This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Connecticut Horticultural Society Garden Tour -- Portland

Garden Peeping in Portland

Garden hop ’til you drop when the third annual Connecticut Horticultural Society Garden Tour begins Saturday, June 2, in Portland. Gain inspiration from viewing eight gardens, including a rock garden, a hillside garden with a cascading waterfall, a garden graced with extraordinary stonework, an organic lawn grazed by sheep, and more.

A $20 ticket admits the holder to the six private and two public gardens and provides access to a 10 percent plant discount offered by three Portland nurseries. Hours of the self-guided tour are 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Find out what's happening in East Hampton-Portlandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Buy tickets in advance from the CHS office, 2433 Main St., Rocky Hill, 860-529-8713, connhort@aol.com. Or buy them on the day of the tour at the gardens (cash or check only). Find directions and more information at www.cthort.org.

The private gardens are

Find out what's happening in East Hampton-Portlandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Eaton garden, 29 Blackberry Ridge

View more than 1,000 perennials and scores of different shrubs in Dan and Lisa Eaton’s ever-expanding garden. The use of stone is spectacular—don’t miss wandering down to the shaded stone seating area overlooking Reservoir Brook.

Fidrych garden, 474 Main St.

When Joyce and Ed Fidrych moved from their home to a smaller retirement home, they wanted a garden that would require less work but also offer pleasing color combinations and textures. A pretty rock garden boasts miniature plants.

Greene garden, 126 Penfield Hill Rd.

CHS member Phyllis Greene’s shade garden displays her collection of unusual hellebores. A lovely patio garden enhances the historic nature of the house, built in 1755.

Nutmeg Farm, 60 South Rd.

Lynette Milleville espouses organic lawn care and what better way to mow the grass than to fence the area and allow the sheep to graze (protected by a “guard donkey”). A dog trainer, she will give a demonstration at 2 p.m.

Pear garden, 227 William St.

The gardens of Lou and Mary Pear feature specimen trees, flowering shrubs and many perennials. Don’t miss viewing the two raised vegetable beds, blueberry bushes and raspberry patch.  

Pont garden, 9 Adorno Dr.

Mary Pont and her daughter Sarah show what can be done to address the problem of a rocky slope. The star of their hillside garden is a waterfall tumbling down the center.

Public gardens:

Portland Historical Society Museum, 492 Main St.

The museum and award-winning garden are part of the Ruth Callander House, built in 1715. The Portland Garden Club maintains the outstanding Betty Keser Scott Garden, for which the club won an award from the Federated Garden Club of America. Note the old corncrib, which was donated by the Mattabeseck Audubon Society and moved from its former home on the farm of Oscar Hedstrom of Indian Motorcycle fame.

Veteran’s Memorial Garden, 33 East Main St.

The stone memorial tablets displaying the names of war veterans are enhanced by the patriotic-themed garden planted by the Portland Garden Club, the Portland-River Valley Garden Club and the Brownstone Garden Club. Across the walkway, a pair of gardens planted by the Portland-River Valley Garden Club welcomes visitors to Portland Town Hall. Plantings include spring bulbs, white azaleas, goldsturm daisies and other perennials, with annual angelonias offering summer color. These gardens honor the memory of the garden club’s members, so it is fitting that rosemary is planted for remembrance, lavender for fragrance.

Three nurseries offering a 10 percent discount on plants to ticket-holders: Gotta’s Farm, 661 Glastonbury Turnpike (Route 17); Pine Ledge Gardens, 1231 Portland-Cobalt Rd.; and QP Farm Market, 1339 Portland-Cobalt Rd.

The Connecticut Horticultural Society is a nonprofit statewide organization dedicated to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of gardening.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?