Open Days

The gardens near the house, pool, and barn include informal plantings of a large variety of bulbs, annuals, perennials, and shrubs designed for bloom and color from March to November. Old specimen trees and stone walls give structure. A large vegetable and cutting garden nearby has been greatly enhanced (a sign of the times). After a major storm twelve years ago we created a “wild” garden from the debris with many ponds, a large stand of bamboo, more shrubs and willows. A dark house in a rustic style was added in 2007. There are also various structures to provide focus and rest in this rather large landscape. The orchard hillside faces west with views to the Catskills.

Directions:
From Taconic State Parkway, take Rhinebeck/Red Hook exit and follow Route 199 west to traffic light (about 4 miles). Take Route 308 straight for 2 miles to Cedar Heights Road. Turn right and take second right onto Crosby Lane. Follow to dead end and into Cedar Heights Orchard. Park in barnyard and in marked areas. Please call (845) 876-3231 for more information.

The house and garden, now fifteen years old, was created in a two-acre landscape of mature spruces, hollies, and tulip poplars. Secluded and private, the atmosphere is that of a country villa despite its urban location. Terrace beds and containers “extend” the house, and lead to an herb garden, woodland path, and peripheral areas displaying a wide variety of perennials and shrubs. The garden looks down onto a meadow with a cutting and vegetable garden.

Directions:
Take Massachusetts Avenue to Ward Circle. At the circle, pick up Nebraska Avenue going west. Pass American University. Go through 3 traffic lights. Nebraska Avenue becomes Loughboro Road. University Terrace is the second left after the third light. If you reach Arizona Avenue (where there is a stop sign), you have gone one block too far.

The house and grounds were built in 1927 as a family compound. Donna and Bill are only the second owners in the manor’s rich history and have been working for the past eighteen years to refurbish some garden areas and create new ones. The centerpiece is a walled English-style garden with forty-foot perennial borders on either side of a sunken lawn that leads to a spring walk and rose room centered on an old fountain. Outside the east gate is a golden garden and an orchard/meadow bordered by a fenced potager, cutting garden, and circular herb garden. The sixty-five-acre property has two ponds, a woodland tree house, a fifteen-acre prairie, a parkland of specimen trees, and is surrounded by a newly reclaimed oak-hickory forest. The most recent additions include a bronze garden, an ornamental lily pool, aqua-theatre, a three-tiered mound, a grass labyrinth with central fire pit, and a tree house overlook. This year’s Open Day will be celebrated with activities and festivities throughout the grounds.

Directions:
At the request of its owner, information about visiting this garden is available only through our Open Days Directories and in limited supply at other gardens open on this date.

The gardens at Tailings comprise a series of bulb, perennial, and rose plantings closely integrated with the natural landscape and joined to each other by woodland paths. Axial cuts have been made through the woods to offer views in all directions and to complement the architecture. These culminate in a prospect of the Hudson River and the entire Catskill Mountain range.

Directions:
From Germantown, take Route 9G north from traffic light to intersection with Route 10; turn right. Go 0.25 mile to White Birch Road and turn left. Go 1 mile to Tailings’ driveway on right; look for #404 on mailbox. Please park at top of driveway.

Gracefully surrounded by waves of cedar pickets, this private third of an acre site sits at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. Nestled among tall firs, vine maples, rhododendrons, azaleas, and viburnums, these gardens have been a work in progress for more than twenty years. Stroll the pathways through serene surroundings and you will discover endless groupings of hostas, hellebores, hebes, spirea, Daphne, many perennials, and more than eighty-five varieties of ferns. Through the kiwi arbor into the shade garden is a favorite gathering spot for the many birds visiting the feeders and splashing in the small pond. Welcome to our garden.

Directions:
Directions: From Seattle take the Bainbridge Island Ferry from Coleman Dock on the waterfront (a thirty minute crossing). On Bainbridge Island, take Highway 305 to fourth traffic light and turn right onto Manitou Beach Drive. Immediately turn left at fork onto North Madison. Turn right onto Beach Crest Drive. Turn left onto Manitou Place. Please park in cul-de-sac and walk through the steel gates.

The native oak-hickory forest provides a “sacred grove” setting for the modern Greek Revival-style house. The gardens were designed by Patrick Chassé, ASLA, and completed in 1999. Nearest the house the gardens are classically inspired, including a nymphaeum, pergola garden, labyrinth, and theater court, and additional hidden gardens include a perennial ellipse and “annual” garden, a conservatory “jungle” garden, and an Asian-inspired moss garden. Several water features accent the landscape, and native plantings dominate in areas outside the central gardens. Many sculptures enrich this landscape and swans guard the Temple of Apollo on an island in the main pond. In spring, more than 200,000 daffodils bloom in the woodland. Woodland walking paths weave over a meandering brook and through a shady dell. Several glass houses can be seen, including a new state-of-the-art greenhouse that supports the gardens. Head gardener Eric Schmidt, who ably orchestrates the rich garden plantings throughout the property, is on hand for questions.

Directions:
From Merritt Parkway/Route 15, take Exit 38 and follow Route 123 north through New Canaan to New York state line. Town of Lewisboro and village of Vista are first signs encountered. Go past Vista Fire Department about 0.25 mile. Just after shingled Episcopal church on right, Route 123 bears left and Elmwood Road bears right. Go about anor 0.25 mile just over a hill. At beginning of a gray stockade fence on right is driveway at #199.