A guide to garden tours nationwide

Here are a few premier garden tours nationwide. Call ahead for reservations, fees and visiting hours. Ask about customized group tours, which are available at many botanical gardens.

Garden and estate tours :

• Atlanta Botanical Garden: www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org or 404-876-5859. Docents lead tours each Tuesday afternoon (free with admission). Private group tours can be arranged.

• Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Brooklyn, N.Y.; www.bbg.org or 718-623-7200. Guided tours (free with admission) offered weekends, 1 p.m.; no reservations needed. Group tour offerings (718-623-7220, for 20 people or more) include garden seasonal highlights with buffet lunch, $32 a person; Palm House luncheon tour, $53-$63; "Meet the Curator" tour, $40 (with lunch $60); art and garden tour, $45.

• Chicago Botanic Garden: Glencoe, Ill.; www.chicagobotanic.org/tours or 847-835-5440. Earth Day Walk in search of wildflowers, April 28; Heritage and Lakeside Gardens tours, May 5; tree care tours, May 12 and 19. Spring Garden Walks, Saturdays, 1 p.m., April 28-May 26, free. Ticketed tours, $4-$32, include tram tours (starting in April), walking tours, group tours, behind-the-scenes tours of greenhouses and laboratories, a "Bright Encounters Tour" by tram (Heritage, Rose and English Walled Gardens), twilight tours on summer evenings. Boxed lunch option on some tours.

• Desert Botanical Garden: Phoenix, Ariz.; www.dbg.org or 480-941-1225. Daily public tours, "Taste of the Desert" tours, nighttime "Summer Flashlight" tours (free with admission). Beginning March 1, bird-watching and spring wildflower tours.

• Garden in the Woods: Framingham, Mass., www.newfs.org or 508-877-7630. Open April 14-Oct. 31. New England Wild Flower Society offers tours ($10 per person) of seasonal highlights, cart tours for visitors needing mobility assistance.

• Huntington Botanical Gardens: San Marino, Calif.; www.huntington.org or 626-405-2240 (for tours). Informal, walk-in tours available with admission. Tours requiring reservations include estate tours, $17; and "Tea & Tour," $49 (groups of four or more).

• Missouri Botanical Garden: St. Louis, Mo.; www.mobot.org or 800-642-8842. Guided walking tours (free with admission) offered daily at 1 p.m. Reservations required for tours of the park's Woodland Garden, Ottoman Garden, George Washington Carver Garden and more; fees vary.

• Monticello: Charlottesville, Va.; www.monticello.org or 434-984-9822. Guided tours of Thomas Jefferson's restored flower and vegetable gardens, tree grove and fruit orchards offered eight times daily April 1-Oct. 31 (free with admission).

• San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum: www.sfbotanicalgarden.org or 415-661-1316. Daily docent-led tours, family walks and birding walks (free with admission).

Tours of private gardens :

• Atlanta: Gardens for Connoisseurs Tour, May 12-13, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org or 404-876-5859. Tickets $30 ($20 in advance). Fundraiser for the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Tour includes 11 private gardens, from a Japanese-themed garden to a woodland garden.

• Charleston, S.C.:

Ashley Hall Tour of Homes and Gardens, April 21, 2-5 p.m. Tour of private dwellings and gardens in the historic district, to benefit Ashley Hall School, whose alumnae include Barbara Bush. Tickets, $35; 843-965-8454.

Festival of Houses and Gardens, March 15-April 14; www.historiccharleston.org. Tours of private gardens in 150 historic houses in 11 colonial and antebellum neighborhoods.

Garden Club of Charleston Annual Walking Tour, March 17-24, 2-5 p.m., www.thegardenclubofcharleston.com or 843-530-5164. Tickets, $40.

• Natchez, Miss.: Symphony of Gardens Tour, May 4-5, www.natchezpilgrimage.com. Thirteen town and estate gardens open to the public for self-guided tours, including Monmouth Plantation and Rosalie, an antebellum house owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Tickets $7 and up.

• Newport, R.I.: Secret Garden Tour, June 15-17; www.secretgardentours.org or 401-847-0514. Self-guided walking tour of private gardens in the Historic Point section. Tickets, $25 ($20 in advance).

• Virginia: Historic Garden Week in Virginia, sponsored by the Garden Club of Virginia, April 21-28, www.VAGardenweek.org or 804-644-7776. Thirty tours, ranging from private homes and James River plantations to the University of Virginia Pavilion Gardens, which were designed by Thomas Jefferson. Tickets $10-$40.