varying times during the summer and serve as an attraction to the many species of birds which flock to Cape May and the meadow. Combining her talents as a gardener and an artist, Marie is able to capture the day to day changes nature takes on by just walking out her back door. 

 Around the corner, tourists found themselves on Bayshore Road in Lower Township. These were gardens of a different kind. At the home of Ro and Larry Wilson, nature has been allowed to express itself, with the help of artist and landscape designer Stan Sperlak. Art meets garden at every turn. Stan’s design of the front yard replaced the usual grass lawn with native shrubs, wildflowers and bird and bee-friendly perennials. A path leading to the back yard passes a large perennial garden, a meadow and a wetlands garden. Amidst this was the art of Margaret Heuges who creates framed handmade tiles and watercolors and painters Rich and Diane Flanegan.

 At the Lower Township home of Dave and Vickie Tryon, visitors were greeted by lovely garden beds and containers of lush flowers spilling over framing the large veranda and entranceway of this Spanish stucco house. The use of window boxes, containers, planters and two large perennial gardens (one 90-feet long) establishes a quiet tone for the woodland garden retreat at the back of the house. The photographs of Joe Schrobsdorf and the watercolor paintings of D.J. Petit found a home in this lush garden lovingly tended by Miss Vickie.

 The Sunset Boulevard home of Mattie and David Sobel is a garden delight with plants lining the terraced walkway and a large perennial garden designed to bloom from early spring into winter. The home is designed with a view of the gardens in mind and is large enough to accommodate three artists. Judy Ballinger’s beautiful sun catchers graced the grassy lawn. The watercolors of Glenn and Linda fellenbaum and the photography of newlyweds Tina Giaimo and Don Merwin completed this lovely coming together of art in the garden.

 Last on the garden tour was the Cape May Point home of Robert and Esta Cassway. The Cassways have been combining art and gardening for 25 years at their Terning Point Cottage. They’ve done a lot to help their garden remain disease resistant with the input of topsoil, peat moss and frogs. Frogs? Yes, frogs, along with butterflies, hummingbirds and finches keep nature in balance. Annabelle hydrangeas welcome visitors through the garden gate where they were also treated to the photographs of Robert Cassway and paintings by Esta Cassway as well as a secret garden filled with oriental lilies, daylilies, shrub roses, hydrangeas, white David phlox. More than 30 different varieties of plants inhabit the garden. A nice ending to a picture perfect day.