By Susan Banks

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It's no secret that a gardener resides at the Point Breeze home of Leslie Kaplan. The driveway is chock-full of pots, and the cheerfully painted Victorian is surrounded by beds overflowing with trees, shrubs and perennials. She has even pre-empted the strip of grass between the sidewalk and street, which was bursting recently with colorful German and Siberian iris as well as other drought-tolerant plants.

Ms. Kaplan's garden will be one of 18 featured on the Botanic Garden of Western Pennsylvania's Open Gardens Day on June 14. This year, the tour will include gardens in Mt. Lebanon, Regent Square, Point Breeze, Squirrel Hill and Shadyside.

Ms. Kaplan's garden has matured, she says, and has been through several transitions due to rapidly growing trees, making it a largely different garden than the one visitors saw 10 years ago, when it was last on the tour. Originally a city planner, she says she lost interest in that field and turned to garden design. Her business is called Rush Creek Garden Design.

"When I'm designing, I don't design like this," she says with a laugh.

She did start out with an overall plan for her own property, but along the way, the need for plants overtook the desire to have an orderly plot.

Ms. Kaplan willingly admits that like most avid gardeners she often buys plants and has no clue where she'll put them. Her tastes run from trees to tree peonies to conifers to vines (one is growing up a telephone pole) to perennials to pots full of annuals.

A list of her favorites gets very long but includes giant dogwood (Cornus controversa) 'Variegata,' Daphne 'Carol Mackie,' Bird in the bush (Corydalis solida), campanulas and Hibiscus 'Haight Asbury,' which she says has foliage "right out of a psychedelic dream."

Her beds have a tendency to keep expanding to fit more plants. She has a new corner garden, which she was working on in preparation for the tour.

"I am growing more wildflowers now," she says, "It's becoming more shady, and I can't control the shade issue."

Instead, she embraces the changes, which give her an opportunity to rethink areas and try new things. Her garden, which takes up most of the property the house doesn't, requires lots of maintenance. In preparation for Open Gardens Day, she has sheltered one fragile hosta specimen from hail stones. But unlike some on the nationwide tour, she doesn't stress too much over opening her garden to the public.

"I've come to terms with the fact that there will be weeds," she says.

With its eclectic selection of plants and ornaments, her garden clearly has taken on the personality of the creator.

"This is my pleasure. I do it all the time I can spare," she says, acknowledging that her plot may not suit everyone.

Even so, the first time her garden was on tour she had such a positive experience that she's looking forward to meeting a whole new group of visitors.

"I love talking to people about plants."

Garden editor Susan Banks can be reached at sbanks@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1516.

Open Gardens Day

Where: Self-guided tour of 18 gardens in Mt. Lebanon, Regent Square, Squirrel, Shadyside and Point Breeze.

When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 14.

Tickets: $30 for botanic garden members and $40 for nonmembers. Spaces are available on a guided bus tour; tickets cost $80 for members and $90 for nonmembers. 412-444-4464 or www.botanicgardenwpa.org/.