Garden Tours

Trade Secrets 2012 ~ Hawk Hill Farm

Lakeville, CT

The natural beauty of Hawk Hill Farm is its’ breathtaking views of the Berkshires, Mudge Pond, and Twin Oaks Field. So striking are these views that the highest six acres of the 40-acre property have been preserved forever by the local land trust. Views are just the beginning of what you’ll see at this lovely estate! The terraced gardens include a goldfish feature with water flowing from an antique Chinese watering trough. A high wall separates the pool from the enclosed cutting garden. In May, featured plants are Bergenia

Trade Secrets 2012 ~ Hyland/Wente Garden

Millerton, NY

Horticulture with a conscience, Jack Hyland and Larry Wente’s garden is where eco-friendly meets aesthetically pleasing. This forty-one acre futuristic landscape is both outward-looking and inwardly conscientious. A formal garden immediately surrounding the ingenious energy-efficient/owner-designed house is generously infused with whimsy and personality as well as an allée of solar panels strutting side-by-side with rows of nepeta and ornamental grasses, producing an excess of electricity fed back into the power company. Meanwhile, w

Trade Secrets 2012 ~ Linden Hill Farm

Lakeville, CT

Here’s a classic Georgian Revival tucked away in the Litchfield Hills on 75 acres of what had once been part of a 2,000 acre land grant from King George III to a local farmer. With its’ open fields overlooking the Berkshires, this home boasts beautiful fountain plantings; a variety of fruit trees that include two orchards, one old apple orchard, and a new, smaller orchard producing more hybrid-modern apples; and lots and lots of peonies! Debra Blair, one of New York’s most respected interior designers and owner of Blair Design Associa

Trade Secrets 2011 & 2012 ~ Bunny Williams

Falls Village, CT

Back by popular demand. Here’s a sterling opportunity to eavesdrop on Bunny Williams and John Rosselli’s affair with their house. The garden around their Falls Village home is always a treat but, in springtime, it’s particularly sublime. Not only will you find tulips and bulbs galore carpeting the formal garden, but John’s vegetable and cutting garden will be gearing up. Hike up to the mock-coliseum poolhouse (featured in House & Garden) by way of the old orchard with heirloom apple trees blossoming.

Trade Secrets 2011 ~ Old Farm Nursery

Lakeville, CT

Judy and Patrick Murphy opened Old Farm Nursery in 1988 on land that had been used agriculturally for generations. Living in the old farm house (c 1800) and using the farmland and barns for their landscape business, the Murphys immediately began developing the outdoor spaces, including transforming paddocks and adjacent cornfields into garden rooms.

Trade Secrets 2011 ~ The Miller Garden

Sharon, CT

Many public gardens in New York City owe their design to Lynden Miller, author of the newly published Parks, Plants, and People: Beautifying the Urban Landscape. She is responsible for designing the beloved Conservatory Garden, the rejuvenated Bryant Park and Wagner Park and Madison Square Park. Her private garden clearly demonstrates her artistry and keen eye for color, texture and structure. It features mixed herbaceous borders of perennials and shrubs deftly composed to create brushstrokes of hues backed by a yew hedge.

Trade Secrets 2011 ~ Hodgson Garden - Holabird House

Falls Village, CT

This landscape is a treat for history buffs as well as gardeners. When the David and Laurie Hodgson came to this 18 acre Falls Village property 21 years ago, not only did they move into a 1735 Colonial of major architectural importance (it was cited as a sterling example in a 1919 The Architectural Review), but they also acquired perennial beds and an award-winning naturalistic pool.

Trade Secrets 2011 ~ Cobble Pond Garden

Sharon, CT

This vintage Olmsted Brothers landscape park in Sharon, designed between 1929 and 1950, has been meticulously groomed over the years and many of the original trees are now in glorious maturity. Clipped conifers, walled gardens bursting with bulbs and spring blossoms, an apple orchard, viburnums and wisteria should be at their peak. In true Olmsted tradition, this is a strolling garden with sublime structure and many focal points to ponder.

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