This “Descanso de Ave,” or “Bird Rest,” garden is featured in the Sept. 19 Placitas Garden Tour. Courtesy photo.

The Placitas Garden Tour is back, with a wider variety of artists working among the foliage this year.
The fifth annual garden tour is set for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 19. Participants will make their way through seven Placitas gardens, each featuring an artist.
Adult tickets are $13 in advance or $15 the day of the event. Children age 12 and younger are free and must be accompanied by an adult.
“This is an early fall garden tour, and the focus of two of the gardens will be on vegetable growing in all types of containers and raised beds,” according to a news release. “The remainder of the gardens have focuses on native or native-adapted plants, wildlife protection, erosion control and stunning landscapes to anchor and defend their plants from the harsher elements of the surrounding Placitas foothills.”

This garden is the “Critter Cafe” featured on the Placitas Garden Tour on Sept. 19. Courtesy photo.

The gardens are called:
• Critter Café;
• Lizard Lounge;
• Garden of Eatin’;
• Legacy European Garden;
• Descanso de Aves (Bird Rest);
• A Very Talavera Garden; and
• Raven Hollow Garden.
The garden guide includes a map showing the gardens and rest facilities, and motorists can watch for directional signs on the streets.
Three painters, a bronze sculptor, a glass mosaic artist, a welding sculptor and a basket weaver are scheduled to create their pieces in the gardens. In the past, all participating artists were open-air painters.
Placitas Community Library, off NM 165, is considered the midpoint and hub of activity. Its gallery will feature garden-tour artists’ completed works, which will be available for purchase.
Sandoval Extension Master Gardeners are set to run a help desk outside the library, and Albuquerque Day Lily Society will sell day lilies. Artist Nancy Holley is scheduled to sell Talavera pottery to raise funds for participating organizations.
Master Gardeners, library volunteers and others donate their time to the garden tour.
“As a way of thanking the volunteers for their contributions of time and expertise, the Placitas Garden Tour provides cash donations from the ticketing proceeds to their respective volunteer organizations,” according to the press release.
More information is at PlacitasGardenTour.com. Tickets are available on the website; in Placitas at The Merc, Placitas Community Library and La Puerta Realty; and in Albuquerque at Jericho Nursery, Plants of the Southwest, Osuna Nursery and Alameda Greenhouse.