For Janet Mavec, who stewards a 25-acre landscape of wildflower meadows, heirloom orchards, historic structures, and contemporary garden designs, the first impulse to garden was a simple one: “the wonder of it all, when I was a child. As an adult, the sheer beauty.”
Mavec and her husband, Wayne Nordberg, transformed their property in Hunterdon County, NJ, from a largely untended parcel to a thriving, creative oasis called Bird Haven Farm. For more than 20 years, they have welcomed visitors through Garden Conservancy Open Days.
The original nineteenth-century stone house was once the home of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, creator of the Nancy Drew mystery stories. A garden master plan completed in 2002 by Fernando Caruncho lends visual clarity to a cluster of disparate elements, including contemporary homes, stone walls, an extensive vegetable and herb garden, and a perennial border.
Guests can enjoy a woodland walk with cascading ponds, a charming pond hut, a grandchildren’s maze garden, and an overstory of mature trees.
“A garden comes alive with people in it, enjoying it, using it,” she says. “I learn something every Open Day—about a new plant, pruning ideas, composting, whatever. Gardeners give a lot to each other.”
Her visits to other gardens, in turn, has in-spired new additions at Bird Haven. The stephanandra hedge at Mary Ellen Hawn’s Kennelston Cottage in Far Hills, NJ, for example, inspired an extensive planting in her own garden.
One highlight from Open Days was a visit from a grandniece of Harriet Adams, who brought photos of the times she visited the property as a child every summer.
Mavec’s new book, Bird Haven Farm: The Story of an Original American Garden (Rizzoli, 2025), with photos by Ngoc Minh Ngo, explores the story of the landscape’s evolution and the many influences throughout.
“I hope this story inspires you to try something on your own,” she writes in the Introduction, “whether that’s planting an apple tree, sowing a few lettuce seeds, or hosting friends for dinner. We all have it in us to work together with nature and create beauty, then share it.”
Going forward, she holds onto one other hope for her garden: “That beauty will reign over all the ugliness now!”
