Dutchess County Open Day on September 23^rd Features Garden Tours, A Plant Sale, and a Family Time Event through the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program

GARRISON, NY: On Saturday, September 23^rd, visit four gardens in Clinton Corners, Millbrook, and Stanfordville, open to the public through the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at most locations. At Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, visitors can shop for plants and take part in a Family Time storytelling and scavenger hunt program, or a curator-led guided tour. At private gardens, admission is $7 per person; children 12 and under are free. Admission for the public garden at Innisfree is $8 per person. Open Days are rain or shine, and no reservations are required. Call 1-888-842-2442, or visit www.opendaysprogram.org for more information.

Properties on the September 23^rd Open Day include:

• Innisfree Garden, 362 Tyrrel Road, Millbrook (9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.) – over fifty years in the making, Innisfree is the work of landscape architect Lester Collins, FASLA (1914 – 1993), with important contributions by his clients, artist and teacher Walter Beck and gardener and heiress Marion Burt Beck. Innisfree merges the essence of Modernist ideas with traditional Chinese and Japanese garden design principles in a form that evolved through subtle handling of the landscape and slow manipulation of its ecology. The result is a distinctly American stroll garden — a sublime composition of rock, water, wood, and sky achieved with remarkable economy and grace. Family Time events will take place at Innisfree Garden at 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m.: Storytelling and an Imaginative Garden Scavenger Hunt with Lorraine Hartin-Gelardi. Admission to Innisfree is $8 per person; Family Time events are included. At 11 a.m., Landscape Curator Kate Kerin will lead a behind the scenes tour, “Innisfree: A Partnership with Nature,” focusing on the less visible elements of genius in the garden. Over more than five decades working on Innisfree, landscape architect Lester Collins developed innovative and sustainable landscape design and management techniques. Today, these remain central to Innisfree’s unique aesthetic and ability to maintain a 185-acre garden with a seasonal maintenance staff of about three. Come investigate simple yet powerful ideas for home and professional gardeners to adopt. Tickets for the curator-led tour, available on site just before the tour, are $10 for Innisfree and Garden Conservancy members, $15 for the general public. In addition, there will be a pop-up plant sale from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.,courtesy of Mark Oppenheimer’s Inner Garden.
• Junto Farm, 99-100 Dr. Harrington Road, Clinton Corners – the house and gardens reflect some contrasting ideas and impulses: stark modernism versus a need for romance and whimsy; rigid geometry versus organic sweeps of plants; formal organization, carefully planned beds, and defined view corridors versus wild, instinctive, and improvisational elements. Many of the trees and plants selected have a direct connection to powerful memories from the owner’s past: lilacs, azaleas, tulip poplars, magnolias, elms, ivy, bamboo, Japanese maples, and London plane trees among them. The gardens are full of scents to evoke emotion, bouquets for the picking, and everywhere food to harvest—an edible landscape.
• Bear Creek Farm, 6187 Route 82, Stanfordville – the property includes acres of dahlias and peonies, part of an ever-evolving flower-growing operation. The 150-year old farmhouse is surrounded by impressive trees, including a 350-year old sycamore, one of the largest in Dutchess County, as well as towering Norway spruces and unusual Dawn redwoods. Each of the meadows and multiple garden areas carries its own aesthetic. The natural pond, filled with bass and koi and bordered by Little Wappingers Creek, is surrounded by willow bushes, grape vines and Scotch pines as well as welcoming Adirondack chairs. The recently renovated 100-year old barn has been re-created as an event and performance venue, along with a new landscape grasses garden.
• Garden of Ellen & Eric Petersen, 378 Conklin Hill Road, Stanfordville – included in Jane Garmey’s Private Gardens of the Hudson Valley, this property has garden interest every month of the year. Features include sunflowers, pokeweed standards, a fragrant meadow of prairie drop seed, and favorite native plant varieties.

All Open Days gardens are featured in the 2017 Open Days Directory; a soft-cover book that includes detailed driving directions and vivid garden descriptions written by their owners, plus a complementary ticket for admission to one private garden. The directory includes garden listings in seventeen states and costs $27.95 including shipping. Visit www.opendaysprogram.org or call the Garden Conservancy toll-free at 1-888-842-2442 to order with a Visa, MasterCard or American Express, or send a check or money order to: the Garden Conservancy, P.O. Box 219, Cold Spring, NY 10516. Discount admission tickets are available as well through advanced mail order.

The Garden Conservancy is a national nonprofit dedicated to saving and sharing outstanding American gardens. Since 1995, the Garden Conservancy’s award-winning Open Days has welcomed more than one million visitors into thousands of inspired private landscapes – from urban rooftops to organic farms, historic estates to innovative suburban lots – in forty-one states. Site-specific Open Days Special Programs – Digging Deeper, Experts in the Garden, and Family Time – invite participants to take a closer look at the garden world. Hundreds of volunteers help this robust annual program showcase regional horticultural and stylistic expressions in a national context, celebrating the rich diversity of American gardens. Get out and get inspired with Open Days!