Boston Flora

Tag: Black Barn Farm

  • Sunday, July 23, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Garden Conservancy Berkshire County Open Day

    The Garden Conservancy has arranged an Open Day at Black Barn Farm in Richmond, Massachusetts on Sunday, July 23, from 10 – 4. Admission is $7. After being greeted by a pair of fantastical topiary birds, guests pass by the East terrace entry with its collection of container plantings and espaliered Fuji apple. Proceeding past the collection of dwarf evergreens and through the doors of the first hedged room with its gazing-ball-capped topiary columns, stroll down the allée of Wyman crabs, (checking out the young hornbeams being trained into topiary on the right) through the Chinese red gates to the Pool Garden, where containers of tropicals decorate the neo-classical pavilion, with its collection of furniture inspired by branch coral. A new addition is the bronze fountain “Sculpture Andata, Sculpture Storna”, a unique collaboration between Italian artists Enzo Cucchi and Sandro Cucchi. Leaving the pool you can stroll through a collection of large topiary in several stages of development. Look for the elephant, the ibis, a rhino, and more fantastic animals amongst the more traditional geometric topiary forms. As you head toward the rustic pergola and teahouse, surrounded by boxwood topiary large and small, take a peek into the woods at the Stumpery which features a collection of toxic and poisonous plants, our Garden of Discomfort is an homage to the end cycle of life. The Ornamental Hermit Hut is a new addition. The pergola leads into the main kitchen garden, enclosed by a mature beech hedge, which provides fruit and vegetables for the owners and friends. As you pass by the moss-covered garden shed don’t miss the West Terrace ahead which features raised bluestone and steel beds planted with vegetables and herbs close to the kitchen. The garden encompasses a little more than three acres.  For advance tickets visit https://www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days/garden-directory/black-barn-farm

    Three additional gardens will be open in nearby Columbia County, New York on that day, which include Steepletop – Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Garden.  For complete details on these attractions visit https://www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days/open-days-schedule/columbia-county-ny-open-day-3

  • Sunday, June 6, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Garden Conservancy Open Day in Berkshire County

    Two  fabulous gardens will be open to the public on Sunday, June 6, from 10 – 4, through The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program.

    Black Barn Farm,  937 Summit Road in Richmond:

    After being greeted by a pair of fantastical bird topiary, guests pass by the new “back door” terrace and its collection of container plantings. (Don’t miss the alligator on top of the Taxus hatfieldii!) Proceed through doors into the privet-hedged spring bulb garden, with its Fritillaria melagris, muscari, and thalia. Gazing balls are placed at face height, which allows you to see yourself in the garden. A stroll down an allée of Wyman crabapples leads you to the Tsuga chinensis-hedged pool garden and shade pavilion. Proceeding west through a fanciful taxus colonnade, enjoy the seventy odd specimen topiary in various stages of development. A pergola of Robinia pseudoacacia, draped with wisteria and under-planted with bulbs, leads you past the boxwood topiary garden and into the formal potager, with its beech hedge and rustic growing frames. Check out the new kitchen garden on the west side of the house, with its bluestone-and steel-raised beds. The garden encompasses approximately three acres.

    Apple Hill, 12 Red Rock Road in West Stockbridge:

    This magical writer’s retreat was once an apple farm, and many old apple trees still grow here. It is a place of quiet trees; a forest of silver birches flows into drifts of orchards, amid the tranquil green of white pines. There is a harmonious unity between the house and its setting. A cobblestone terrace at the back is set with drifts of ferns and blurs the division between indoors and outdoors, as does the wisteria-draped pergola. A harp-shaped grass garden along the driveway leads to the lovely curving rhododendron plantings, and these in turn connect to the long garden, which runs the length of the houses and beyond, set with golden locust trees and mixed plantings — evergreen and deciduous shrubs, roses, irises, peonies, delphiniums, and other perennials. The long garden culminates in a rock garden and a meditation bed that the children call “The Secret Garden”. A series of smaller ponds flows down the hillside to the main pond, which is set about with willows, planted with water lilies, and flanked by a borrowed landscape of blue hills. An arbor walk featuring a fish pool links the house with the writing studios. Woodland beds among the birches are planted with hosta, maidenhair and ostrich fern. Come discover the gardens that Tina Packer has described as “among the most beautiful and inviting I’ve ever seen.”

    For ticketing information, log on to www.gardenconservancy.org and click on to “Open Days.”

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