secret garden tour fort lauderdale 2023

Chandor Gardens Foundation News

3rd annual secret gardens of parker county tour - june 1, 2023.

Enjoy a self-guided journey through 7 unique gardens in Parker County. Discover what lies behind the hedges, fences, and gates!

The Friends of Chandor Gardens are pleased to present the 3rd Annual Secret Gardens of Parker County Tour  of 7 unique gardens in Parker County, Texas, which showcases stunning views, landscaping ideas, fascinating plants and garden art.

This is a self-guided tour, so you can make your own itinerary and go at your own pace between the hours of  10:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. on Saturday, June 1, 2024.

Garden Locations:

• 126 Cahill Court, Weatherford, TX
• 211 Davis St, Weatherford, TX
• 416 W Josephine St, Weatherford, TX & 413 W. Lee Ave, Weatherford, TX
• 609 W. Lee Ave, Weatherford, TX
• 711 W Lee Ave, Weatherford, TX - Chandor Gardens
• 1911 Woodland Hills Lane, Weatherford, TX
• 117 Ranch House Rd, Willow Park, TX - The Community Garden, St. Francis of Assisi Anglican Church

• $12/person - online in advance
• $15/person - day of the event at 1st garden visited.

NOTE  - Those purchasing tickets online will be emailed a booklet with information about each garden and a map closer to the tour date. All ticket holders will be provided a printed copy of the booklet at the 1st garden gate visited the day of the event.

Regrettably, due to stairs and uneven terrain, the gardens on the tour are not fully accessible for those with mobility disabilities or for strollers.

In case of cancellation, due to significant inclement weather, the tour will be held Saturday, June 8, 2024, instead.

Thank-you so much to the garden owners! We are only able to be in the private gardens through the gracious kindness of the owners.

For additional information call: 817-550-7762

** Proceeds benefit the enhancement of Chandor Gardens reflecting the artistic vision of Douglas Chandor **

PLEASE JOIN US IN THANKING OUR GARDEN TOUR SPONSORS - WITHOUT WHOSE SUPPORT WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO HOLD THIS WONDERFUL EVENT.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS

Chandor Gardens Foundation, Inc. P.O. Box 114, Weatherford, Texas 76086 682-268-0102

Chandor Gardens 711 West Lee Avenue, Weatherford, Texas 76086 817-613-1700 www.chandorgardens.com

Chandor Gardens is on the National Register of Historic Places of the National Park Service.

The Chandor Gardens Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization.

Copyright ©2024 Chandor Gardens Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. site search | site map | login | reset | website & hosting by Pro Epic

The Secret Garden: Concert Fundraiser

Music and Lyrics by Marsha Norman                                                    Music by Lucy Simon

Adapted from the novel by frances hodgson burnett, may 23rd, 2024 at 6:30 pm (note the earlier time), with a cast of 30 and a 17-piece orchestra, featuring broadway’s nathaniel hackmann, will ray, kathy voytko, with rising stars jaden dominique, brodie kennedy, jalen kirkman, lily philbrook , this fundraiser concert will be followed immediately by a ticketed garden party featuring light english tea fare, cocktails, live music, dancing, and unique auction items/experiences., purchase your tickets here.

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The Secret Garden Dining Club

Ratings and reviews, food and ambience, location and contact.

My husband and I have been members at the Secret Garden for probably 10 years and more. It is such an oasis and the name of it’s restaurant : The Secret Garden defines well the location. Sitting by the intracoastal with views on boats and... sunset is exquisite. The white tablecloth and the quality of food makes it an extraordinary experience. Each week our friends or guests are so appreciative when the opportunity to share with us this exquisite environment happens The champagne offering is a nice way to begin the evening and the staff at reception are always remembering my name and make me feel at home. All the staff is very nice and friends guests are appreciative of Helena’s cocktails made to perfection and the quality of service is constant and very good. The food is very nice. Monday Night special theme is also a plus We only have good words for all staff members . Best regards Micheline Morin and Alain Roy More

The best restaurant in South Florida. Amazing food and great service. Tables right on the water is an excellent experience. Highly recommend this place.

THE SECRET GARDEN DINING CLUB, Fort Lauderdale - Restaurant Reviews & Photos - Tripadvisor

Waterfront Small Luxury Hotel

Located on the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, The Pillars Hotel & Club is a sophisticated haven in the heart of Florida’s renowned beach and yachting town. Since opening over twenty years ago, the elegant property has become known for treating guests to exceptional individual service and luxury reminiscent of the finest European boutique inns. Key features of the hotel include nightly gourmet dining in The Secret Garden restaurant, alfresco waterside fine dining, and 24 elegant luxury rooms. Guests can choose from a room or suite in the hotel’s waterfront venue or one of the six luxurious suites at our Birch House annex, just three minutes from the hotel’s front desk. The Pillars Hotel & Club has won numerous awards since the property opened twenty-four years ago.

Award Winner 2021 Award Winner Finalist 2022 Award of Excellence in the “Best Dining Experience” category for the USA, Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean for both 2023 & 2024

Rooms & Suites

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Birch House

The Hidden Garden

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Review Highlights

“ The decor inside is an Alice in Wonderland theme, which makes it a whole vibe. ” in 13 reviews

“ I would come back here, If I was walking the strip of Las Olas and wanted a a drink. ” in 3 reviews

“ I saw this place on TikTok and wanted to visit but wasn't sure where it was. ” in 2 reviews

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Location & Hours

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1309 E Las Olas Blvd

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

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Very cool bar. The DJ (Peter Gonzalez) was awesome, the decor was great and they even have an outdoor bar on their patio. The bartenders were so friendly and even gave us recommendations for the rest of our trip! (shout out to Kevin!) they also had giant Jenga which was a fun addition to the night. HIGHLY recommend.

Came to hidden garden to celebrate a friend's birthday. I walked past it twice! It's kinda hidden as the name implies. The place is very small and dingy. At least for what I could tell. It was quite dark. We were a large group, had bottle service, which was Grey Goose with accompanying mixes. We were in a corner, with barely any space to move. Music was great, but very little room to dance. I had a blast, but this isn't because of the establishment. We didn't have any food, there wasn't any available. I would come back during the day just to compare, but I'm not in a rush to do it.

We had a blast when this place was open, I hope they open it again soon, food was really good and the ambiance was amazing, everyone was so nice, we has a great experience.

Unique spot. I've been on two occasions and they both had different vibes thanks to different DJs. I was mostly wowed by the decor and the layout. You walk upstairs above a restaurant and it's like you've been transported down the rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland. Again super unique decor, certainly allows for many great photo ops. Then if you need a break you can catch some fresh air on the balcony. The drinks are inconsistent. They offer things on the menu and run out after one order. But hey, seltzers are popular nowadays, right? Anyway the first time I went the DJ was playing a lot of throw backs which we all loved and the second time more house/EDM. It was definitely more crowded on my second visit. I'd definitely go back as this spot is not super packed and it's kind of low key. After all, it is the "Hidden Garden".

I checked out the Hidden Garden to see what the hype was about and it was a bit disappointing. It's more of a bar with a balcony than what it is trying to advertise as. Bartender messed up the drinks. The only thing I liked was the decorations.

What a cool place! When you first walk in, it seems like just a normal restaurant. However, i came with a group for an event for brunch and we got to go to the hidden garden upstairs. It is Alice in wonderland themed and overall is super cool. When I went though, the air wasn't working upstairs and they had these big portable acs. If it wasn't pointed at you, you were hottttt. We actually wound up leaving and not staying for the event because it was so hot. It would be nice to try the place out again.

See all photos from Lea D. for The Hidden Garden

While in Fort Lauderdale, my group kinda found this place by an accident. We went upstairs and decided to have a drink on the outside patio and thought that was it. We then started seeing people going in and out of these side doors that were kinda hidden in the corner and just thought we should follow them. When we went inside it was a completely different experience. It was a very cute Alice and Wonderland themed bar that was very visually appealing, now I totally understand the whole Hidden Garden name. I would have probably enjoyed this place more in my early 20s reason being not only was it very loud but if I wanted to pay for overly priced drinks and shots I could have found a place that made better quality drinks and shots. The crowd was also a little sketchy but we found a table and was able to keep to ourselves. But overall it was a cool find and nice to see. I wouldn't be rushing back here but it's cute to check out at least once.

The Hidden garden, located at 13th and Las Olas was a pleasant treat. Had Sunday brunch upstairs. I ordered the breakfast menu eggs, with juice. Gotta try one of the spritzers to go with meal. The desserts weren't bad either.

See all photos from Valerie C. for The Hidden Garden

Food was great for it to be from a bar. Drinks were amazing great photo ops music was beyond amazing. I really like this place can't wait to go back

Came for brunch but the food wasn't great, it was ok at best. The ambience was good though and I would come for the drinks. They have a patio area next to the outside bar which was a good vibe just to have a drink and chill.

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Bringing many seasons of joy to celebration and its visitors, holiday home tour welcomes residents and visitors on self-guided tours through seasonally decorated homes., holiday home tour.

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Stage and Cinema

Arts and Entertainment Reviews

Theater Review: THE SECRET GARDEN (Revival Production at the Ahmanson Theatre)

by Marc Wheeler on February 27, 2023

in Theater-Los Angeles

THE SECRET’S OUT: THIS GARDEN’S IN BLOOM

It’s been almost a year since Ahmanson Theatre ushered in spring with the national tour of Hadestown . This season (thank ye, Fates!), spring has come again with a lush new production of the 1991 Broadway musical The Secret Garden . Based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 English children’s novel of the same name, the musical features a 10-year-old orphaned girl as its protagonist. The musical is certainly family-friendly, as evidenced by the well- dressed and behaved children in attendance on Opening Night. Yet this dark-and-moody, Warren Carlyle -directed and choreographed production is more in the vein of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera (which premiered three years prior to Garden ’s 1990 pre-Broadway run) than it is a “kids’ show” in the vein of, say, Frozen . Regardless, the result is a gorgeous, sophisticated work that—to hearts and steps—will surely bring spring.

With lyrics and a Tony Award-winning book by Marsha Norman , Garden tells the tale of a 20th century girl, Mary Lennox ( Emily Jewel Hoder ), who becomes an orphan when her family dies of cholera. In this production, cholera itself is curiously played by a single actress, Kelley Dorney, who—like a color guard twirler—whirls her red-death upon them. Mary is shipped away from British India to the moors of Yorkshire, England where she’s to live with her uncle Archibald (a powerhouse Derrick Davis ) to whom she’s a perfect stranger. Upon arrival, she finds his manners as cold as his manor. His distance, we discover, is attributed to the loss of his beloved late wife, Lily ( Sierra Boggess ), whose ghostly presence is as haunting and beautiful as the actress’s ethereal vibrato. Mary soon befriends Martha, a motherly, thick-accented chambermaid (a lovely Julia Lester ) as well as a white-bearded old crank named Ben (an endearing Mark Capri ). She’s also taken under the wing of Dickon (a handsome, honey-voiced John-Michael Lyles ), who helps her communicate with birds and cultivate, as the title suggests, a secret garden whose capacity for growth far transcends the literal.

As pre-teen Mary, Hoder carries the show with gusto. Sure, Mary can be a privileged, petulant brat at times, but she’s more adult than she should have to be. In the face of adversity, she keeps a stiff upper lip. If there’s anything missing from Hoder’s performance, it’s a moment to crack. Let’s face it, the girl just lost her whole family to cholera and now she’s living with a bunch of strangers: how does she deal with the pain when no one’s looking? Perhaps the book, or director, doesn’t want to go there, but for my money, it’s a missed opportunity.

Lucy Simon ’s score (orchestrated by Danny Troob , conducted by Dan Redfeld , and with additional arrangements by music supervisor Rob Berman ) is plush and sumptuous, bordering on the operatic. Because of the spiritual, even multicultural, nature of the work, Simon lures us with rich, haunting melodies that are quenchingly reprised. Standout numbers include “Come to My Garden” and “How Could I Ever Know,” a powerful duet between Archibald and his late wife. In “A Bit of Earth,” wherein Mary asks her uncle for some earth to garden, I couldn’t help but notice how Norman’s lyrics stand in contrast to Simon’s near-sounding “bitter earth” upon which a grieving Archibald now stands.

As solid as the cast is (there’s not a weak link in the bunch), the book is unnecessarily complex. Complicating matters is the production’s colorblind casting. As appealing as it is to see diverse human hues populating a stage—like flowers in a garden—when casting choices are confusing, historically inaccurate, or work against the art or storyworld itself, one has to weigh their merits. For instance, when we discover that Archibald’s brother, Neville ( Aaron Lazar ), was secretly in love with and heartbroken by Lily; and we discover in Act One [small spoiler] a mysterious child named Colin (a feisty, scene-stealing Reese Levine ) whose race matches Neville’s and Lily’s—not Archibald’s (uh-oh!)—well, you can see where my mind went. Does any of this potential drama pan out? Nope. But when audiences are unsure why something’s cast the way it is, we don’t know what to take seriously—or not. Consequently, we may invent fictions to make sense of the director’s (possibly non-art-related) choices, distracting us from the real story.

Visually, the work is poetry. Jason Sherwood ’s set is minimalist and abstract, taking up just enough space to leave room for our imaginations. Set pieces and actors move in and out swiftly, elegantly, like ballet dancers, hitting their marks with precision. Meanwhile, a giant “swirl,” lit gorgeously by Ken Billington and Brian Monahan , ascends to the rafters as candles Phantom-ly fill a ghostly stage. The look is classy, if playful, and eventually, bright. Ann Hould-Ward ’s costumes are well-suited, proper. Touching them up nicely are Victoria Tinsman ’s wigs and makeup. Sound designer Dan Moses Schreier fills the air with windy chills or the sweet bird sounds of a garden. Offering distinctions in class and region, Joel Goldes ‘ dialect coaching is top notch, as evidenced by the cast’s vocal deliveries.

At its heart, The Secret Garden is sweet, sentimental. Even if the book complicates it, the story’s simple—yet richly so. Who hasn’t been that child (or adult) yearning to cultivate, or be grown? And who hasn’t been, or won’t be, that adult (or child, like Mary) who learns all too well the role of death in this cycle? From winter comes spring; from spring, winter—and all that’s in-between. If you’re looking for something to lift you, this bit of earth may be the grounding you need.

photos by Matthew Murphy of MurphyMade

The Secret Garden revival production presented by Center Theatre Group Music Center’s Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave. ends on March 26, 2023 for tickets, call 213.972.4400 or visit  CTG tickets to this show and 75+ additional productions starting at $20 are available now during LA Theatre Week

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

I agree, Marc, it’s a lovely production with thrilling design and performances. Additionally, I completely agree that the (still) complicated book was made even more confusing by the colorblind casting. It was somewhat easier to see Martha (white) and Dickon (black) as siblings, but can’t the producers keep the same color in the same family for the audience’s sake (if not fer crissake)?

Oh, and another EGREGIOUS oddity: Mary’s guardian and uncle Archibald is a hunchback (it even says so in the script), but the hunch is mysteriously missing on actor Derrick Davis while his brother, Neville, walks with a cane!

Part of our sympathy for Archibald arises (or should arise) because a beautiful woman fell in love with him, and then died, leaving this poor deformed man to possibly never find love again. Post-show, one confused audience member (there were plenty) wondered if the producers thought that a hump would offend the hunchback or entire physically different community. Whatever the “woke” reasons, I feel this MUST be attended to before the show moves to Broadway (which it will).

In the words of Igor: “What hump?”

My two cents:

While I preferred the set design of the original to the revival’s, I was pleased to see a show with no projections.

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