Members-only Tour of Stonecrop Gardens

Exploring Yesterday’s Roots and Today’s Blooms

Braving a hot and humid morning on September 2, a group of Garden Conservancy members enjoyed an informative tour of Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, NY, guided by Stonecrop’s Robin Young. Pamela Governale, our director of Preservation, joined the group and provided an additional perspective.

This was a fitting tour during our 25th Anniversary Year, as Stonecrop was the personal garden of our founder, Frank Cabot. It became a public garden in 1992 and quickly became a horticultural mecca in the area. In addition to offering beautiful display gardens and dramatic views from a windswept hillside in the Hudson Highlands, Stonecrop operates a school of horticulture known for its rigorous internship training of garden professionals now employed around the world. Among other duties, each garden intern is responsible for their own vegetable garden, which is judged on its yield and creativity.

Members enjoyed a light breakfast and were welcomed by Garden Conservancy staff in the Conservatory, a striking building built over a pond in 1997 to house tender plants in winter. The outdoor tour began in the English-style flower garden, which also features picture-perfect vegetable beds. Bees and butterflies were everywhere, flying from flower to leaf, clearly just as intoxicated by the fragrance and beauty as the human visitors.

The tour continued across the garden’s twelve acres, with its numerous water features, raised alpine stone beds, systematic order beds with over 50 plant families, and woodland gardens.

Thank you so much to our members who attended the event, and to the Stonecrop staff for their hospitality. It was a lovely day celebrating our shared history.

If you would like to attend a future special members' tour similar to this one or to our members' visit to White Flower Farm in June, please note that invitations are extended to members at the Garden Friend level ($125) and above. We hope you will join us next year as we embark on members-only tours of a few other special gardens.