GardenWalk Cleveland, a free event featuring self-guided tours of hundreds of gardens across 10 neighborhoods, returns this Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
It is, without question, one of the best weekends of the year.
Clevelanders who sign up to participate (375 stops this year) allow you to traipse through their yards to check out their fabulous gardens, landscaping and backyard setups. As opposed to every other day of the year when you would be legally and ethically prohibited from wandering through someone's property, this weekend you're encouraged to be nosy about what's lurking behind fences, around the corner of houses and down driveways.
For anyone whose weekly screentime tally is boosted by hours spent on Zillow, this is a chance to do something similar, but for real and in person.
It's unequivocally great.
You'll also, of course, get to see native plants, creative use of small spaces, extensive urban farms hidden from the street, and beautiful gardens all tended by lovely folks who are happy, in my experience, to either talk to you about their setup or leave you be to explore and enjoy on your own.
Take away inspriration for your yard, tucking it all away on a dream board where you can actually keep plants alive, or just scratch that curiosity itch and get into some backyards and check out how your neighbors across Cleveland are living.
Find maps for each neighborhood at
GardenWalk Cleveland. Printed maps are also available at selected stops.
This year's schedule:
Saturday, July 9: Glenville, West Park, Fairfax, Tremont, Old Brooklyn.
Sunday, July 10: Little Italy, Collinwod, Broadway Slavic Village, Detroit Shoreway, Clifton Baltic.
