Entries in garden tours (25)
Mytoi garden
Somehow in decades of visiting Martha’s Vineyard, I had never explored the Mytoi garden on Chappaquiddick until this past Memorial Day weekend. It is 
inner gateexquisite. Originally created in the ‘50s by Mary Wakeman with the aid and advice of her architect Hugh Jones, the property is now owned by the The Trustees of Reservations. Apparently it was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Bob in 1991 but has since been revived thanks to a new master plan by landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy. She’s the co-author with Sarah Susanka of the recent Taunton book, Outside the Not So Big House. Today’s refurbished four-acre garden is a delightful hybrid of the Island environment and a Japanese aesthetic.
Katie Hutchison
Secret Garden Tour in Newport's Historic Point Section
I have a special fondness for Newport, Rhode Island’s Point Section. Since
1990 or so I’ve been attending the self-guided annual Secret Garden Tour there in June. My mother got me started. She’s an avid gardener who shares my taste for charming architecture. This tour happily suits us both since it reinforces the concept that house and garden are each vital to the other. True, only the gardens are open for public touring, but in this densely packed, seaside neighborhood, the historic homes they accompany can also be appreciated in the round.
Green Animals Topiary Garden
This unusual garden on an estate overlooking Narragansett Bay in Portsmouth, Rhode Island celebrates the art of topiary amidst a vast array of
gardens and garden features including a rose garden, formal parterre, an herb garden, arbors, espaliers, and more. The white clapboard Victorian dwelling and accompanying outbuildings that include a barn, greenhouses, and cottage set the stage for this historic garden that has evolved over the years into a unique New England treasure. Started in 1912 by Joseph Carreiro, the superintendent to the then property owner, Thomas E. Brayton, the original animal and geometric topiaries can still be enjoyed today as well as many created in the 40’s and 70’s.
Edith Wharton's gardens at The Mount
Edith Wharton’s estate in Lenox, Massachusetts includes her turn-of-the-century summer house, known at The Mount
view from rear patio, and three-acres of formal gardens all originally envisioned by the author. Known most for writing House of Mirth, Ethan Frome, and Age of Innocence (among other novels), Wharton was also at the forefront of interior and landscape design discourse. She published The Decoration of Houses with friend and architect Ogden Codman, Jr. in 1897 prior to creating The Mount with Codman’s help.
More spring/summer 2007 garden tours
Consider These Additional Upcoming New England Garden Tours
Through Back Bay Gates & Doors (Boston, MA) June 5, 2007 www.gardenclubbackbay.org
Urban Gardens Celebration: Twilight Garden Tour and Reception at the Rundlet-May House (Portsmouth, NH) June 7, 2007 www.historicnewengland.org
Provincetown Art Association and Museum’s 10th Annual Secret Garden Tour (Provincetown, MA) July 15, 2007 www.paam.org/secretgarden.html