IF you are still bummed by the endless 2011 winter and sunless spring, here’s a way to put your blues away: Get out into a public garden. They weathered many tough months too, but they’ve recovered, are full of color and ready to charm. In mid-May I toured Western and Central Connecticut, visiting gardens of varying size, style and spirit. Here are five favorites.

WICKHAM PARK: PRETTY IN PINK

Wickham Park stretches over 250 rolling acres, with open fields, woodlands, ponds, picnic areas, an aviary and, seemingly, a garden for everyone’s taste. In the Oriental Garden a gleaming white moon bridge serenely spans a pond lined with trees. Some flower, like Japanese snowballs, and some don’t, like Japanese maples. As I strolled over the bridge, a lone white swan swam into view. Beyond the pond’s end two brick pillars signal the entrance to a three-room English Garden. You can pick either the Lilac Walk (my choice) or the Cherry Walk to enter an evergreen maze surrounding a statue of Peter Pan, a lovely knot garden and a great lawn. Disappointingly, while there is a Hydrangea Corner and a Rose Walk, the English garden lacked the profusion of flowers and topiary one expects from an Eden modeled after the Hidcote Manor garden in England.

Fortunately, many flowers lie down the road. An Italian Shrine, with two small religious statues, is lined with colorful annuals, and beyond that are rhododendrons. In the Lotus Garden bullfrogs croak, and a fountain jet spews from a pond, which for my visit was partly rimmed by purple and magenta azalea. A rare Usuzumi cherry tree, grown from cuttings from a 1,400-year-old tree said to have been planted by Japan’s 26th emperor, Keitai, bloomed, pretty in pink.

Atop a hill, the Sensory Garden features six rooms with flowers and fixtures (like wind chimes) chosen to illustrate the five senses as well as a sort of sixth sense, imagination. “Sight” offers a kaleidoscope of colorful blooms like hydrangea and roses, while “Touch” has soft, furry lamb’s ear, prickly Golden Sword yucca and spiny Rosy Glow barberry. They are all well labeled, providing a beguiling learning place for children and adults.