Boston Flora

Tag: Diane McGuire

  • Saturday, August 20, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Monadnock Region Open Day

    A fabulous day in New Hampshire awaits on Saturday, August 20, courtesy of The Garden Conservancy.  Most gardens described below are open from 10 – 4, although some are open at 9 am.  For complete information visit www.gardenconservancy.org. $7 per garden admission.

    The Garden of Jenny Lee Hughes & Edward Yoxen in Stoddard, New Hampshire: After clearing old hillsides in 2006 for views and sheep, stone terraces were added next to the old farmhouse—in part to create a platform for growing ornamental plants that volunteer to grow in gravel and to have a salad garden close at hand. The mixed garden, consisting of meadows, hills, and a lake view surrounds a working edible garden and an ornamental mixed border. Each spills into the frames of other in a manner that brings the two together but still retains the individuality of both. Sheep get moved around to keep the open spaces. Their wool is not sold or used for spinning but rather is used at the bottom of the composted garden beds to help retain moisture on soil which is mostly freely draining. Designed by owner Jenny Lee Hughes, whose clients’ gardens have been featured in local and national publications, the garden features trees, understory plantings, ground covers, hedges, specimens, re-seeding annuals, perennials, herbs, fruits, and vegetables. The aim is a garden that feels natural in its surroundings, yet brings something unforgettable to it. And, at 3 pm, enjoy A Nose’s Tour of the Garden with Tovah Martin. Tovah Martin talks about fragrance, plus we’ll sample the aromatic wares and learn a lot about plant scents in the process. Bring your nose: a smellathon will be included.  Garden is pictured below.

    Juniper Hill Farm in Francestown, New Hampshire: The Gardens at Juniper Hill Farm surround an eighteenth-century saltbox house and farmstead that remain much as they were 200 years ago. The approximately two acres of gardens surrounding the farm might best be described as “country formal.” There is a courtyard garden, a formal lilac garden leading to a frog pool, a whimsical stumpery, a tranquil Mediterranean-inspired “clipped green” garden, a formal potager, and a pool house modeled after the garden pavilion at Hidcote. Scattered throughout the garden are many planted containers and more than 150 boxwoods representing eleven different varieties. Because winter interest was an important consideration in the original layout of the garden, strong architectural lines have become an important design element. The house and garden have been featured several times in both regional and national magazines. For photos and more info on Juniper Hill go to www.josephvalentine.com or Notes From Juniper Hill on Facebook. As another special feature, from 10 – 11:30 Roger Swain will be on hand for a Garden Q & A. He’ll be glad to provide both encouragement and advice. Known as ‘the man with the red suspenders’ and recognized by millions, Roger Swain was host of the popular PBS TV series, The Victory Garden for fifteen years. Plus, specialty growers Broken Arrow Nursery will be on site selling plants. This garden will be open from 9 – 5.

    The Gardens of Laura & Jamie Trowbridge in Peterborough, New Hampshire: Their 1765 Cape Cod-style house is set on a hillside with a sweeping view to the west. Nineteen years ago, they bought the property and set to work creating a long border garden along the rambling, lichen-covered stone wall at the edge of the lawn. Over the years, the full sun border has become the main feature of the landscape as it evolved to include a mixture of annuals, perennials, bulbs, shrubs, and specialty trees. In addition to the eclectic and colorful border, there are garden areas surrounding the old house which include a sunny patio covered with tropicals in containers as well as shade gardens and a shady patio which has become an ideal location for a collection of potted begonias. There are three vegetable gardens, too. The gardens have been featured in New Hampshire Home magazine, Country Gardens magazine, and Fine Gardening magazine is currently working on a design story for 2017.  Rocky Dale Gardens will be on site selling plants during this Open Day.

    The Gardens of Michael & Betsy Gordon in Peterborough, New Hampshire: This small garden in the village was designed by a plantsman to be an extension of the house. The house and garden are situated on a hill and the garden is terraced on three levels. The upper level was designed to be enjoyed from the street. The middle level is laid out formally using yew hedges and a century-old granite wall foundation to create a garden room. The lowest level, an informal woodland garden, has both eastern North American and eastern Asian shade-loving plants. The garden was planted with a mixture of unusual trees, shrubs, perennials, grasses, annuals, and bulbs. Plants were selected primarily for interesting form, foliage, and texture. The garden is chronicled in the blog, thegardenerseye.blogspot.com.  Nano-nursery Opus Plants will be on site selling plants during this Open Day.

    Eleanor Briggs’ Garden in Hancock, New Hampshire: In the words of the owner, “My gardens surround Hancock’s first house, built in 1776 by the town clerk, Jonathan Bennett. Since it is a farmhouse, the plantings are informal and blend into surrounding woods and fields. On each side of the “front” door are raised beds reminiscent of colonial gardens. The real front door (never used) is flanked by plantings of old roses and lavender. Behind a 1970 wing is a forty-eight-foot-long koi pond designed by landscape architect Diane McGuire and planted with lotus and water lilies. McGuire also laid out the perennial bed and woodland garden. The AIA-award-winning screened porch was designed by Dan Scully. Sculptures in the terraced vegetable garden are by Noel Grenier. A pair of 200-year-old granite Korean rams graze on the back lawn. I have followed McGuire’s brilliant layout of the parallel borders but have deepened the perennial bed to make more room to “paint” with interesting annuals and perennials. In the woodland border witch hazel, azaleas, snakeroot and rogersias blend into the woods. Walking between the borders from sun to shade, one comes to a new bog garden surrounded by marsh marigolds, skunk cabbage, and cardinal flowers. Last fall, in the field below the vegetable garden, I started a small pollinator garden. Very exciting!”  See the Porter Garden Telescope on display at this garden courtesy of Telescopes of Vermont. At the request of the Garden Host, directions to this garden are provided at additional gardens open on this date, or by calling the Garden Conservancy office toll-free weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, 1-888-842-2442.

    The Gardens of Maude & John Odgers in Peterborough, New Hampshire: Maude is drawn to using unusual combinations of trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals in creating interesting textures, harmonies of balance, color, light, movement, and design. Her gardens draw inspiration from English border gardens, and her work as an artist. For her, gardening is painting in motion. A soft palette and flowing shapes are used to create a quiet sense of serenity. Stonewalls and granite pieces complement the New England countryside. Maude and John cleared this land thirty-five years ago, designing and building everything themselves—from the house, with an attached garden room, to a small post-and-beam barn (now garden shed), arbors, unusual undulating wooden fences with moon gates, a bluestone patio that emulates the gardens shapes, an enclosed raised-bed vegetable garden, a frog pond—along with the many garden beds that envelope their home. Their garden has been featured in numerous publications. Achille Agway will be on site selling plants during this Open Day.

  • Wednesday, July 9, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Martha’s Vineyard Open Day

    The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program continues Wednesday, July 9 on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.  For complete information visit www.gardenconservancy.org.

    First up, the Norris Garden at 19 Blueberry Ridge Lane in Chilmark (PLEASE NOTE, this garden closes at 3 pm.) The garden is located on approximately four acres and was started in 2002, so many of the plantings are still young, with the largest, most mature rhododendron at close to eleven years old. It is located in a low area between two sets of hills to the north and south, crisscrossed by old stone walls. Although the plot was originally heavily wooded, and the soil is acidic, the high water table is a problem for growing rhododendrons. Native species to this area are highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), cinnamon and royal fern (Osmunda cinnamomea and O. regalis), summersweet (Clethra alnifolia), swamp azalea (Rhododendron viscosum), holly and inkberry (Ilex opaca and I. glabra), sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), and a “river” of skunk cabbage along the stream under a canopy of tall pitch pines (Pinus rigida), red and white oak, beetlebug or tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), and swamp maples (Acer rubrum). The latter two have shallow root systems which compete with the plantings for moisture and nutrients. There are also spring ephemeral plantings which likely will have gone past (anemone, star flower). There are two man-made ponds with some surviving hardy waterlilies and white lotus, which are just beginning to show. The ponds suffer from muskrats, who love to feast on the lily tubers, but that’s a story for another time. Lots of frogs, turtles, and a stressed-out goldfish population (predation by otters, ospreys, herons). Main plant species collections include rhodies, Japanese maples, and hydrangeas with smaller groupings of mountain laurels (mostly from Broken Arrow Nursery), and tree peonies. In the fenced-in yard behind the house are two large herbaceous perennial beds (created and cared for by a local artist/gardener, Rick Hoffman), two mature apple trees, a small grouping of fruit trees, hydrangea row, Satsuki azaleas, mature yak hybrids, the kalmias, and several Stewartias. The main rhodie plantings extend away from the house along the driveway, a large area near the left of the lower pond and a smaller grouping on the other side of the pond. The “corral,” which was the first protected area, and several nurseries contain over 200 seedlings and plants from many sources. A grove of more than a dozen beetlebungs (Nyssa sylvatica) has been turned into a “damp garden” of ferns planted among stumps carried in from the woods, and other shade/moisture loving plants like arisaema (check out the Arisaema sikokianum with a pure white spathe and striped hood), trilliums, and epimedium. Please be careful of the many surface roots courtesy of the maples and beetlebungs. Some of the paths, especially in the seedling nurseries, are very narrow, and only one person at a time can pass. Suzy Zell, is the full-time head gardener and will also be available to answer questions. We really enjoy it when visitors come to see the collection so please don’t hesitate to ask. Admission: $7

    Directions: Three miles west (sign to Menemsha) of intersection of North Road and State Road. Go 0.25 mile past Tea Lane to Blueberry Ridge Lane on left. Garden entrance is 0.25 mile on right. Cars must park near deer gate, which will lower as car passes over it. Limited 10 cars at one time.

    Also in Chilmark, at 12 Middle Road, is Brookside Farm. For over thirty years, the gardens at Brookside Farm have been part of the magic of Martha’s Vineyard. Pond, pastures, and stone walls define the space in which trees and shrubs flourish as yearly hosts to the rich perennial garden. Spring flowers including lilacs, peonies, and poppies along the old walls lead out to fruit espaliers on the old milk house and garage. Summer plays out with the border of roses, phlox, gaura, and Joe pye weed. In the fall, the blue and white asters curtsey to the dahlias and rose mallows. The silent animals, horses, oxen, and an occasional barn cat contribute to the peace of nature’s best efforts.
    Admission: $7

    Directions: Brookside Farm is located about 2 miles west from center of West Tisbury via Music Street and Middle Road. Driveway is limited.

    In West Tisbury, visit The Folly at 57 Lamberts Cove Road (HOURS 10 – 2). “The Folly” carved into a boulder is the only indication that you’ve got a surprise in store. The stucco house, balustrades, finials covered with ivy, planted urns, and winding hedges evoke an Italian villa. The many different areas, varied grades and contours, curves and textures, the mix of native plants among non-native, the stonework, the views around every corner, are a successful mix of formality within an informal context. The blue and white theme inside the house is continued outside yet is not overdone and, combined with the greens of the foliage, makes for a very natural, cool, and relaxed atmosphere. There is a protected pool terrace with wisteria dripping off an arched pergola overlooking the border and Vineyard Sound beyond. There are very many planted urns. There are parterres, groundcovers, ferns, and flowers, in the shade and in the sun. There is something for everyone. Admission: $7  (pictured below)

    Directions: From Main Street in Vineyard Haven, turn right onto Cromwell Lane. Turn right onto Water Street, go several hundred feet and turn right again onto Beach Road. Go onto State Road. Go 1.5 miles and make slight right onto Lamberts Cove Road. Go 1.7 miles to #57.

    Garden Club of the Back Bay speaker Judith Tankard, with her husband John, welcome you to their garden at 16 School Street in Edgartown. 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 lacecap 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.  Admission: $7

    Directions: The house is located 1 block from Main Street at corner of School Street and Pent Lane. Garden entrance is on Pent Lane. No parking available.

    Continue on to the Helman Garden. This walled garden was designed to be protected from the elements and not to compete with the natural beauty of the property, a private garden with formal bones. Square and rectangle beds are for flowers, some for herbs, some for vegetables, and some are mixed. It is a very personal place that ebbs and flows each year. There are four stone semi-circles that the owners call “ectetras.” The garden was designed by Diane McGuire.  Admission: $7

    Directions: At the request of the Garden Host, directions to this garden are provided through the Open Days Directory, at other gardens open on this date, or by calling the Garden Conservancy office toll-free weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 1-888-842-2442.

    The final garden is at 85 South Water Street, Edgartown. The original parts of this house are believed to date from the 1840’s. More than fifty years ago a former owner and founder of the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club set out the sunken geometric garden in the shape of a Union Jack. In the late 1990s, the English garden designer Penelope Hobhouse added some important features to the garden, particularly the enclosure of the sunken flag garden to create an outdoor “room.” The garden contains some rare and unusual, as well as native, plants. Currently, the owners, who are hands-on gardeners from England, work closely with Leandro da Silva to implement further design changes.  Admission: $7

    Directions: At the request of the Garden Host, directions to this garden are provided through the Open Days Directory, at other gardens open on this date, or by calling the Garden Conservancy office toll-free weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 1-888-842-2442.