Guilford Secret Garden Tour 2011

It's been more than a week since we went on the Guilford Secret Garden Tour, but it's been a busy week!  Lee joined Jen and I on this one, but we had to move through it quickly because I had a baby shower to attend that afternoon.  The first house was apparently owned by a Fairfield County decorator who has a Fairfield County gardener come in.  Not a shock.  Lee thinks this was probably a pool at some point and wondered why it was filled in:

 

We loved this fountain at the end of the lawn:

 

Maybe this was a playhouse at some point?  It was certainly solid:

 

And had a cute little sign inside:

 

And provided a nice spot to take an aerial photo of the vegetable garden:

 

Lee loved the carrot sculpture.  I thought it was a little "cute" but not dreadful:

 

We both liked the sunflower sculpture in the corner of the veggie garden:

 

But Lee didn't like this rooster nearly as much as I did:

 

This was a beautiful little spot, but I think it needed two chairs or else it's just lonely:

 

Remember I said the owner is a decorator?  This was one of the kitchen's that was opened to the tour.  I wonder how much was the new owners and how much was already there.  Either way, not a fan of the kitchen.  You can't really see here, but there was only one over the counter cabinet.  The dishes were in an open closet to the left of the people in the photo.  Not convenient at all:

 

The next garden was the complete opposite of the first.  It was clearly a work of love.  I read in the program that they've been gardening here for 50 years.  This is Connecticut's oldest Ginko tree and yes those are staghorn ferns hanging from it:

 

There's the owner holding court surrounded by raised beds that her son made about 40 years ago -- now that's solid construction:

 

Lots of edibles:

 

And the mix of colors and textures was lovely: 

 

I didn't ask what these were, but I'm sure it was something very common that I just haven't come across before.  They were beautiful though:

 

The program also noted that the staghorn ferns live in coconut shells that the owner carved herself and she has tended them since she brought back small cuttings from Florida over 40 years ago:

 

We went next door to the Foundry, a mid-18th century brick building that has been converted into condos (one unit is available and if I recall correctly can be yours for about $650,000).  I wasn't wowed by anything here, but the dogwoods everywhere have been stunning this year:

 

There were varying degrees of gardening going on, but some people did quite a lot with limited space:

 

And provided cute little placards with descriptions:

 

The neighboring unit had this:

 

One of the only grills we saw, but the backyards were off limits, so maybe others had them there.  I quite liked this patio:

 

And the clematis was lovely.  I might try to grow clematis in a container since doing so in the patio garden isn't working:

 

People who've lived in Guilford for a long time will undoubtedly recognize this house:

 

Though I have to admit that I'd never walked down this street before or even driven slowly enough to notice that one owner added an octagonal garage too: 

 

They had some very nice raised beds of edibles by the back porch: 

 

And beautiful planters on a beautiful patio:

 

And the little wooden box at the base of the post says Provence, Fonde en 1887, reinforcing my desire to stencil something French on that box Jen gave me:

I was confused by the plant choices here.  Looked like impatiens and marigolds around roses and cosmos.  But nice:

 

And they had a back 40 through the back fence: 

 

We had encountered a man in brightly colored suspenders on the way to this garden who told us to cross the street and look up into the trees to see a beautiful shelf mushroom:

 

I'm glad he told us because we never would have spotted it on our own.  I guess it's a sign that this large tree has internal rot:

 

The next garden belonged to my good friends Mary and Jeff.  Mary has been my garden guru and has shared many a plant over the years.  She sells dahlias in front of her house, but gave me a bunch this spring.  Weren't her containers lovely:

 

I noticed they went well with the color and style of their home:

 

Unfortunately since I know this garden so well I didn't take many photos of it.  In fact, I went inside to find Mary (their kitchen was the other open one on the tour) and sent Jen off with Lee.  He showed her the chickens (nope didn't even venture back to take a peek):

 

You may have noticed this beautiful grape arbor above.  In the old days the Dudley family (an old Guilford family that owned the house before Mary and Jeff bought and restored it) sold "Arbor Produce" beneath it.  And if those hostas are familiar, it's because Mary gave us a bunch (our first hostas) and they're now spread out around our garden too:

 

It started to rain while we sat on their covered porch chatting with Jeff, so we settled in for about 20 minutes and waited it out.  Once it tapered off we took off for the last two private homes on the tour.  The next one was on the tour the first time I went back in 2008 (it was garden #4).  I still think it's too kitchy for me:

 

But it is lovely:

 

Apparently I still quite liked this spot 3 years later and love that the painted container is still there: 

This time I got a photo of the lovely lady's head:

Once again a beautiful honeysuckle.  I asked the owner about the plant and said I wondered where I could find one.  She suggested a nursery on 155 in Middletown that I had passed, but never visited.  I did this afternoon and I didn't come home with a honeysuckle, but I pass it on my way home at least once a week, so there's still a good chance that I will:

 

On to the last private home.  This one was stunning, but it was also the 15th or 16th garden I'd seen in less than 24 hours.  It was apparently all perennial shrubs and flowers, was mostly composed of divisions and propagations, and used free mulch from the stump dump:

 

Given the size of the property I can see why they garden on a budget:

 

I loved this little seating area with what, why yes, it was another honeysuckle:

 

This focal point was an antique chicken coop:

 

With its original door:

 

We left that garden, and Jen (who wasn't interested in making the last stop on the tour), got back in our car and headed over to the Medad Stone Tavern.  The Medad Stone Tavern was built in 1803 by Medad Stone to serve as a Tavern. As the Boston Post Road was not rerouted that way it never opened. The building has 14 rooms and 10 fireplaces. The Guilford Keeping Society inherited it from Len Hubbard in 2001. It was decided to restore it and open it as the "Tavern that opened 200 years late." The property also holds a barn, corn crib and extensive fields. I'd actually never been inside before, so we took a quick look:

 

Yup, that's about what I expected, and we headed back outside.  There were workshops on container and raised bed gardening going on, but those didn't interest us:

 

We wandered past the neat old barn:

 

And the funky old farming equipment:

And found the entrance to the newly constructed community gardens:

I spoke with the organizers and they'd been searching for an appropriate piece of land for several years: 

 

They were overjoyed to learn after testing that this land wasn't contaminated and just needed some compost added:

 

I believe there were 17 people gardening this year, a mix of people who have gardens, but not enough sun for veggies (a common problem in our wooded community), and those who were living in condos that had no land available for gardening: 

 

I particularly liked this raised bed with Japanese theme.  These taller boxes were reserved for those who needed the accessibility of a higher bed:

 

I coveted quite a few of the plants I saw, but remarked on the size of this Swiss chard compared to that in my garden.  See, they only started planting about a month before I toured, but it turned out these were starts from a nursery:

 

All in all Lee and I found this year's tour to be somewhat disappointing compared to last year.  And Jen and I found it disappointing compared to Stonington the previous day.  I just realized that I never got around to posting my photos from the 2010 Guilford Secret Garden tour, so you couldn't possibly judge for yourself.  Guess I'll have to get around to that one of these days.  I was getting a little jealous looking at the schedule for the Seattle Garden Bloggers Fling, but it was just too far and too expensive for us to attend.  I feel a little better having toured so many beautiful gardens this month -- and visited new nurseries.  Are you going to the Fling?  If you're not, how are you dealing with not being able to go?

Comments

[Mummer]

This post brings back so many memories - years ago I wandered through the octagonal house when the owner was 'renovating'. I hope not too much of the interrior was modernized.
I'm charmed by the staghorn ferns - that is such a labor of love. And greatly amused by the Texan trying to grow bougainvillea (a pesky weed for us in FL). As an aside, Logee Farms sold Barbara Karst (old well-known bougainvillea) roadside at their Middletown stands when I was a teen-ager.
And, oh how lovely is the dogwood!

[Wendy]

Heather, the flower you asked about is columbine. Reseeds very easily, great perennial.

[Heather's Garden]

Mom -- You know how much I love dogwoods.

Wendy -- See, I told you it was probably something really common that I just hadn't encountered. I don't think anyone I know grows columbine in their garden, but they are beautiful.

[Blackswampgirl Kim]

Nice tour--thanks for taking us along! I'm with you on the rooster over the carrot in terms of sculpture. I was also amused to see that potted Hibiscus, because I'm pretty sure that I have a few of the exact same pot! Only mine have sago palms in them. :)

[Heather's Garden]

Kim -- You clearly have excellent taste!