The cultural epicenter of East Hampton, Guild Hall, sent its patrons outdoors Saturday for an afternoon of garden tours showcasing sophisticated designs on acres and acres of land. Forget about the pots of impatiens: Here were lily ponds, fields of wild flowers, as well as those famous hedges. The most interesting designs showed an equal respect for the style of the home on the property and the ecological features of the land; some properties have plants more than 100 years old.

To celebrate the event, Charles and Mary Jane Brock held a luncheon at their home for the tour’s most ardent supporters. The garden at the house is playful, reflecting the Brocks’ own personalities (Mrs. Brock is a longtime supporter of the Big Apple Circus, for example, and their son, Walter, is a kiteboarding instructor). Guests smiled at the two most prominent features of their garden: a croquet field and a putting course.

It looks like lots of fun, but apparently it creates its own pressures. “I have to play everyday or my wife will plough them up,” Mr. Brock said.

Guests included the three women who served as chairwomen of the garden tour, Nina Gillman, Dianne Benson, and Abby Jane Brody, as well as some of the people who opened up their properties for the event, such as Barbara Slifka and Jeff Tarr.

“I can’t think of a better place to be a gardener,” Ms. Brody, a gardening columnist for the East Hampton Star, said. “There are a lot of ecosystems in the area. The diversity is surprising. The soil in town is different than the woodlands,” she said.

Ms. Brody recently redid her garden as she decided to live at her home in the East End full-time. “A rose garden is not a nice thing to look at in the winter,” she said. First, she saved plants she wanted to use again. Then she gave away the ones she didn’t want. And then she brought in bulldozers to plough up everything else.

“A garden shouldn’t be static,” she said.

At the luncheon, some home owners hovered around a landscape architect celebrity, Douglas Reed, who designed the garden at the home of Mr. Tarr and his wife Patsy, and who is also designing the landscape for the new Parrish Museum building. Others, however, were content to talk of their adventures in their own backyard. Jim Murtha, for instance, spoke possessively of his garden’s evergreens, rose bushes, and weeping willows. “And we have what I believe is the largest tulip tree on Long Island,” he said.

The luncheon was catered by an always-packed East Hampton restaurant, the Laundry. The chef himself, Andrew Engle, came over to supervise the feast: Asian chicken salad, tilapia, and a superlative tomato salad followed by fresh berries and peach cobbler for dessert.

The goody bag had a spade in it.