BoomerGirl Diary

Shovel dirt on the formal garden party of yesteryear, at which ladies in dresses lunched among perfectly manicured flower beds. That's way too much work for a host and guests.

Instead, with less prep time, you and your friends can pitch in to create a mini garden tour among yourselves. A progressive garden party is a fun, casual way to enjoy the outdoors.

A bonus with this style of party is that you can learn a lot, says Karen Badalucco, a Kansas City, Mo., outdoor furniture designer who has hosted numerous garden gatherings. Looking at more than one garden means you can share more tips and sources with one another.

Here's how to tend this garden party:

Choose a time and day. This party will take three or four hours, counting travel time, eating, drinking and, of course, checking out gardens. So start in the late morning or afternoon on a Saturday or Sunday.

Pick three or four homes. It's a plus if the members of your group are hard-core gardeners. Your party is set if you can visit a beautiful butterfly garden, a fragrant herb garden, a dramatic all-white-flower garden and a spectacular water garden.

However, most of us don't have gardens worthy of a magazine cover. So be creative when it comes to choosing hosts. Maybe someone plants innovative container gardens, another has built an interesting fence, one decorates with unusual garden ornaments and another grows strawberries. They're worthy hosts, too.

Don't forget logistics. Ideally, homes should be less than 15 minutes apart by car.

Assign easy tasks to guests who aren't hosting. One person can be the keeper of the sunscreen. Another can carry the insect repellent. Or those guests can give plants, seeds or pots as party favors.

Send invitations. Ask people to wear their favorite gardening hat and clogs.

Let the garden inspire food, drink and decor. For starters, each host should have at least one bottle of water for each guest. But there doesn't need to be food and cocktails at each house. You could alternate food, drink, food, drink to make things simple.

To make the party more interesting, the gardener should let the specialty of the garden dictate the menu and/or decor. The gardener who grows strawberries could make strawberry daiquiris or strawberry shortcake. The host with the all-white-flower garden could serve on all-white linens and dishes and, of course, cut a bouquet of white flowers.

Badalucco grows herbs. She's created a centerpiece out of a hollowed loaf of bread (ciabatta, pumpernickel and French bread work) filled with a piece of floral foam. She stuck sprigs of feathery thyme, tall tarragon and round-leaf sage into the top of the bread, anchoring them in the foam.

Badalucco also uses the herbs she grows for cheese trays. She crushes dried thyme and marjoram with a mortar and pestle, then rolls goat cheese in the mixture.

"It's best to use mild cheeses," Badalucco says. "You could use other cheeses and just garnish them with basil or rosemary."

Remember to bring a camera. Guests and hosts will want to take pictures of the gardens and one another because it will be a memorable day.