Savannah's 'hidden gardens' open for green thumbs and gawking eyes

SAVANNAH - Rita Spitler calls it her ``private chapel,&#39;&#39; the tiny garden where wisteria blooms in serpentine flower beds and passion vines grow on gothic arches. <br> <br> Spitler gets plenty of privacy to pray and meditate. Sandwiched between her three-story Italianate row house and its small garage, with concrete walls between neighbors, the garden is practically invisible to outsiders. <br> <br> As Spitler put it, ``Unless you were a bird flying over, you&#39;d never know it was here.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> This weekend, however, Spitler&#39;s garden will literally be placed on the map for the annual tour of Savannah&#39;s so-called ``hidden gardens.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> It&#39;s a rare invitation for tourists to set foot inside the gardens of private homes that normally can be glimpsed only through wrought-iron gates at their curbside entrances. <br> <br> The Garden Club of Savannah, which sponsors the tour, expects as many as two-thousand people for the tour tomorrow and Saturday. Previous tours have raised up to $20,000 for the club. <br> <br> Club president Katherine Owens, also a local tour guide, says the garden tour attracts more than green-thumbed enthusiasts interested in azaleas and ferns. Many have an almost voyeuristic curiosity about the people who live on Savannah&#39;s cobblestone streets. <br> <br> Owens said, ``With my tourists, we&#39;ll peek through the gates, but we can&#39;t see much. They love the mystique behind these walls -- if they could just get into them. This is that one period of time when they can.&#39;&#39;