Visit two private gardens, one in Carlisle, one in Lexington, with the Garden Conservancy. For more information, and to purchase tickets, log on to www.gardenconservancy.org.
Gardens at Clock Barn – Home of Maureen and Mike Ruettgers, 453 Bedford Road, Carlisle
The Gardens at Clock Barn have been created by the Ruettgers over the last thirty years. The house and drying barn date back to 1790. As you enter the gardens through an arched gate, you walk by the old barn which has trays filled with herbs and flowers from the cutting garden beyond. These trays were built in the late 1930s as a Works Progress Administration project for the drying of digitalis leaves for medicinal use. A grape arbor leads into a walled garden with four quadrants anchored by antique roses and mixed borders with sweeps of foxgloves, Salvia viridis, and nepeta intertwined with salad greens and edible herbs. A second tier is flanked by two reflecting pools fringed by Allium senescens montanum and an herbal tapestry design mirrored on each side. A greenhouse and potting area houses a collection of more than forty varieties of scented geraniums on one side and pots of kaffir limes, Meyer lemons, figs, bay, and rosemary on the other. Exiting the glass house, a canopy of 100-year-old oaks provides shade for paths that wind through a series of woodland gardens and past a small pond and water feature bordered by hakonechloa. Hosta divisions from the garden of Francis Williams anchor the first shade garden. Favorite plantings in these gardens include anemones, epimediums, Kirengeshoma palmata, Jeffersonia dubia, and shade-loving peonies. The path widens as you exit the gardens through a hornbeam arch to finish the tour below the face of The Clock Barn.
Anne Kubik and Michael Krupka, 7 Bennington Road, Lexington
This steeply sloped site has been terraced with a series of fieldstone walls to create a variety of outdoor rooms that complement the spaces closer to the house. Reclaimed granite, Massachusetts fieldstone, bluestone and dimensional granite, along with brick and clay tile, have all been used to create a unique character for each space. The surrounding conservation land drew the owners to the site and as a result, the planting concept for the property has purposely relied heavily on native plants. Favorite spaces include the espaliered apples in the kitchen garden, the beech hedge around the pool garden, and the columnar trees and bamboos around the central stairway. The perennials are loosely arranged in billowing masses with many varieties blooming in late summer and early fall when the garden is in full use. An exuberant display of tropicals and annuals in an assortment of clay containers bloom throughout the season and peak in late summer and early fall.