The backyard of the home on Twins Beach Lane feels like it stretches on forever. 

A narrow path leads from the road to flower beds out at the back of the house, the air rich with the scent of lilies. From there, a wide corridor of green grass leads through trees and ferns, shrubs and stumps, down to the water’s edge, where the viewscape opens up to the river and the sky. 

It’s a majestic landscape — and none of it was in place three seasons ago.

Visitors did their best to enjoy the garden — and the other six stops on the Wareham Garden Club’s ‘Tour des Fleurs’ — on Saturday, July 13, in between the intermittent bouts of rain. 

‘Tour des Fleurs’ took Wareham residents on an adventure through some of the best gardens their town had to offer. 

Ellen Bartlett and Chuck Rossiter moved into the home on Twins Beach Lane in October of 2020. According to Bartlett’s artist statement, the pair found the yard a blank canvas. 

“I was thrilled to have the opportunity to start creating a garden from scratch and approach it like a living piece of art,” Bartlett wrote. 

Wareham Garden Club member Sue Scippione enthused about Bartlette’s use of color and texture in the garden and about the flow of its design, which leads a wanderer through the garden from bed to bed. 

“She’s an artist, and you can tell,” said Scippione. 

Each of the gardens on display was crafted with a keen attention to detail. 

“These gardens are spectacular, so we wanted to recognize some of the community that does this,” said Garden Club president Judy Morgan. 

Morgan said many of the gardens selected came from Garden Club members wanting to recognize the gardens of their neighbors. 

Connie Wiliszowski, a Garden Club member herself, had her home’s plantings on display. 

Wiliszowski and her husband built their house 11 years ago, she said: “There was nothing here.” Over time, they “slowly put it together,” she said. 

Their efforts resulted in a cornucopia of a garden, overflowing with different types of plantings. 

Wiliszowski showed off the highlight of the garden: A hillside slope with shrubs, trees and a blue spruce. She put those plants in place because they don’t take a lot of maintenance, she said. 

Those who visited the gardens were enraptured. 

Garden Club member Christine Heywosz brought her new neighbor, Nora King. 

“It’s nice,” said King. She said she brought away “Inspirational ideas for back home — [but] not this grand.” 

Heywosz added, “I’m amazed at some of the beautiful places in Wareham, and this is one of them.”

Elaine Morse, who at 86 said she was the oldest member of the garden club, reminisced about some of the previous year’s garden tours. 

“These gardens are well thought out,” Morse said. “Very professional.”