By: GARY DEMUTH
According to gardener and Jane Austen superfan Laurie Pitts, three necessary elements are needed to create the sense and sensibility of an English tea garden.
First, one must install an arched, latticed arbor that supports climbing plants. Then create a walking path that winds through the garden. Finally, plant a weeping cherry tree, which is native to East Asia and famous for its spectacular spring blossoms.
Pitts, a longtime Salina resident, has been developing and fine tuning her English tea garden for the last 25 years, inspired by 18th century novelist Jane Austen after first watching movie adaptations of her novels “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility” and then reading Austen’s “Emma” during a long plane flight in 2000.
“It took me awhile to get into the rhythm of her prose, but then I was totally hooked,” Pitts said. “I love the Regency period, the look, the style of the clothing. It just transports you to a different time.”
Pitts became so hooked on Austen that she joined the Kansas City chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America and began designing and building a backyard English tea garden as a tribute to the author.
Pitts’ garden at 1205 Meyer Drive is one of six local gardens to be featured during the Salina 2026 Garden Tour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 6, presented by the Central Kansas District Extension Master Gardeners. Tickets are $15 each. Children 12 and under are admitted free when accompanied by a paid adult.
Tickets can be purchased at Waters Hardware or Waters Garden Center, 460 S. Ohio, K-State Extension office on the K-State Salina campus, or at any of the garden locations on the day of the tour.
In addition to Pitts’ garden, private gardens will be on display at 103 E. Presley, 137 Overhill Road, 3191 S. Simpson Road, 1214 E. Wayne and 221 S. Morris Drive. The Central Kansas District Extension Master Gardener Demonstration Garden also will be open to visitors at south Kenwood Park Drive.
Each of this year’s private gardens has been curated by an Extension Master Gardener to be both an educational and entertaining experience, said Jason Graves, Horticulture Extension Agent for K-State Extension Central Kansas District.
“Extension Master Gardeners select a unique educational theme for each garden on the tour and curate related content on the tour website to help visitors learn more about the featured topics and gardening techniques,” he said.
Information about this year’s tour can be found here.
Austen inspired highlights
Among the highlights in Pitts' Jane Austen inspired English tea garden, in addition to the required arbor, walking paths and weeping cherry tree, are unique perennials, native plants and pollinators, fairy and gnome gardens, a rain garden, a rock pond with a water feature in the center of the yard and six different seating areas, several of which are placed around concealing shrubbery.
“Everything important that happens to the main characters (in Austen’s novels) happens in the shrubbery,” Pitts said.
Since the garden is intended to celebrate Austen’s 250th birthday (the author was born on Dec. 16, 1775), Pitts is placing quotes from Austen’s novels on fences along the garden. She also is dressing mannequins representing Austen’s characters in 18th century attire and placing them at a tea table by the rock pond.
“You must meet Lizzie and Darcy from ‘Pride and Prejudice’ dressed up in authentic Regency clothing,” she said. “They look very much at home in the sort of garden Jane loved and wrote about.”
Several live participants, including Pitts, her daughter and granddaughter, will be wearing period dresses during the tour, which Pitts designed herself.
Pitts hopes visitors will appreciate the beauty and style of the Regency era while touring her garden.
“The tea garden is a relaxing and entertaining place to go to,” she said. “I like to share it whenever I can.”
Creative and unique gardens
Selecting gardens for the tour is a nearly two-year process to give those selected “plenty of time to prepare for the event,” Graves said.
Gardens are often recommended to the K-State Extension office or directly to the tour selection committee, who visit each proposed site and then carefully select a diverse group of five or six gardens for that year’s tour.
“Some homeowners volunteer their gardens for consideration, while other times we simply notice a beautiful or unique landscape and knock on the door to ask if the homeowner might be interested in participating,” Graves said. “We are always looking for inspiring, creative and unique gardens to feature on future garden tours.”
In addition to Pitts’ Jane Austen-themed tea garden, the five other private gardens on this year’s tour include:
· “The Lifelong Gardener”: Ruth Ascher, 103 S. Presley. Highlights: prairie garden, native perennials, Kansas native plants, crimson viburnum, Arctic Fire dogwood moved from Minnesota, and yard art collected from more than 40 years of art shows.
· “Tranquil Pollinator Paradise”: Harley Hamilton and Guy Walker, 137 Overhill Road. Highlights: bubbling fountains, quickfire hydrangeas, hornbeam trees, formal-shaped shrubs, pollinator gardens and sunroom with a fig tree and lemon tree.
· “Prairie Surprise”: Mike and Cheryl Meier, 3191 S. Simpson Road. Highlights: Rocked pollinator garden, self-watering containers, pond and waterfall with walk bridge, koi ponds and quince for the quail.
· “Sharing Your Heritage”: Dawn and Ricky Miller, 1214 E. Wayne. Highlights: annuals, hostas, roses, hydrangea, fruit trees (lime, apple, peach) vegetable garden with pots and plants from Thailand and the Philippines.
· “The Wonder of Waterfalls”: Todd and Pam Welsh, 221 S. Morris Drive. Highlights: recirculating waterfall and water features, sitting areas, hardscaping, pool with seating areas and container plantings.
Additionally, the Central Kansas District Extension Master Gardener Demonstration Garden at south Kenwood Park Drive will feature multiple garden areas that demonstrate various types of plants and gardening styles.
“Many of the plants will also be labeled in the gardens, and visitors are encouraged to visit directly with the homeowners or Master Gardener volunteers to ask questions or to gain inspiration and ideas for their own landscapes and gardens,” Graves said.
Unique vendors
Enhancing the tour experience will be a variety of unique vendors at each garden stop,
Participating vendors for this year’s tour include Sunflower Follies by Meghan Hessman, Findings by Deon, Baron Mushmouse, Seriously Fun Art by Curt Krob, Old 2 New Creations, Dyck Arboretum of the Plains (selling native and perennial plants) and 2nd Chance Designs by Mike and Sandy King.
Money raised by the garden tour will go toward expansion and maintenance of the Master Gardeners Public Demonstration Garden and other Master Gardener community projects that include children’s gardens, horticulture awards at the Tri-Rivers Fair and Master Gardener outreach events.
Each garden tour, Graves said, is truly an event for everyone – even those who may not consider themselves “gardeners.”
“While visitors certainly come away with gardening ideas and inspiration, the heart of the tour is really the experience itself,” he said. “There is something really special about slowing down, walking through beautiful and intentionally designed outdoor spaces and enjoying them together with family and friends.”
Gardens naturally invite people to pause, explore and connect while connecting with others, Graves said.
“The tour is a celebration of the creativity, hospitality and hard work of gardeners throughout our community,” he said. “Each garden tells a unique story, and visitors often leave inspired not only by the plants and landscapes, but by the people and personalities behind them.
“Being outdoors in nature has a way of bringing a sense of joy, refreshment and peace, and that feeling is magnified when it is shared with others.”