Private Gardens in Stockbridge & Lenox

Today was the Garden Conservancy's Open Days in the Berkshires so B and I journeyed west an hour or so to see what they had to "say" to us.

In short --all four of today's featured gardens were absolutely stunning!!
On view today were: the Brown Garden, the Fitzpatrick's Hillhome, the Garden of 1826 Pease-Lincoln House (gardens designed by sculptor Daniel Chester French, of Lincoln Monument fame) and Foothill Farm (near Tanglewood).
This last home & garden held a personal surprise for me but that will have to wait a few days as I want to share one garden & house at a time so as to not rush through it.

Tonight I will begin with the first garden we viewed -- the Brown Garden in Stockbridge. The blurb says the house was built in 1823 and sits on 25 acres. The current gardens have been in development since 1980.


As one comes down the pea-stone driveway you glimpse the first of the wonderful Berkshire Hills views.












To the right is the house with impressive marble steps at the main entrance and a wide, enclosed porch that wraps around 3 sides of the home.






















The south side overlooks the well landscaped backyard with its Berkshire Hills views. It is dressed in crisp blue and white stripped awnings. A sweeping double staircase leads from the house, through the porch and down to the garden.














Behind and below the house is a walled garden, more formal in style and beyond that, slightly downhill to the south and to the west, are additional, beds.





















To the west of the house is a well landscaped and very natural looking swimming pool, a small water-garden feature, a stone BBQ pit and a putting green.







There is a hot tub in the circular open porch (behind the BBQ 9n the picture) with gorgeous views.






































The wrap around enclosed porch is home to several cozy seating areas and displays of luscious potted begonias. Tucked away on the north side of the porch is even a ping pong table! I spotted a dart board as well. In addition to greta aesthetics, someone at the Brown House apparently has a playful spirit.
















I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of our tour - the Brown Garden in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Come again soon to see Parts 2, 3 & 4 of Garden Conservancy's Open Days in the Berkshires.

Little Feet in the Garden!

Last Sunday my mom's 85th birthday party was held at Sweetside. Twenty-seven members of my immediate family were here, including all 8 of her great-grandchildren. It was hectic (especially when the huge thunderstorm blew in!) but so much fun to see everyone here and especially to see the little children enjoying each other and playing in the garden! The stream was a huge hit as one might expect. Children and water...they seem to go hand in hand.

Jess took almost 300 pictures, mostly close ups of various family members which will be wonderful for everyone to have. Here are just a couple that show the garden in full use.


Sigh..... aren't the rewards of digging in the dirt just splendid?

Garden Conservancy's Open Days - Sunday!

I am planning to go to the Garden Conservancy's Open Days in Stockbridge & Lenox, in the Berkshires this Sunday. Sounds amazing. Will post pictures -- check back! (pictured here, Brown Garden - Stockbridge, from Garden Conservancy web site)

Stormy Days

We have had day after day (and night after night) of major thunderstorms and high winds for over 2 weeks now. My garden has been holding up OK...tho I lost 2 huge clumps of shasta daisies in full bloom as they were flattened by rain and wind. I count myself fortunate compared to many others.

Just today I took these pictures of our friends' house, right after the most recent storm blew through. Our son is dog sitting while they are kayaking and island camping for a week -- out of cell range! This is what he found when he went over today! Four big maple trees down! He called and we headed over to see what he was describing. By some miracle, the house was not hit, nor either of the 2 sheds.

The first photo is looking at the back of their house with the trees just a couple of feet from the back wall.


















The second is what should be looking at the path to their back door! You can't even see the entryway!





One big double-trunk tree was blown over and it took out 2 other big trees on it's way down. All 4 trees are intertwined and hung up on each other. I can't imagine how someone will manage to cut it all down without doing damage to the shed on one side or the house on the other side. It will be quite a challenge.






Their poor dog is fine but he must have been terrified during the storm.

Newburyport

Last weekend we hopped in the car and went to Newburyport for the day. I didn't take many pictures but this one of the draw bridge open for the boats caught my eye.

Summer Rest

Today was a beautiful day and to top it off we had a couple of hours with Sarah & Andrew and their son, our godson, George. As you can see, the "boys" decided the shady fire-pit area was a good place to take an afternoon snooze.

Garden Tour --- Yeah!

The Amherst Garden Tour was last Saturday and it went fabulously well. Our place was Stop #4 and we had 176 adults and a couple of children pass thru in the 7 hours. We had worked hard the past few weeks to finish up as much as we could, even hiring a few high school and college students to help haul stone dust and pea stone for the paths and fire pit area out back. The garden fence did get done (!!) and even the fire pit area came together that last day, and tho there were plenty of little details undone (ex- the house was all primed but not all sections had the finish coat) no one seemed to be concerned. Since the garden was billed as "a work in progress" ...and the garden itself looked pretty spiffy, the people seemed delighted. The visitors seemed to like what they saw and were especially amazed at what had been accomplished in the 2 years we have owned the property.
I have about 70 pictures but here are just a few...