Boston Flora

Tag: Green Animals Topiary Garden

  • Thursday, August 2, 8:00 am – 5:30 pm – Trip to The Blue Garden in Newport and Green Animals Topiary in Portsmouth

    Enjoy a presentation and an exclusive tour of the privately owned Blue Garden with Director Sarah Vance, followed by time for lunch and strolling on your own in downtown Newport. After lunch, we’ll travel to the Green Animals Topiary Garden before heading home. The field trip, sponsored by Tower Hill Botanic Garden, will take place Thursday, August 2. Group will leave from Tower Hill at 8 am and return by 5:30. If you wish to meet the group in Rhode Island, call 508.869.6111.

    The Blue Garden was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and the Olmsted firm from 1910-1918 for Arthur Curtiss and Harriet Parsons James for their Newport estate, Beacon Hill House. Blasted from the surrounding ledge, this garden room is a classical form with formal beds planted with blue and white flowering perennials, annuals, and vines. The garden is framed by evergreen trees that enclose the space and buffer the transition from the formal symmetry of the garden to the windswept, rocky landscape. The 125-acre James estate was eventually divided into smaller residential properties, one of which included the Blue Garden. The property was purchased in 2012 by Dorrance Hamilton, a resident of Newport who had a deep interest in horticulture and preservation. Only the pools, runnel, and part of a pergola remained; the architecture and remaining features of the spaces had disappeared, subsumed under a thick covering of invasive trees and vines. Thanks to the vision and generosity of Dorrance Hamilton, the garden was restored using original drawings and photographs from the archives of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline, Massachusetts.

    The Green Animals Topiary Garden, located in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, is the oldest and most northern topiary garden in the United States. The 7-acre estate overlooks the Narragansett Bay. It contains a large collection of topiaries including eighty sculptured trees. Favorites include teddy bears, a camel, a giraffe, an ostrich, an elephant and two bears made from sculptured California privet, yew, and English boxwood. There are over 35 formal flower beds, geometric pathways, rose arbor, grape arbor, fruit trees, and vegetable and herb gardens. A greenhouse is used extensively to provide seedlings used on the estate. The 1859 Victorian Brayton house museum contains a small display of vintage toys and the original family furnishings.

    Tower Hill Member $125, Non-member $150; includes transportation, admissions and guided tour of the Blue Garden. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

    Image result for the blue garden Sarah Vance

  • Sunday, May 6, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm – Dutch Bulbs with Dan

    Take an insightful walk through the gardens at Green Animals Topiary Garden in Portsmouth, Rhode Island on Sunday, May 6 from 11 – 1. Dan Christina, Chief Horticulturist, will give insider tips about how to get the most out of your Dutch bulbs. Free with garden admission but space is limited so advance tickets are required. Reserve by phone at 401-847-1851.

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  • Saturday, October 21, 10:00 am – Pumpkin Decoupage Workshop

    What could be more “autumn in New England” than pumpkins decorated with fall leaves. On Saturday, October 21 beginning at 10 am, enjoy a morning of family crafts, where we will be decorating our pumpkins with colorful leaves gathered at Green Animals. Join us for a garden walk and decoupage! The workshop takes place at Green Animals Topiary Garden, 380 Cory’s Lane in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and is presented by the Preservation Society of Newport County.

    Open to families with kids of all ages, but limited to 24 participants. Materials fee of $15. Advance registration is required. Register online at www.newportmansions.org, or call (401) 847-1851.

  • Friday, October 13, 9:00 am – 3:30 pm – The Telling and Selling at Blithewold Gardens

    Join The Association for Garden Communicators (GWA) on Friday, October 13 from 9 – 3:30 at Blithewold Gardens in Bristol, Rhode Island, for a day long seminar and garden tour to help develop a better marketing plan for yourself, your business, your not for profit, or horticulture at large. Speakers include Angela Treadwell-Palmer and C.L. Fornari, plus a tour of the Blithewold Gardens and Greenhouse with Gail Read, Garden Manager. Additional tour opportunities on Thursday, October 12 and Saturday, October 14 include trips to Green Animals Topiary Garden, Roger Williams Park Botanical Center, Samuel Whitehorn House, and the Farmers Daughter Nursery. Registration prices range from $50 – $95, online at www.gardenwriters.org.

  • Saturday, September 19, 10 – 5 – Fall Family Festival at Green Animals

    Travel down to Green Animals Topiary Garden on Saturday, September 19, from 10 – 5,  for a day of scarecrow building, kids’ crafts, storytelling, local produce, artisan fair, and live music.  The third annual Fall Family Festival takes place at 380 Cory’s Lane in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.  Cindy Killavey will enthrall children from 2 – 3 pm.  $12 for adults, $4.50 for children 6 – 17.  Preservation Society members and all children under 6 enter free.  For additional information and directions, log on to www.newportmansions.org.

  • Tuesday, July 14, 4 – 8 pm – Children’s Party at Green Animals Topiary Garden

    Children and adults of all ages are invited to join the festivities at the Preservation Society of Newport County’s annual Children’s Party at Green Animals Topiary Garden, 380 Cory’s Lane, Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The party will feature circus acts, music, magic, clowns, puppets, pony rides, kiddie rides, refreshments and much more on this historic seven acre estate overlooking Narragansett Bay.  No reservations required, and tickets are sold at the door only. Adults: Members $10, General Admission $15; Children 6-12 years: Members free, General Admission $5; Children 5 and under free.  For directions, log on to www.newportmansions.org. Rain or shine event.

  • Saturday, June 20, 10 – 4 – Newport Area Open Day

    The Garden Conservancy will sponsor an Open Day in Newport, Rhode Island on Saturday, June 20, from 10 – 4.  Visit Green Animals Topiary Garden at 380 Cory’s Lane, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum at 101 Ferry Road and Route 114, for more information.

    The Purviance Garden,  47 Kane Avenue, Middletown, Rhode Island

    For more than thirty years the owners have lovingly tended their gardens. The house is sheltered by two venerable lindens of astonishing form and framed by a billowing boxwood hedge, shaped by an artist. The border by the terrace holds flowering shrubs, a whimsical collection of potted plants, a garden pool, roses, perennials, and evergreens. A tiny playhouse is tucked under a copper beech. Other small gardens are constantly changing, rearranged by the owners who cannot resist tinkering.

    Bellevue House Gardens, Newport, Rhode Island

    This walled three-and-one-half-acre property serves as the private park of an estate designed by Ogden Codman Jr. for his cousin Martha. The gardens have recently been restored, embellished, and re-imagined. They pay homage to the garden designers of the American Renaissance period (1885-1930), and include a series of follies, exedras, and tea houses which form axes and vistas inviting diversions beyond the contemplation of the magnificent specimen trees set in sweeping lawns. The most recent additions include the American Renaissance Water Garden on the east side of the house. A carved granite statue of the goddess Pomona as a metaphorical deity passes energy to the current family over time. The waters gush forward from the her fruit-laden cornucopia, then rise up to a Villa Lante-like table, spill out the father’s lips, under a bridge, and down a long rill to a children’s fountain. A pergola nearby pays homage to Rosemary Verey’s laburnums and wisteria and frames the new tea house, replicating the work of Salem architect Samuel McIntyre (1800). At the rear of the property, stands the newest folly—the cupola of McIntyre’s 1809 Branch (now Howard Street) Church in Salem as redesigned by J. P. Couture of Providence. It is adjacent to an English water garden that reflects the cupola in its symmetrical pool. Completed in the fall of 2008, a new Oriental Vale extends the view to the south. Here a Chinese Chippendale bridge frames a cascade running from a lily-lined lagoon into the pond. A hillock blocks street views and sends a waterfall down to stepping stones that edge the lagoon, which is embraced by a shoal of large beach stones, Japanese maples, and granite lanterns. We regret that fishing for the multi-colored koi is not allowed. Nor will we in turn fish for compliments, though your comments and suggestions for this evolving work will be appreciated.

    Parterre, Newport, Rhode Island

    Recalling the romance of eighteenth-century France, a series of formal gardens with whimsical outbuildings surround the house, built just ten years ago amidst a park-like setting. Always a work in progress, inspiration from other gardens continue to provide precious details. The existing woodland had been reclaimed, with a fall “flame border” of Japanese maples as its accent (a la Sheffield Park, England.) From the fourteen-foot copper beech tapestry hedge to the evergreen “winter garden”, the focus at Parterre is on horticultural specimens and diversity.