The best way to experience North Side is off the beaten path. Ignore the streets — the vistas exist down the alleys. It’s deep in the hidden middles of neighborhoods that the personalities really come out. It’s the backyards that keep the secret beauty. North Side isn’t like other Richmond areas, where the front is all-important. Sure, homes here have curb appeal, but it’s reserved — you really get to know the place when you’re invited in. Or when you sneak through those alleys. The Ginter Park Garden Tour facilitates some of these introductions.

If you do find your way in, you’ll recognize something nearly mythic about the place and its people. In the stories that follow are three octogenarians who have seen these neighborhoods rise up, who’ve had a hand in the gardens they’ve built, who build still. Both Jean Reeves and Wayland Rennie have identical twins. Colleen Renaye’s flower beds taught her important truths about human behavior. Bill Reeves put two ponds in the same place. It only makes sense that all of these people are the culmination of great stories — which they like to share. Just make sure you come in the back way.