The annual Blossoms by the Bay garden tour showcased sprawling gardens and a variety of colorful flowers at six properties on Friday and Saturday.

This year, the garden stroll welcomed more than 300 guests to the gardens all located along Great Neck Road on July 15 and 16. The Wareham Garden Club organized the event.

Though they were close in proximity, each garden provided visitors with a variety of styles.

This was the largest fundraiser of the year for the Garden Club. They raised more than $1,000 alone from selling items at one of the homes.

The tour included a silent auction with items like an offset smoker grill, floral paintings, gift certificates to Dunkin Donuts and Stop n Shop, a lighthouse lamp, a master gardener consultation, a handmade garden bench, and a pond excursion for six with wine and appetizers.

Below is a break down of the gardens and gardeners featured on the tour.

Carolyn and David McMorrow

For Carolyn McMorrow, owner of the oldest house in Wareham, gardening just a part of getting back in touch with her roots.

McMorrow said she has always felt she was born "200 years late," and enjoys cooking and gardening in a historical fashion. From dolls made out of corn husks to old fashioned ginger cookies, she tries to do "almost everything with a colonial influence." 
In her garden, she grew marshmallow plants and stuck tiny marshmallows on the ends. She said our ancestors used to take the root of the plant, pulverize it, and make marshmallows out of it.

Though she faces some challenges living in modern times, she's quite content with the life she has created.

"This is the way I want to live," she said. "People don't realize what our ancestors did just to get by on a daily basis. They'd be a little more appreciative today if they had some kind of clue as to what life was like back then."

Christy and Wayne LaGue

You would think the LaGue's house is air-conditioned when you first walk in, but it's just the way the breeze from the bay moves through the house.

Inside the house, which was a part of the tour, numerous paintings by Christy were displayed. Her artistry is inspired mostly by nature and from the bay they have in their backyard.

She has painted the bay in all seasons.

"It's constantly changing because its tidal," said Wayne LaGue, whose favorite part is watching the changes in the bay. "You can see the tide come in and out. Sometimes [the whole area] is flooded."

The LaGues said gardening requires paying attention to location and the sun, both inside the house and outside of it. On one floor of their multi-level deck, they tend a kitchen garden primarily used for herbs.

Most of the other levels grow annuals, but because of the sandy nature of the soil, almost all of the plants are in containers.

"We garden for pleasure and for functionality," Christy said. "We both have gardened all our lives."

Christine and Chris Decas

At the Decas' seaside home, Christine considers all of her plants her favorites.

"They're like my children," she said.

In addition to the flowers lined up along her house, landscaped in the front, and a view of the bay behind the house, there's an herb garden and a secret garden.

To Christine, the "garden doesn't just happen overnight, it takes years."

That includes years of trying certain plants, getting rid of some and replacing others.

One of the most notable aspects of her garden was the 15-year-old climbing hydrangea attached to a pine tree.

Elaine and Scott Robertson

The Robertsons said nearby deer make gardening difficult, but that doesn't stop them from planting large displays of colorful flowers in their yard.

"We just like vibrant colors," said Elaine.

Magentas, pinks, purples, and white perennials liven up the front of their house in order "to offset the cold, long, wet, and snow covered winter and spring here in the Northeast."

"It's very challenging. The winters are unpredictable," said Elaine.

For that reason, the Robertsons try to plant as many perennials as possible at their home.

Peter and Glen Russett

Yellow lily petals have a sweeter taste to them while red and orange petals have a little kick.

That's what the Russells said at their Cape Cod Cultivar Conservancy, where they have hundreds of heirloom daylily cultivars.

Brothers Peter and Glen greeted guests as they stood outside in the sweltering sun and heat, sparking up conversation with anyone and everyone.

They began their garden in 1980 and the daylilies are the highlights of their efforts. The lilies pop up every year and are low maintenance except to "keep them fed and keep them happy."

The lilies only bloom for one day, dying off and allowing other buds to bloom the following days.

Guests were able to walk down a path to the beach and dip their feet in the water.

Tracy and Scott Denton

After struggling to grow a garden in their sand-rich backyard, Tracy and Scott Denton decided to work with nature instead of against it. She and her husband took advantage of the landscape and embraced what they had.

“I like to garden but I don't like to be a slave to it,” Tracy said, then pointed out the roses and plants she's tried protecting from deer. “All kidding aside, we tried to grow a lawn and it looked like a war zone because there were patches of sand and patches of grass. We decided to just kind of go with it.”

Along with the fire pit, volleyball pit, and bar area in her backyard, there are lobster pots that her father used in Onset Bay. On the property is an apple tree given as a gift to her husband from his sales team after his father passed away. They also have a porch swing, which was a first-anniversary present and has followed them in each home.