Calling all horticultural voyeurs… and you do know who you are. You like to peek into your neighbor’s yard and see how they’ve landscaped, what they are growing, what ideas you can glean. Good for you! The next two weekends are high time to tour the gardens of others and see what efforts you admire or ideas you can borrow.

One of my favorite garden tours is the Twin Cities Pond and Landscape Tour, which runs this weekend, July 12-13 (northern Twin Cities sites) and next weekend, July 19-20 (southern Twin Cities sites and Rochester) from 10 am-5 pm. In all, there are over 100 gardens to self-tour. Donations benefit the Children’s Cancer Research Fund. Some sites on the tour are especially impressive when lit at night (9-11 on Saturday evenings).

GreenGirls reader Theresa put in a plug for the the first public Hennepin County Master Gardeners’ Garden Tour, Saturday, July 12 from 9 am to 5 p.m. Featured gardens are tended by master gardeners themselves, so this is your chance to see how the experts do it and ask questions. Tickets and more information are available at the website.

If you like hostas (and even Jaime does now), you will want to know about the Bright Gardens for Fraser garden tour. Fraser is a non-profit serving people with special needs and this benefit features eight private gardens, including one fairy garden with miniature plants and an extensive hosta garden. Included in the ticket price is a hosta gardening class, taught by Tom Carlson, owner of HostasDirect.

Additional tours, including some free events, are listed in the garden events calendar.

Has your garden ever been part of a tour? What was it like? Have you gone on a tour and been inspired — either for better or worse? What would your dream garden tour include?

Was it that I remembered to feed them last summer? That I actually watered through the fall? That we had a cool, wet spring? Whatever the reason, my roses bloomed beautifully this year.

I’m not a big rose grower. I just can’t make myself tip hybrid teas, so I’ve only got a few hardy shrub roses — a 10-year-old climber named William Baffin and a couple of the new bush-forms from Baileys oh-so-cutely named Ole and Sven. But, man, they’ve done well this spring.

I was so impressed, I even deadheaded the climber in hopes of promoting a few late season blooms. (Some years, a few flowers make an encore. But I was thinking that since spring was so good, maybe late summer will be, too.)

Anyone else having luck with their roses this year?

Oh, BTW, if you’re growing any of the Knock OUt roses from Conard Pyle, go out and snap some pictures of them in bloom. The company is sponsoring a photo contest and you — yes, you! — could cold, hard cash . . . and some more Knock Out roses. Go to http://www.theknockoutrose.com

In our front yard, a former homeowner had planted a purple clematis behind an ever-expanding evergreen shrub. Every spring, it struggled to produce a bud or two. By summer, it could no longer compete with the thirsty shrub and died back before the buds could bloom.

Last year, I took pity on the poor vine and replanted it along our chainlink fence. The sod was it’s only competition.

To be honest, my rescue effort was ill-planned and half-hearted. I forgot to water. I forgot to mulch. The clematis sprouted a few new leaves, but grew only grew six inches tall. It was pooped and I didn’t expect it to survive the winter.

My clematis, however, had other plans.

Now this hardy vine is all leaves and blooms. When I wash dishes, I admire it from my kitchen window — amazed that I didn’t kill it. Heck, I like it so much, I might buy more.

Have any of your plants made a miraculous recovery? What plants have survived in spite of your bumbling?

I’m a little afraid to talk about it, but my cucumbers seem pretty happy these days. They usually get off to a good start, only to wilt about the time I start thinking about the wonderful taste of homemade pickles. So keep it a secret, okay — so far, so good.

Though it’s too danged hot and dry for me to be pulling weeds from the garden, the weather is perfect to pick cute little cukes every day or two to toss in a salad.

I’m not sure when exactly it turned to high summer (I think I missed about a week painting the inside of the chicken coop), but I haven’t quite caught up yet. So until I’m ready to get dust off the canning stuff to make pickles, I could use some ideas or recipes for using my cucumbers.

How do you like to eat them best? Do you have a recipe you’d share? Anyone know which kinds I’m growing here in the pic? Once again, I started several kinds from seed and lost track of which was which.

You’ve had a tea party, sent an army of Red Coats packing, and signed your John Hancock to the crib sheet of modern day democracy. What’s left for a patriot to do? Why, eat some fennel — of course!

Fourth of July is not only a celebration of our independence from The Crown, but a summer celebration of our gardening successes. No grilled meat/meat-alternatives would be complete with out a treat from the garden.

This year, I’m serving up my greens, parsley, fennel and maybe a few strawberries (keep your fingers crossed) in super-food super-salad. I’ve earmarked some scapes for a little saute. There’s also three kinds of mint for mojitos (I’m skipping the Brandy Alexanders this year… they go down a little too fast and smooth).

However you choose to celebrate this three day weekend, take a moment to admire all your hard work. Your digging, planting and mulching has made something amazing. And, tomato time is right around the corner!

Happy Fourth of July!