One activity I love to do in summer is visit other gardens. It's so easy to get absorbed in all the work of our own gardens, that I never leave home. But visiting other gardens gives me fresh ideas, inspirations, and the relief that we don't have to care for these gardens.
A great way to visit gardens is during open houses and this Sunday, June 24, the Connecticut Historic Society will be featuring 14 distinct, historic Connecticut gardens on a self-guided tour. These gardens are diverse, inspirational, and scattered around the state.
Perhaps you'd like to visit the Bellamy-Ferriday House in Bethlehem. It features formal herbaceous flower gardens, old roses, peonies, shrubs, and a parterre. Then maybe swing by the Glebe House in Woodbury. It hosts a Gertrude Jekyll garden, designed by this famous English landscape designer. The garden features English cottage garden plants grown together in a riot of color.
The Hillstead Museum in Farmington features a sunken garden, pollinator garden, greenhouse, and nearly an acre of perennials, annuals, and shrubs. In Waterford, at the Harkness Memorial State Park, you can enjoy a garden designed by American's first female landscape architect, Beatrix Farrard. And then wander to Haddam to the Thankful Arnold House Museum to learn about vegetables, herbs, and flowers grown in the 19th century.
So spend the day in whatever part of the state you live, visiting some of these amazing gardens and homes, getting ideas and enjoying a summer day. The event happens rain or shine from 12:00 pm until 4:00 pm.
Next week on the Connecticut Garden Journal, I'll be talking about birds on blueberries. Until then, I'll be seeing you in the garden.
