SISTERS – Garden tours are to some of us little more than a lovely excuse to snoop in other people’s yards. The Sisters Home and Garden Tour, however, started as another way for quilters visiting from across the nation to experience the special community that is Sisters.

According to Cathy Ehlers, who is this year’s tour chairwoman, Jean Wells Keenan – owner of The Stitchin’ Post in Sisters and creator of the now-famous summer quilt show taking place this coming weekend – asked the Sisters Garden Club if its members were interested in hosting a garden tour that would coincide with the show.

”That way the quilters who come to Sisters to take classes the week before the quilt show would have another activity to participate in, one that would allow them to get to experience the community of Sisters in a different capacity,” she says.

Tickets for the Sisters Home and Garden Tour went on sale this past Friday (see ”If You Go”). Ehlers suggests inquiring about tickets as soon as possible, as they often go fast.

If one can be had, there are some delightful gardens at which to take a peek. There are five gardens and two homes on this year’s tour.

Out in Tollgate, just north of Sisters proper, Debby and Chet Kaczenski have a mature, lovely garden that takes up most of their half-acre lot. This is their second year on the tour and Debby Kaczenski says the garden has grown a lot since the first time they opened up their yard to the quilters.

”It’s filled out a whole bunch in the past couple of years,” she says.

The garden has paths that meander hither and yon, always depositing the wanderer on some bench or arbor or seat tucked away. Chet Kaczenski built many of the arbors and dug the two ponds that provide a continual soothing murmur in the big garden.

”My green thumb started to poke out when we came here,” says Debby.

She is one of those gifted gardeners who instinctively understands layering and texture in a garden. One of the pleasures of this yard is the beautiful sight of mature plants that have found their right place in the world, showcasing themselves and the plants around them in perfect harmony.

Wander back into Sisters and take a look at Carolyn and Eric Spencer’s garden. Here is a delightful example of a garden at the beginning of its life. The Spencers have wisely spent a good deal of time putting in the bones of their garden, amending the soil and building curved beds beneath huge Ponderosa pine trees. There is even a marvelous water feature made from old culvert pipe that pours into a small stream that winds through the yard.

”It’s a tribute to the old irrigation ditch that used to run next to the property,” says Eric Spencer.

Carolyn Spencer works for The Stitchin’ Post’s Jean Wells Keenan as manager of the Wild Hare and says that Keenan has helped the couple get their garden under way.

”Jean gave us plants from her garden, and other people gave us starts from all over the area,” she says. ”It’s a really neat way for us to start our garden.”

There are small hardy perennials in those curved beds. They are well spaced now, waving bravely in the breeze, but give this garden a couple of years and go look again.

”This place is going to explode,” says Carolyn.

Out on Highway 20, closer to Tumalo, is the home of Kerri and Jeffrey Nelson. Their log home is also Mountain View Bed and Breakfast, a small, charming retreat.

”The mountain view is part of the garden, really,” says Kerri.

The view is wonderful: On a clear day there are six peaks that can easily be seen from the back deck.

Vibrant color is the summer trademark of this garden. Carnations, lilies, coneflowers and containers stuffed with brilliant annuals are strutting their stuff right now. Look for squirrel feeders in tree stumps – an unusual touch.

Proceeds from the tour are used to support numerous community garden projects throughout the city of Sisters. The elementary, middle and high schools all have greenhouse projects that the money helps maintain. Funds also go to the Deschutes Basin Land Trust and educational programs at the Metolius Preserve.

For more information about the Sisters Home and Garden Tour, contact Cathy Ehlers at 549-1840.