Gardens express their owners’ visions and tastes, whether it’s a casual cottage garden or a carefully manicured parterre. It can be a sea of color or fulfill an aesthetic with sculpted shapes and shades of green.
The Ridgefield Garden Tour on June 8 will be the first opportunity in more than 30 years for a locally organized tour of several of Ridgefield’s finest horticultural creations. Seven private gardens plus the beautiful public gardens in Ballard Park will be included in this fundraiser for the Ridgefield Garden Club and the Ridgefield Historical Society. The two organizations will also present a Spring Soiree garden party on Saturday evening, June 7.
The gardens, most of them selected during last season’s blooming period, will offer visitors endless inspiration as well as practical ideas for their home plots.
The co-chairs are Stacey Schibli, for the Ridgefield Historical Society, and Terry McManus, for the Ridgefield Garden Club. “Tour goers will find plenty of inspiration and ideas that they can incorporate into their own gardening efforts, all while appreciating the intriguing stories behind each location,” say Schibli and McManus.
At each garden, members of the Ridgefield Garden Club will be available to answer questions and offer gardening advice; Ridgefield Historical Society volunteers will greet visitors and provide historical context. Hop-on, hop-off bus service will be provided.
Longtime Ridgefielder and Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections at The New York Botanical Garden, Todd Forrest, will be the honorary chair and special guest at one of the gardens.
Specific garden site locations will be revealed closer to the date, but will include:
A Japanese-inspired garden, originally created by a founder of the National Raw Silk Exchange in the 1930s. It now includes a vegetable garden, a pool, and koi ponds.
An 18th Century property that offers a series of garden rooms, both formal and less so; each was planned with a particular goal and all blend to create a pleasing space that the owner enjoys in all seasons.
Another 18th Century property on the tour, features a 1735 saltbox house that stood by the route taken by General David Wooster on his way to attack the British in the Battle of Ridgefield. Its gardens are archived at the Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens.
A series of outdoor rooms, created by plantings surrounding wooden terraces, are the natural adjunct to a Mid-Century home designed by two architects. The garden also protects the adjacent lake by avoiding lawn or landscape plants that might pollute the lake.
A three-acre garden in Ridgebury is the place for contemplative strolls in any season, but especially in June, as flowering trees and perennials come into bloom.
At the carriage house of one of Ridgefield’s grand estates, the owner has created both formal and naturalistic areas as well as a fragrant cottage garden and a woodland walk through ferns and rhododendrons.
An 1847 farmhouse in southern Ridgefield is owner-designed, -planted and -tended, with native perennials, fruiting plants, and a vegetable garden. Perennial garden beds surround a pool.
The four gardens at Ballard Park, which are planted and maintained by the Ridgefield Garden Club, will be an additional highlight. There is a 1920s formal perennial parterre included in the Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens, a wall garden, a native plant garden and a small memorial garden.
For tickets and information on the tour and gardens, visit ridgefieldgardentour.org or call 203-438-5821. •
