Something I enjoy almost as much as puttering in my own garden is roaming through someone else’s garden.

Whether an enormous public space groomed by an army of professional groundskeepers or a tiny private patch in a friend’s backyard, blooming, growing landscapes provide me with visual delight, inspiration and relaxation — if not outright meditation.

Wherever I travel and no matter the season, I’m bound to seek out a garden or two to spy out new ideas for my own space, be it an unusual plant or an arrangement of elements I could adapt to my space. Last fall on Maui, we visited the Ali’i Kula Lavender Farm, impressed with the gardens which contained far more than just lavender. A few years ago, I was overwhelmed with the formal gardens and hundreds of fountains at the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, Italy.

Even if I can’t make it to a public garden, I usually at least get in a morning or evening walk through whatever neighborhood I’m staying in, and I note what residents have planted in their front gardens, window boxes or hanging baskets. I recall walking through a small village in Germany, just outside Cologne, back in 2005 during a World Youth Day trek. A charming gentleman stood at the front gate of his home, proudly offering a heap of shiny cherry tomatoes he’d grown in his garden to the hungry, weary pilgrims from all over the world passing by.

I immediately recognized a kindred gardening spirit and thanked him for his generosity and praised his lovely produce. I didn’t have to travel very far at all last weekend to enjoy some garden voyeurism, as the local chapter of the American Association of University Women sponsored a garden tour in our valley, with the proceeds going to their scholarship fund.

Since our younger daughter was the grateful recipient of such a scholarship several years ago, I found it only right that I contribute to the cause. The weather was perfect: dry, sunny, a nice breeze and temperatures moderately resting in the 70s.

We visited five different properties, including the acre-plus grounds surrounding a 1930s mansion (originally owned by the founder of Harry & David), rural acreage on which more than 2,000 varieties of rose are grown in a testing ground for a commercial grower, and a charming suburban cottage garden boasting 30-year-old koi in a pond.

I picked up ideas for training pole beans, combining unusual plant partners for beautiful container gardens and ways to encourage more pollinators to visit my yard. Best of all, I got outside, forgot about deadlines and work for a few hours and let the balm of springtime beauty soothe my soul.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor