The Secret Garden Tour

Sunday, July 12, 2026, 10AM-2PM

The Annual Secret Garden Tour welcomes hundreds of visitors every July for a self-guided journey through private residential gardens in Provincetown.

Tickets include access to a free parking lot, admission to gardens, and admission to view the exhibitions and related events at the Museum. We are incredibly grateful to the homeowners that help raise money for PAAM by sharing their beautiful properties with us.

DETAILS

Tickets: Ticket reservations may be made in advance online (below) at a discounted rate of $45 until Friday, July 10 at 5pm, or purchased on the day of the tour for $55.

All tickets (reserved and day-of) will be available at 9:45am the day of the tour at one of our pick-up locations:

• PAAM: 460 Commercial Street, Provincetown (check, cash, and card).
• The parking lots at BY&D Insurance (56 Howland Street, Provincetown) or OCHS (49 Harry Kemp Way) (check and cash).
• The first garden (check and cash), the location of which we’ll announce the day of the tour at 9:45AM on Facebook and Instagram

Your ticket also grants you admission to PAAM on the day of the tour, where you can enjoy a restroom, air conditioning, art exhibitions, and related events (see below).

Parking: We are able to offer two free parking options the day of the tour: BY&D Insurance (56 Howland Street), and OCHS (49 Harry Kemp Way). The parking lots are self-service (no attendants), first-come-first-served, and available at your own risk.

If no spaces remain when you arrive at one of our lots, you can pick up your ticket from a volunteer and then go park your car elsewhere before beginning the tour. The town lot closest to the 2026 tour is the Grace Hall Parking Lot, more information here: Parking in Provincetown. Please note: the parking lot at the former Gately Funeral home is under construction and will likely not be available like in previous years.

Transportation: We’re thrilled to welcome back the Mayflower Trolley to shuttle guests between the parking lot at BY&D Insurance and the tour neighborhood. If you park at OCHS and would like to take the trolley, check in with the parking lot volunteer–they may advise that you walk down to BY&D and join the line, or the trolley may be able to pick you up.

PAAM staff members and volunteers will also offer a shuttle service in their personal vehicles between PAAM, OCHS, and the tour neighborhood. This year’s tour is located in one of Provincetown’s central neighborhoods a little less than one-mile from PAAM, so you’re also welcome to walk.

This event happens rain or shine, and tickets are non-refundable. Please wear comfortable walking shoes and plenty of sunscreen, and bring your own filled water bottle (water fountain available at PAAM).

ADDITIONAL EVENTS

BOOK SIGNING | 12-3PM

Hydrangea Happiness by C.L. Fornari

With large, long-lasting flowers that range from showy pinks to heartbreaking shades of blue, hydrangeas are captivating, popular plants. Yet gardeners often find themselves flummoxed by the challenge of understanding and growing the many varieties of these shrubs.

Writer, radio host, and gardening consultant C. L. Fornari (also known as The Garden Lady) simplifies the cultivation and care of the six most popular species of hydrangeas in this practical, clear, and accessible guide. Hydrangea Happiness explains the difference between varietals and tells how and where they can successfully grow in assorted soils and conditions throughout the United States. In addition to sharing essential information, Fornari addresses myths and misinformation and fields questions about cultivating these popular plants. Punctuated with catchy rhymes and beautiful photographs, this book makes the road to Hydrangea Happiness easy, successful, and fun.

BOOK SIGNING | 12-3PM

The Gardener’s Mindset: A Gardening Book by Stephen Orr

From Stephen Orr, the former editor-in-chief of Better Homes and Gardens, comes a collection of essays and photographs that examines the restorative power of gardening, while revealing his own challenges in the garden and offering advice on growing plants and vegetables at home.

Alongside gorgeous photographs and easy projects that range from cultivating a color scheme to building a wildlife habitat, Orr delves into his personal gardening journey, pulling from the various gardens he and his husband created over the past decades. He remembers his first garden on a New York City rooftop, where he followed beginner’s instinct to rearrange endlessly pots of old roses, herbs, perennials, and even trees. Later in Des Moines, the challenge of growing anything interesting in his shade-filled backyard led Orr to discover the beautiful patterns and colors of leafy lungworts and epimediums. And he shares how his current garden in Cape Cod is a work in progress and serves as his trial-and-error lab, where he is learning how to cultivate plants that can stay resilient in the face of dry sandy soil, dramatic coastal storms, and climate change.

ART INSTALLATION | 11AM-5PM

Symbiotic: The Four Seasons – Tree Music In the Garden by Aric Attas

The Four Seasons is a multi-space sound installation where data from the natural world becomes continuously evolving music, shaped by the changing seasons.

Expanding on Summer Song, presented in PAAM’s Sculpture Garden during the 2025 Secret Garden Tour, Attas subsequently installed Autumn Song, Winter Song, and Spring Song over the past year in the same exterior space. Bringing the four pieces together, this new installation unfolds as a four-part suite shaped by Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer.

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