Photos by SHAOZHUO CUI The Roanoke Times

The Moore Garden: It includes a red barn, which is home to a miniature horse and a goat.

The Fowler/Giovanni Garden: There's a small pond on the right side of the house.

The Kark Garden: Small stone pagoda in the back yard.

Photos by SHAOZHUO CUI The Roanoke Times

The Etzler Garden: (at left and above) There are colorful terraces full of perennials and annuals that have spread and reseeded. Grapes and vegetables grow in the back yard. The Kark Garden: Prickly pear cactuses (right) are in full bloom on the left side of the house.

Photos by SHAOZHUO CUI The Roanoke Times

The Etzler Garden: (at left and above) There are colorful terraces full of perennials and annuals that have spread and reseeded. Grapes and vegetables grow in the back yard. The Kark Garden: Prickly pear cactuses (right) are in full bloom on the left side of the house.

Photos by SHAOZHUO CUI The Roanoke Times

The Etzler Garden: (at left and above) There are colorful terraces full of perennials and annuals that have spread and reseeded. Grapes and vegetables grow in the back yard. The Kark Garden: Prickly pear cactuses (right) are in full bloom on the left side of the house.

The gardens in Blacksburg and Christiansburg have flourished during the cool, wet spring. On July 12, you'll be able to take a look at some of the best.

The Friends of the Library, assisted by The Master Gardeners, will host the 13th Annual Friendly Garden Tour.

Wear your walking shoes and take a notebook. You'll be jotting down ideas for projects in your own yard and new plants to shop for. Or just enjoy a day of wandering along the shady paths and sunny borders of eight area gardens.

Here's a roundup of the featured gardens:

The Fowler/Giovanni Garden

1000 Flint St., Christiansburg

Eighteen years in the making, this garden is a wildlife sanctuary on the corner of a busy street in a suburban neighborhood.

Ginny Fowler and Nikki Giovanni bought the empty lot next door and created meadows, flower, vegetable and fruit gardens and a pond. The yard is hedged with white pines that afford them privacy and quiet.

The front door is approached through "The Glen," a densely planted, shady walk that harbors birds and the resident rabbit. A monstrous planting of forsythias keeps the afternoon sun from heating the inside of the house and serves as a condo for many bird nests.

The back deck, furnished with cobalt blue chairs and pots of colorful annuals, seems to float in the trees.

Giovanni says they have a healthy, balanced garden that people and animals can enjoy together. No chemicals are used and they don't invite in animals that can become pests. Bird food that attracts mice is kept in a shed in a far corner. They let the fish feed on insects and plant life in the pond.

Near the deck a serene, shady area filled with pale birdbaths makes morning coffee a delight. And in the long shadows of late afternoon, it's "champagne by the pond."

The Kark Garden

245 Diamond Ave., Christiansburg

When an architect with an eye for line and structure marries a creative plant enthusiast, there's always a major ongoing project. Warren and Margie Kark have done and re-done their 2.8 acres over the past 16 years.

Taking advantage of natural springs and streams, they've created a front-yard Eden around an old white oak tree. Spreading ferns, ligularias and groundcovers are accented with oriental stone art.

In the back yard, Warren Kark expanded a weedy pond and lined its walls with rock. The vegetable garden, fenced to protect it from the deer, crowns a sunny hill. Precisely laid out, it provides food and cut flowers through the summer.

Recently the Karks have replaced the wildly colorful perennials in English Cottage Style borders with Japanese-style plantings. Contrasting textures and greens, precisely placed and trimmed, give a feeling of harmony and simplicity.

Another addition is a sunny border filled with succulents and two magnificent prickly pear cactuses covered in yellow blooms.

The Moore Garden

840 Murray St., Christiansburg

Connie and Bill Moore have lived in the 1923 farmhouse built by Connie's grandparents since 1981. Theirs is a garden of childhood memories for Connie.

The peonies were planted by her grandmother, the dogwoods by her aunt. The huge maple that shades the swings was a volunteer that her grandmother never got around to pulling out. Connie's sons helped plant the grand spruces that served a few weeks indoors as Christmas trees.

The Moores have planned their flower, fruit and vegetable gardens to include an old corn crib that now houses chickens. The original wash house is a garden shed. The old red barn is home to a miniature horse and a goat.

Not part of the original farm, but a memory maker for the new generation, is a two-story playhouse designed for visiting grandchildren.

The Lindner Garden

Follow the signs on Sunrise Drive, Blacksburg

Renovation on this garden began in 2006. Plantings include evergreens used for privacy and wind barriers. Deer-resistant plants surround the outdoor living areas. Water flow is engineered to sustain portions of the garden using permaculture techniques.

The Niemiera Garden

509 Draper Road, Blacksburg

It took just three days to clear their overgrown yard in 1989. Alex and Jennifer Niemiera have been working since then to create interesting garden rooms and vistas by adding rock walls, paths and a pond.

Alex teaches in the horticulture department at Virginia Tech so the borders are filled with exotic selections and tropicals you don't often see in our area. Notice the big-leafed magnolias by the driveway and the hydrangea aspera by the backyard arch. By the side porch, three 15-year-old climbing hydrangeas have formed a gorgeous groundcover.

The Etzler Garden

305 Giles Road, Blacksburg

Michael Etzler is the gardener. His wife, Becky, is the canner, flower arranger and garden appreciator. They have transformed their bare, half-acre slope into a lush, terraced retreat.

The flat area at the bottom of the yard is the site of a large organic vegetable garden and plantings of fruit trees and berry bushes. A walk back up the hill winds through colorful terraces full of perennials and annuals that have spread and reseeded.

At the very top of the garden sit two old clawfoot bathtubs, the perfect place for a cooling soak after a hot day of gardening.

The Thorne-Thomsen/ Mosser Garden

713 Burruss Drive, Blacksburg

A front yard shaped with thickly planted berms creates privacy in this garden. Only a few feet from the street, there is an oasis with the soft gurgle of water flowing into a pond and shady green paths.

The back yard bursts with the colorful English cottage garden and raised beds for more flowers and vegetables. At the bottom of the back yard, two ornamental fences from an Egyptian building create interest.

The Zeigler Garden

853 Hutcheson Lane, Blacksburg

Last February, when the tour committee asked the Zeiglers to participate, their first reaction was "no way!" They both have battled serious health problems recently.

But, with no garden help, Carolyn and Edgar Zeigler worked all spring in the yard and Carolyn says, "We feel better than ever."

They started gardening together 65 years ago in a wooden box on the porch of their first apartment. Over the years they've found working outside to be therapeutic and they are taking steps to make their huge yard more manageable. Borders filled with low-maintenance perennials and day lilies are shaded by two old maples.