This past weekend, we took a brief break from some epic spring cleaning to check out The Garden Conservancy‘s first Open Days event of the year in the Los Angeles area.

Held all over the United States each year between March and November, Open Days allow you to snoop around other people’s backyards and/or find landscaping inspiration while simultaneously raising money to provide and preserve garden spaces across the country. It’s a fun, romantic and altruistic outing, whether you’re traveling in a different city or simply exploring your own. Traditionally a mapped route of six private homes in one area that open their outdoor spaces to the public for one day, Open Days provide a unique opportunity to experience a neighborhood through its plantings, design, architecture and history. The volunteers who work these special events can generally answer questions about the people who own the homes involved, tales of the buildings and homes that surround it, why certain design decisions were made, what to call that purple flower over there, and stuff you’ll probably only think to ask once you’re surrounded by absolute floral magnificence.

Open Days gardens range from homey affairs to sprawling estate layouts, English country to low-water plantings, and it’s fascinating to see how truly gifted gardeners incorporate fountains, pools, waterfalls, patios, sculpture, lighting and a myriad artistic details into their designs. For garden and travel lovers like us, it’s also just plain exciting when we discover exotic plants we’ve never seen before.

These are some glimpses of this past Sunday’s Open Days event in Pasadena, California. Be sure to check out the entire Open Days schedule to see where you might catch some cool gardens in your area — or on your next vacation.

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Open Days are held around the U.S. between March and November,
on Saturdays and Sundays between (generally) 9am and 5pm.
No reservations are necessary, and all tours require self-driving.
Each Open Days event provides a starting point address where you can pick up a map of the day’s gardens.
Tickets can be purchased online in advance, or in person at any stop along an Open Days route.
Ticket prices: 6 for $25 US for non-members, or 6 for $15 US for Garden Conservancy members.

Travels With Two

I lived in Maryland for high school, and my parents, brother and his family live there now.
It’s a small state, steeped in history, with lots of nature, culture and gajillions of small towns.

If we had a few days in Maryland, we’d:

Head to Baltimore, tour the mind-blowing Visionary Arts Museum, have an elegant lunch in the tiled inner courtyard of the Walters, then while away a couple of hours in the Baltimore Aquarium.
Then we’d drive out to the farmland around historic Chestertown, followed by a wander through
the small Chesapeake Bay town of St. Michaels on the Eastern Shore.
We’d look for eagles at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge,
then continue to quiet Assateague Island (near Ocean City) to see the salt marshes and wild horses.
Looping up, we’d end our last day with a sunset walk by the water in the U.S. Navy town of Annapolis.

Here are some resources to help you plan your own “travels with two” to Maryland.

MARYLAND – GENERAL
Guides
Maryland State Tourism Guide
National Geographic
Concierge.com
Frommers
Fodors

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BALTIMORE
Articles
NGT’s Intelligent Travel: I Heart My City: Baltimore
Cooking Light: Ashore in Baltimore
Washingtonian: Baltimore’s Tell-Tale Tour
Washingtonian: Great Stores in Baltimore
New York Times: Explore Experimental Music in Baltimore

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OTHER MD DESTINATIONS
Articles
Washingtonian: Biking Along the C & O Canal
Washingtonian: All Aboard: Fredericksburg
Washingtonian: Best Wineries in Maryland and Virginia
Travel + Leisure: An Ideal Summer Drive: The Delmarva Peninsula
Travel + Leisure: Annapolis
Budget Travel: Crabby in a Good Way: Maryland’s Eastern Shore
NGT’s Intelligent Travel: Horsing Around on Assateague

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Brampton Inn B & B – Chestertown, MD
Recommended by National Geographic Traveler (2008)

Annapolis, MD by Ken Lund

American Visionary Arts Museum, Baltimore, MD by Cindy Sims Parr

Have a Maryland tip, story, or blog post you’d like to share?

Travels With Two