CAPE ELIZABETH – About 570 garden enthusiasts explored a variety of home-based gardens in Cape Elizabeth on Saturday during the fourth annual Maine Home + Design Garden Tour, where visitors said they were “impressed” and “inspired” by each garden’s unique beauty.

Proceeds raised during the tour benefit landscaping and historic preservation projects at Fort Williams Park on Shore Road, an initiative spearheaded by the Fort Williams Park Foundation, whose mission is to preserve and enhance the park’s natural resources for future generations.

The first stop of the tour was located at 56 Cottage Farms Road, where the home of Nancy and Tom Witwicki boasted a lush magnolia tree surrounded by mountain laurel, rhododendrons and a variety of other mature plants.

A brick-lined pathway led to the back yard, where visitors explored a vegetable garden. The couple’s yard also included herbs and berry bushes, and a small pond with bright pink water lilies surrounded by daylilies and irises. Also on the property were a birch tree grove, a peach tree and a 20-year-old honey locust tree that provides shade for the Witwickis on their brick patio.

“We love gardens,” said Cape Elizabeth resident Nancy Jordan, who navigated Saturday’s Garden Tour with her friend, Barbara Vaughan, a Portland native living in California.

“My dream was to be a master gardener,” Vaughan said. “I love learning about all the different kinds of flowers.”

Nancy Witwicki, who stood in the vegetable garden during the tour, said her advice to other gardeners is “don’t take on too much when you first start.” The trick, she said, is to “start small and space things far apart. You can get so discouraged if you get overwhelmed,” she said.

“They all have inspirations and great ideas,” said Melanie Ness, from Auburn, of the garden tour. “It’s gorgeous.”

The event gave people who have gardens, or those who would like to start one, the opportunity to take a self-guided tour through some of Cape Elizabeth’s most enchanting gardens and to speak to some of the owners about what makes each property unique.

According to James McCain, director of the Fort Williams Park arboretum project, the first two phases of the park project have been completed – the first phase, known as the Cliffside site, wrapped up mid-summer of 2012.

Through the years, Fort Williams, a 90-acre public oceanfront park on Casco Bay, had become overrun with invasive plants that have impacted access to the park and its beauty, McCain said.

“At the northern end of the cliff walk, above Ship Cove, there is a 1-acre site that had previously been a dense jungle of invasive plants. You couldn’t walk through it or see through it,” McCain said. “It blocked a huge chunk of ocean views from across the way from the parade grounds. We used a lot of volunteers in late 2011 to clear (invasive plants) by hand to get a survey done.”

Along with preserving dozens of native trees and the removal of invasive exotic plants, work at the Cliffside site also included creating pathways to improve accessibility and building a garden amphitheater, where social gatherings are held.

The second phase of the project, known as the Lighthouse View site, adjacent to the Portland Headlight, was completed in June, said McCain. Depending on the foundation’s fundraising efforts, another project, a 2-acre Children’s Garden, which will be located on the site of a historic children’s camp, could begin next spring, McCain said.

Landscaping and preservation projects at Fort Williams are intended to “highlight native flora and improve views in the area,” he said.

Goals of the arboretum project include reversing damage done by invasive species and restoring sustainable landscapes and native wildlife habitat, said McCain. In addition, it aims to create open space and views, enhance the outdoor experience at Fort Williams Park, and to foster education resources and opportunities at the park.

On average, between 400-500 tickets are sold each year for the Cape Elizabeth Garden Tour, McCain said. Saturday’s tour was a first for McCain, as well as for many local residents, tourists and volunteers, who spent the afternoon visiting 11 different landscapes that each displayed an array of flowers, vegetables, fruits and intricate garden ornaments.

At another stop on the Garden Tour, at 1 Lydon Lane, visitors walked the property of the 250-year-old home of Will Tanner and Thom Sacco, where they were greeted in the dooryard by a colorful garden lush with shrubs, perennials and annuals. A brick path led to a tall wooden gate that separated the entrance garden with a patio made of bluestone and cobblestone, which included a swimming pool surrounded by a barn-like guesthouse and clusters of potted plants. The property also included an herb garden and several raised vegetable beds.

When it comes to maintaining a garden, “I think the most important thing is composting and fertilizer, and a lot of watering,” said Tanner. “Some people are frugal with their water, but I water fairly regularly.”

For June McClean of Scarborough attending the tour was a simple decision. The garden tour was a chance for her to find inspiration for her own garden, she said.

McClean said 35 Littlejohn Road in Cape Elizabeth particularly impressed her, where the gardens incorporated many structural elements, including stone paths, courtyards, trellises, water features and just about every type of plant – whether a flower, fruit, vegetable or herb – one can imagine.

“I love gardens, and I love to see what other people do,” said McClean, who planned on seeing all 11 gardens on the tour. “People can expect to see what works in this area and what doesn’t. They might be inspired to try something different.”

Linda Herrick of Scarborough marvels at the purple, bell-shaped clematis at 35 Littlejohn Road in Cape Elizabeth during the fourth annual Maine Home + Design Garden Tour, organized by the Fort Williams Park Foundation.  A variety of flowers and shrubs create a lush and colorful dooryard garden at 1 Lydon Lane in Cape Elizabeth, which was open to the public for viewing during the Cape Elizabeth garden tour on Saturday. The homeowners, Will Tanner and Thom Sacco, created the garden.An enclosed secret garden with white statuary, white peonies and other shrubs, could be seen on the property of 35 Littlejohn Road. 

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