Saturday, July 10, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Martha’s Vineyard Open Day
The Garden Conservancy has scheduled an Open Day in Martha’s Vineyard on July 10, which will include the garden of The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s own Judith Tankard, in Edgartown.
The Holmes Coffin Garden is a small garden in the historic village of Edgartown. The house was built in 1829. When the owners bought the house 23 years ago, much of the garden was already in place. The rose of Sharon at the back is about 160 years old. The gardener, Teresa Yuan, plants the border of impatiens annually, as well as all the window boxes and flower pots. Through the years, she has added to the irises and day lilies in the various beds, which bloom at different times for color throughout the season. Hydrangeas are a fixture on Martha’s Vineyard, as are rhododendron. The trumpet vine over the double driveway gate blooms a bright orange. The owners recently replaced overgrown arborvitae along the edge of the property with holly trees.
85 South Water Street is also the venue for a separately ticketed Digging Deeper program from 9:30 – 11:30 with Nan Sinton. In 1950 a sunken geometric garden in the form of a Union Jack flag was laid out to complement the historic eighteenth-century house. It was designed by Frances Louise Meikleham and her mother, a founding member of the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club. The present owners, from London, are knowledgeable, hands-on gardeners who have collaborated with garden designer Nan Sinton since 1997. Their focus is to enhance the property, including the sunken garden, selecting interesting, salt-tolerant plantings for the seaside setting. This is a summer garden, planned to look at its most attractive from late June through September with a peak season in July and August. Presently it is carefully maintained by Edgar Avalino and his team.
Finally, John and Judith Tankard offer up their summer garden. This is a new garden planted in 2006 to complement the historic house built around 1730 and fully renovated by the owners: an architect and a garden writer. The garden was designed by Nan Blake Sinton and is composed mainly of hardy shrubs and ornamental trees. Pale pink ‘New Dawn’ roses climb on the fence surrounding the garden and the roof of the garden shed is covered in ‘White Eden’ and ‘Abraham Darby’ roses as well as a Clematis montana ‘Rubens’.
There are two crabapples (Malus ‘Donald Wyman’) and a large Viburnum sieboldii in the main garden. An espalier created from Viburnum plicatum ‘Mariesii’ on the wall of the house and a hedge of clipped Philadelphus coronarius in the parking area provide a bit of formality. There are small flower beds with astilbes, lavender, Nepeta, Salvia, and other perennials. A small brick patio is planted with lace cap hydrangeas and Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Enziadom’. At the front of the house, there are American hollies, English boxwood, Ilex glabra ‘Nigra’, and a large viburnum. One of the outstanding features of the garden is a large, old sycamore maple on the lane at the corner of the property, a survivor from earlier days.
Pre-registration is required, no walk-ins are allowed, and no paper tickets or cash payments will be accepted on site. Visit https://www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days/open-days-schedule/martha-s-vineyard-ma-open-day-3
