One of the many events held during the annual Azalea Festival is the Cape Fear Garden Club’s Azalea Garden Tour, which features gardens in bloom for guests to walk through in a self-guided tour, including Airlie Gardens.
It begins with a ribbon-cutting at the queen’s garden party and it’s a great to-do. Refreshments include the garden club’s sought-after homemade cookies.
Gracing the gardens showcased on the tour again in 2024 will be professional floral displays and decorating ideas for entertaining in outdoor spaces.
The garden tour theme this year is Beyond the Garden Gate.
The event has grown organically. Heda Waldrep had been doing it on her own for about five years, calling garden owners to see if she could do their tabletop just to make their garden that much more fabulous.
“A lot of the gardens have outdoor kitchens and tables,” Waldrep says.
Her background is military with European deployment. Her business is Heda The Table. She describes her style as rustic elegance.
“I like my tables to tell a story,” says Waldrep. “I like to pair components. I’ll start with a bare table, add a tablecloth or placemats, and I’ll start layering the table, a charger, a plate, a salad plate. I love building the table up. I add candles and candelabras to my tables.”
She believes a table should be welcoming rather than intimidating.
“A tablescape to me, it’s like an invitation to their world,” she says.
In 2023 Waldrep says she gave the endeavor a title, Table Scape Creations, and formalized things by forming a committee to match the individual gardens. For 2024, the garden club committee invited local design businesses Paysage, Protocol and Heda The Table to share their tabletops and exhibits in tour gardens.
Not all gardens have a table and a seating area; it is not a garden club requirement.
“These tabletops are a good addition to show how you can entertain within your garden,” says Signa Stalvey, the garden tour chair for 2024. She was also the garden tour chair in 2019.
For homeowners who have downsized from bigger yards, this year has new inspiration.
“A number of the gardens on the tour this year are patio homes in the patio home community of Village at Summerset Gardens 5, 6 and 7 show what people can do when they downsize into a smaller garden,” Stalvey says. “This section of the tour is going to be a walking tour. Visitors will park on Cavalier Drive and walk.”
Kimberly Shipley and Beth Adams from Protocol created an elegant blue and white vignette in Landfall last year, at a home with breathtaking views of the marsh and Howe Creek.
“We featured Herend’s exquisite Chinese Bouquet pattern, known for its intricate hand-painted blossoms, butterflies and ornate golden accents. We paired it with Herend’s American Wildflower dessert plates, cobalt drinkware by Estelle, and layers and layers of gorgeous blue and white linens by Matouk,” Adams says.
Protocol is creating a tabletop this year in Cavalier Woods at 216 Cavalier Drive, the garden of Frank Potter and Linwood Gainey.
“This year’s theme is bright color and whimsy. Mood lifting. We’ll strike a balance between traditional elegance with modern simplicity to create an inviting dining experience,” Adams says.
They plan to showcase their curated collection of fine china, luxurious linens, drinkware and more.
“Our garden is a little more English, a little more modern than most, but it is very small with an English/French garden feel to its vibe. All of the beds are bordered in double boxwoods with roses in the middle. I am going to do large French clay pots with various shapes of boxwoods that are going to be nestled throughout the garden,” Potter says.