By David Harry
Staff Writer

Mary Hodgkin can’t help picking at her Cape Elizabeth gardens, grabbing a stray weed or ripening strawberry as she walks through.
“It can be so compulsive,” she said.
Hodgkin and her husband, Tom Dunne, will hold tours of gardens at their home near Two Lights State Park tomorrow as part of the first Maine Home and Design Cape Elizabeth Garden Tour from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For $25 ($20 in advance), visitors can tour 11 gardens, 10 in Cape Elizabeth, said Maria Gallace.
The tour benefits efforts to create 15 arboretum sites at town-owned Fort Williams Park. The arboretum will feature native vegetation to enhance the beauty of the park after removal of invasive species such as honeysuckle.
Gallace and Hodgkin are members of the Arboretum at Fort Williams Park, overseen by the nonprofit Fort Williams Charitable Foundation.
“The fort is a place we treasure. This is the first year, so the goal is good participation,” Gallace said of the tour fundraising goal.
Tour participants will meet first at Fort Williams Park to sign in and receive maps to 11 homes.
“There is a really wide range of gardens to give a sense of the different ecosystems in Cape,” Gallace said.
At her home on Shore Road, Gallace has planted gardens over two acres to fit a variety of landscapes and microclimates. The backyard slopes to Casco Bay and the front driveway is shaded under old pines and maples.
In between are sun-splashed plots of shrubs and flowers, a smaller vegetable garden and an intimate patio area with a fountain.
“We want people to enjoy the pretty stuff and get some ideas,” Gallace said.
Gallace said she has researched gardens by reading or talking with other gardeners and finds gardening relaxing.
“I run and bike a lot, so this is a counterpoint to that,” she said. “It is a way to connect with the natural world, a reflective activity.”
Hodgkin said gardening may be relaxing, but the work can be never-ending.
“We started after we moved in and we pretty much haven’t stopped,” she said.
Beginning with a vegetable garden at the top of the property, Hodgkin and Dunne have landscaped a series of gardens in eight years along a steep drop toward Two Lights Road, all with the idea of welcoming and sustaining local wildlife.
Walls crafted from cobblestones once used on Portland streets, birch trees and a metal arbor bent in the shape of a breaking wave accent plantings of lavender, pear trees, herbs and flowers on the property  that overlooks Casco Bay.
“I really enjoy watching the changes and cycles,” Hodgkin said as Dunne trimmed branches.
Gallace and Hodgkin agree a garden is never finished, but they say that is one of the pleasures they take from the hobby.
Hodgkin said she reads extensively for new ideas and can spend a minimum of eight hours a week tending her gardens.
“It is not a static thing,” she said, “and you can’t be a perfectionist.”
Tour tickets can be purchased at locations in South Portland and Cape Elizabeth listed at www.fortwilliams.org. Tickets also are available online at the website. The tour is a rain or shine event unless weather becomes severe.

Staff Writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219.