The Open Days Gardens events are almost upon us, and locally, plan to visit the Garden of Pepe and John Maynard in Groton on May 15 from 10 – 4. Members $5 per person; General admission $10. Children 12 and under free. Visitors MUST pre-register at www.gardenconservancy.org. The owners describe their property as follows:

Our place, currently about 25 acres, was originally part of a much larger property, most of which was placed under conservation in 2006. We were attracted to it by the sweeping views to the west and the protection offered by hundreds of acres of surrounding fields and woodland, all protected from development. Starting in the nineteenth century, successive large country houses had been built on the site, surrounded by the formal, high-maintenance gardens of the day. The last of these rather grand houses was demolished in the 1960s. The succeeding generation of the previous owning family was more interested in breeding Black Angus than in horticulture. As a result the formal gardens had succumbed to neglect, bittersweet, and browsing deer by the time we purchased the property in 2007. At that time we had no interest in restoring formal gardens. Our first steps were to plant an allée of small sugar maples along the lane leading to our barn, and to fence a small nursery area where we could stockpile plants and grow them safe from deer. We dithered about building a deer fence around more of the property, fearing it would interfere with the view, but finally fenced about fifteen acres. The fence enabled us to begin planting to create informal, naturalistic grounds using native plant material as much as possible. While the nursery is now empty and the maples in the allée have reached eight inches diameter, all the plantings are still young and have only begun to mature. Nonetheless we believe the grounds have grown in enough to reward unhurried exploration with a wide variety of trees and shrubs, and, in the spring, extensive plantings of daffodils and other bulbs. The surrounding areas under conservation are open for walks, and a few remaining Black Angus add interest to the landscape. In the summer of 2020 an energetic couple working for us decided to clear out a small formal garden neglected for 25 years and overgrown to the point of invisibility. An exceptional stonemason rebuilt the dry stone walls over the winter and we began replanting in the early summer of 2021. An exceptionally wet summer helped to get new perennials established. We are hoping it will look presentable by 2022.