See lavish local gardens during annual spring tour

Westlake Village Garden Club will host its 33rd annual Garden and Patio Tour from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sun., April 30 showcasing five gardens in Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks.

Tickets for the self-guiding tour are $15 and include a map. Children under 12 are free. Tickets are available at garden centers from Calabasas to Newbury Park.

Call Mikie Hellie, tour cochairman, for more information at (818) 706-2119.

Proceeds from the event fund four $1,000 college scholarships the club awards to local students in the fields of horticulture, environmental science or forestry.

Other tour beneficiaries include Conejo Valley Botanic Garden, Conejo Valley Historical Society, Pennies for Pines, Theodore Payne Foundation, Manna, Habitat for Humanity and the Thousand Oaks/ Westlake Village Meals on Wheels programs.

Featured gardens include the following.

Barbara Hiatt's garden features a Mediterranean look with native plants, herbs and specimen trees viewed from meandering paths and highlighted by a fountain.

Water is the theme of Joe and Sandi Mandry's garden, whose backyard looks onto Westlake Lake. A waterfall, koi pond and shade plants as well as colorful sun-loving plants brighten their patio.

Matt and Kim Kanny's garden is highlighted by a natural waterfall on a hillside landscaped with a variety of desert plants, trees, ornamental grasses and other plant material that provides form and texture.

Garden accents from a wall fountain to a model train blend with colorful planting beds, roses and vines on Richard and Tracy Kimes' rustic acreage.

Fifty-one varieties of palms-153 specimens in all- plus a rain forest-like effect created by misters that provide a happy home for tropical plants highlight the garden of Chris and Mary Jane McCloud.