Trade Secrets

Trade Secrets draws garden lovers from near and far for their
12th annual garden weekend in the Litchfield Hills!

May 19th & 20th, 2012

The Northeast's most talked about annual garden event, Trade Secrets, a benefit for Women's Support Services, a domestic violence program, is celebrating its 12th annual garden weekend in May. Trade Secrets begins on Saturday, May 19th at LionRock Farm in Sharon, CT with the antique and rare plant sale from 10am to 3pm, and, of course, for the early birds there are the early-buying tickets available that include admittance at 8am with an early-buyers breakfast available. On Sunday, May 20th you can tour four gardens including the tours signature garden of Trade Secrets' founder Bunny Williams.

From young to old, famous to not-so-famous, Trade Secrets is certainly the place where you find those rare garden plants and antiques for your home. For the past 12 years, Trade Secrets has brought garden-lovers from around the world to the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut to discover new plants, topiary, and antiques for their gardens. 2012 will be no exception with nearly 60 vendors and garden antiques dealers from around the northeast region readying their wares for the trip to the picturesque LionRock Farm for this annual event.

With their truckloads of rare garden plants and unusual accessories - those kind of unique treasures that you might search a lifetime for - vendors will descend upon LionRock to offer garden lovers a day of pure treasure hunting! Shoppers can find rare plant specimens from specialized growers and from some of the nation's best known small nurseries, as well as furniture, antiques, cloches and garden statuary from the choicest purveyors of garden antiques, wrought-iron fencing, textiles from select antiques dealers, and so much more.

I always want to be near the front of the line for the opening of Trade Secrets because each year I always find new plants that add to my garden and I never know what objects will tempt me, but I have always found some antique things that I could not leave behind." ~Bunny Williams

A special treat this year will be a presentation by renowned owner, Marina Marchese of Red Bee Honey. Featured in Martha Stewart Living this boutique honey bee farm is changing the way consumers taste and use honey! Committed to a sustainable lifestyle, Red Bee Honey boasts a spectacular edible garden, chickens and honeybees!

Sunday's garden tour will feature an opportunity to eavesdrop on Bunny Williams' and John Rosselli's affair with their house, as their garden is back for the 12th year by popular demand. Also back for a second time on the tour is Jack Hyland's and Larry Wente's eco-friendly, forty-one acre futuristic estate that is both outward-looking and inwardly conscientious. Two new gardens added this year are the Linden Hill Farm owned by Richard deBart and Debra Blair, owner of Debra Blair Associates in New York City, and Hawk Hill Farm owned by Robert & Jane Keiter.

Tickets for the rare plant and garden antique sale on Saturday are $35 for regular admission from 10am to 3pm and $100 for "early buying" tickets. Ticekts for Sunday's garden tours are $70 ($60 in advance). Tickets go on sale April 1st.

Women’s Support Services (WSS): Annually for the past twelve years, the funds from Trade Secrets have gone directly to support the Women’s Support Services, a regional non-profit organization celebrating its 31st year in the northwest corner of Connecticut, and offering free and confidential services to victims of domestic violence. WSS offers a 24-hour Hotline, financial asistance to clients for emergency needs, and sponsors violence prevention programs in the community.

One of the few events that goes on to my calendar a year in advance is Trade Secrets Rare Plant and Garden Antique Show in Sharon, CT. Why? Because I find amazing varieties of plants, meet all kinds of extraordinary gardeners and find many antiques and tools for my own garden. It’s exciting, very beautiful and benefits the Women’s Support Services in northwest CT – a most worthy cause.” — Martha Stewart

Enjoy 12 years of Trade Secrets! View our Media Archives.