Magic Mountain Sanctuary

About

Our garden was started from scratch in 2008, when we purchased our new home on a mountain. The land is surrounded by woods; the previous owner clear-cut the forest and created a vast lawn with some retaining walls. There were no ornamental plants on the land except pachysandra. The land is beautiful and has various elevations, which made gardening somewhat challenging. Our goal was to work with the land and create a diverse, mostly self-sustaining garden which would also be a sanctuary for pollinators and wildlife. We wanted to implement some permaculture principles and work with the land instead of against it. We also wanted to grow our own food, and so we created large vegetable and fruit/berry gardens. The property features a rock garden, Japanese garden, woodland plant collections, meandering paths, multiple ponds with koi, stone and brick patios, mixed perennial borders, fruit trees, rare and unusual edible plants and berries, tropical plants, many medicinal plants, lots of roses, and many flowering bushes and trees. We built rustic cedar pergolas, gazebos, and wood pathways. We have a large collection of tree peonies and herbaceous peonies. The garden is a sanctuary for many species of songbirds and pollinators. We keep honey bees.

This garden’s estimated size is 4 acres. 

2025 Open Day:  Saturday, May 17 

Hours: 10-4