Tour celebrates town and gown  

Chapel Hill’s college town-dom extends to a garden tour this month. The Chapel Hill Garden Club’s annual fundraiser takes on a “Town & Gown” theme April 27 and 28: The self-guided weekend allows you to explore the home gardens of UNC-Chapel Hill faculty, UNC President Margaret Spellings, and private Chapel Hill residences, as well as the N.C. Botanical Gardens and the school’s Coker Arboretum. “Besides touring gardens, there is quite a bit else going on,” says tour chair Anna DeConti.

At each stop, “we have what we call accoutrements,” DeConti says. A handful of plein air artists will be on hand throughout the weekend at one residence; and President Spellings’s porch will host jazz combos and singing groups. There’s also a kickoff cocktail party at the N.C. Botanical Gardens Friday evening, when many of the tour stops’ owners will be in attendance. “We’re focusing on the collaboration between the town itself and the people who are at the university.”   –J.A.

Friday night party: 6 – 8 p.m.; $25

Garden tour: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sunday; $25 in advance and $35 day-of; chapelhillgardenclub.net/tour-home-page