BELMONT — Gilford resident Shirley Greenwood doesn't see her small garden as anything special.

"The garden you should really look at is my daughter's," she said. "It has driftwood, a bench that her husband made ... there are dragons in one part of the garden.

Greenwood, whose home was one of the stops on the annual Opechee Garden Club's annual Garden Tour, said she didn't remember what got her into gardening, but knows that what she likes about it is being outside and in the nice weather.

"I can't remember when I haven't had a garden," she said. "I'm 83 now; I've had them for a long time."

Elaine Barrof of Gilford said she put a lot of "blood, sweat, and tears" into keeping her garden, which consisted mostly of flowers such as geraniums, impatiens and other shade-growing flowers, all in tip-top shape.

"It's the little things here and there," she said. "I plant a lot in the spring, nothing real special."

Barrof's garden consists of mostly shaded plants around trees in various places in her yard and in front of her house. The front of her home was the most populated, with sparkles of red, white and violet dotting her flower bed.

Eleanor Brouilliard said she'd been gardening for 50 years, since she had a home in New Jersey, and that hers was featured in Better Homes and Gardens one year. Her home garden, located on Governor's Island, consists of many different flowers such as perennials, lilies and Japanese Bell Flowers.

"It's a year-round garden," she said. "I like to be in the woods ... and it has a nice view of the lake."

The flowers are in bloom at the home of Elaine and Roy Barrof in Gilford. (Lori Ingham/Citizen photo) Click here to view Foster's prints for sale

Brouillard said to keep her garden looking so nice, she pulls a lot of weeds and uses mulch, manure and bone meal in the fall as fertilizer.

"The view is beautiful," she said.

Sheila and Dan Sullivan of Belmont share in the garden duties, though Sheila says it's mostly Dan's hard work.

"He took it up from his dad, and he enjoys gardening," she said.

Sheila Sullivan said over the past seven years they've had a lot of different plants in the garden, but work mostly with perennials.

"They work well in the shade," she said.

"It's a continual work in progress," Dan Sullivan added.

As he showed his garden to one set of visitors, the topic of golf came up.

"I had to give up golf for the garden," he joked.

Members of the Opechee Garden Club admire the garden of homeowners Bob and Ginger Kay in Belmont during an annual garden tour on Saturday. (Lori Ingham/Citizen photo) Click here to view Foster's prints for sale

Sheila said their garden grows with the help of fertilizer and trimming things back, along with putting hay down in the fall, "which garden stores don't suggest."

"(Dan) looks at it almost every day and adds something else," she said.

Barrof said her and her husband have been chipping away at their garden over the past 22 years and that they "love flowers, and love color."

"It's kind of a lazy garden," she said. "We just throw it in there and say, 'please grow.'"

Lori Ingham can be reached at 524-3800 ext. 5932, or by e-mail at linghamcitizen.com.