Can't get enough of this year's stunning hydrangeas? How about a garden tour at 5 homes

DUXBURY − Five gardens, three by the sea and two associated with historical homes, are the stars of this year's Hydrangea Happiness Festival sponsored by the Community Garden Club of Duxbury.

The garden tour will be held July 23, rain or shine, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will begin at the Alden Historic House Site, 105 Alden St. This is the club's sixth hydrangea festival.

The garden tour this year celebrates all hydrangeas, but it highlights the hardier paniculata, smooth and arborescens hydrangeas, which bloom later, said Margaret Brook, vice president of the garden club. For that reason, the tour is being held later in the hydrangea cycle.

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The Myles Standish Hotel is now a private home

One of the highlights will be the gardens associated with the Myles Standish Hotel residence .

This residence was designed in a section of a former historical hotel under the supervision of renowned architect Patrick Ahearn, of Boston and Edgartown .

Ahearn and Pete Cadieux, a landscape designer with a Blade of Grass out of Sudbury, will lead walk-and-talk tours at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. around the grounds of the residence. They will explain the property’s renovation and landscape renaissance. Ahearn will have copies of his book, " History Reinterpreted: The Myles Standish Hotel Book, " available.

All five of the gardens feature hydrangeas, unique settings, tablescapes (set tables with floral arrangements) and perennials.

There will be special activities including art and music at some of the gardens. One of the homes will feature a decorated outdoor shower. Another home will feature a floating floral arrangement.

Artist Joan Sullivan, of Duxbury Oyster, who creates and sells decorated oyster shells, or decoupage oyster shells, around town, will be showing her garden and have oyster shells for sale.

Another property on the tour features chickens and a farm stand. The garden is a collection of flower beds and the homeowners have adopted a sustainable landscaping approach that uses ground covers instead of traditional mulch. They also have bee hives.

"This is truly a community effort," Brook said.

To buy garden tour tickets in advance for $50, visit the garden club's festival website.

A free presentation on "Hydrangea Heroes" July 18 at the Duxbury Free Library is full. You can email the garden club to see if last-minute seats become available, Brook said.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Can't get enough of this year's stunning hydrangeas? How about a garden tour at 5 homes