The Big Little Garden

About

The Big Little Garden is a continually evolving palette of color, texture, and fragrance-offering daily lessons that both humble and inspire. What began as a hobby more than 30 years ago has evolved into an obsession with trailing perennials, grasses, and shrubs, and the garden’s footprint expands (at the expense of the lawn) almost annually.

Located on a quarter-acre lot in residential southern New Hampshire, the organic garden boasts hundreds of native and non-native species, and diverse perennial beds for all sun/shade exposures.

As a small garden designer, I have access to a wide array of unusual, New Hampshire grown plants not typically found at garden centers. The primary focus over the last few years has been to promote New England native plants to support our wildlife and to create four-season interest. The gardens are loose, free, colorful, and filled with native bees, moths, butterflies, and songbirds 24 hours a day. Unusual conifers and native shrubs and climbers anchor the garden beds, providing focal points and year-long foliage interest.

The garden is managed with a light touch, with perennials and grasses left to stand through winter and deep into spring to provide essential habitat to our native wildlife. Garden beds are never raked or completely cleaned of the prior year’s debris, with spent plant material being allowed to decompose in place to nourish the soil. Plants thrive under these conditions, requiring less care and water as a result.

This garden's estimated size is 0.25 acres.

This Garden Host reports the following Terrain Notes about the garden: The short driveway is a bit steep, but is paved. The property is flat with a slight downward slope and a step down from the wooded area onto the moss garden.

2026 Open Day Date: Saturday, July 18

Open Day Hours: 10am–1pm, 1pm–4pm