Open Days

Visitors to Broccoli Hall describe this English-style cottage garden as “incredible,” “inspirational,” “magical”—and they come back again and again. Starting in 1986 with an acre and a half of bare earth, Maxine Paetro collaborated with horticulturist Tim Steinhoff to create a series of enchanting garden rooms. Broccoli Hall offers an apple tunnel, a brick courtyard, a lavish display of spring bulbs blooming with crabapples in May, an extensive border of iris, peonies, and old shrub roses flowering in June, a tree house with long views, and a secret woodland garden with a teddy bears’ picnic. Photos of Broccoli Hall can be seen at www.broccolihall.com.

Directions:
From Route 22 North, go towards Amenia. Go west on Route 44 to Route 83 North/Smithfield Road. Go 2.5 miles to dirt road on right, Flint Hill Road. Turn right. House (#23) is first on left. Please park on Flint Hill Road. Be careful of ditches.

Interior designer and garden book author Bunny Williams’ intensively planted fifteen-acre estate has a sunken garden with twin perennial borders surrounding a fishpond, a parterre garden, a year-round conservatory filled with tender plants, a large vegetable garden with flowers and herbs, a woodland garden with meandering paths, and a pond with a waterfall. There are also a working greenhouse and an aviary with unusual chickens and fantail doves. Recent additions include an apple orchard with mature trees, a rustic Greek Revival-style pool house folly, and a swimming pool with eighteenth-century French coping.

Directions:
At the request of its owner, information about visiting this garden is available only through our Open Days Directories and in limited supply at other gardens open on this date.

The landscape surrounding this nineteenth-century farmhouse unfolds to reveal several acres of gardens with different themes, set in meadows where a flock of sheep graze. There are perennial borders, a formal herb garden, and woodland gardens with a reflecting pool and stream. The owners are enthusiastic collectors, and many rare plant species are growing on their property. Island beds showcase unusual shrubs and trees, and a series of trough gardens contain rock and alpine plants. The gardens are planted to create interest throughout the year.

Directions:
Go north on Route 206 to top of hill and turn left onto Pottersville Road. (This will be the second Pottersville Road turn. DO NOT take left at first Pottersville Road which is further south at traffic light.) Go one block to dead end and turn right onto Old Chester Road. House is 0.7 mile on left. From intersection of Routes 24 and 206 in Chester, take Route 206 south and immediately turn right onto road that angles off main road. This is Old Chester-Gladstone Road. Garden is 0.7 mile on right. Follow parking directions.

A ten-year-old meandering bluestone walk leads past azaleas, rhododendrons and various groundcovers to the front door, then continues on to a shade garden, anchored by a newly planted oxydendron. Pass through the gate to a rose and clematis covered pergola and pool gardens. Plants are selected for multi-seasonal interest as well as fragrance. These are gardens that must stand up to frolicking dogs and children! Enjoy our special acre.

Directions:
At the request of its owner, information about visiting this garden is available only through our Open Days Directories and in limited supply at other gardens open on this date.

This garden was begun in 1980. A small kitchen garden features paths and antique tile edging enclosed by espaliered apple trees. You will see a collection of old pots, rhubarb forcers, and French cloches. A rustic trellis leads to the main garden past the potting shed. A sunken garden is enclosed with a fence and buttressed with boxwood. Divided sections contain shrubs and perennials, a quince tree, and a medlar tree. A chicken house and woodland walk with naturalized bulbs, ferns, and hellebores completes the garden.

Directions:
Take Route 7 into Falls Village. Go west at blinking traffic light onto Main Street/Route 126. Bear right staying on Route 126. Turn right onto Point of Rocks Road. Make first left onto Dublin Road. The house, #163, is stucco with dark green trim; near end and close to canal. Please park along road.

At Duck Hill, a series of hedged-in gardens are related to the nineteenth-century farmhouse they surround. They include an herb garden, a white garden, and a crabapple courtyard, all described in Page Dickey’s Duck Hill Journal, Breaking Ground, and Inside Out. There is also a pool with a rose pergola, and a vegetable/cutting garden centered on a Greek Revival-style chicken house.

Directions:
From I-684 North, take Exit 7/Purdys. Follow Route 116 east to North Salem. After Route 121 joins Route 116, go 0.4 mile. At flagpole, turn left onto Baxter Road. Go to top of hill and turn right onto a private road. Duck Hill, #23, is second house on left. Please park along road. From I-684 South, take Exit 8/Hardscrabble Road. Turn right onto Hardscrabble go over highway, and continue to end at a “T”. Turn right onto June Road, then take first left onto Baxter Road. Go about 1 mile, at white picket fence turn left onto private drive. We are next house in on left.

This garden of many facets includes perennial borders, two water gardens, a formal vegetable garden, wildflower garden, fern garden, marsh garden, tree platform overlooking the marshlands, woodland walk, a hidden garden, and formal croquet court. The garden extends over seven acres.

Directions:
From Bedford Village, take Route 22 towards Katonah to intersection at Bedford Cross. Garden is on left. Please park at Rippowam School and walk to #531.