See you Next Year!
Sunday, June 23, 10am-4pm

A heartfelt THANK YOU to all the garden hosts who generously opened their private gardens for our annual City Spaces/Country Places Garden Tour on June 24th. It was a picture-perfect day, and thank you also to all those who attended.

Watch this page for information about next year's tour, on Sunday, June 23 from 10am-4pm. Do you have a garden worthy of consideration? Please contact us at thbg@towerhillbg.org.

Garden Descriptions

Garden #1: "Maple Grove", garden of John Trexler, Executive Director Emeritus, is a true collector's garden, displaying an amazing variety of rare plants. Designed around a late 18th century half-cape house, Maple Grove is framed by tall, mature sugar maples. Located in the historic district of Boylston, the garden is adjacent to an 18th century cemetery, providing charming borrowed scenery. The garden has choice woody and herbaceous plants arranged in a connected series of borders, beds and islands, with sculpture and water features (see photos at left). A pavilion provides a serene setting.  

Garden #2: This garden was started 10 years ago as a collaboration of owner, architect and builder to site the house and to create the landscaping around it. The gardens represent an effort to integrate the home into a rare open farm field. The owner, a lifelong gardener has created a compelling landscape featuring perennial beds, a large collection of interesting and varied plant material, and intriguing stonework.

Garden #3: The gardens are comprised of three main areas - the front, the half-moon, and the main L-shaped border leading to a 60x90' vegetable garden. The front garden is semi-formal, in keeping with the eclectic architecture of the house. The house was built in 1840, and modified at the turn of the century. In the front of the house, the owner has created a symmetrical design consisting of perennials including heirloom irises, cranesbills, Alchemilla, daylilies, Gaura, peonies, and delphiniums. The focal elements are the David Austin Roses. The half-moon garden bordering the driveway visually connects the front area to the large L-shaped border, which is a combination of shrubs, climbing and antique roses, clematis, peonies, and many other perennials. The vegetable garden contains 13 varieties of garlic, heirloom tomatoes, and herbs, as well as blueberries, raspberries and strawberries.

Garden #4: The owners purchased their 1790 farm house because of the potential for a secret garden in the back yard. At that time, the "garden" was a weedy space surrounded by stone walls of various heights  and in relatively poor condition. Five years ago, they rebuilt the stone walls, had a water feature put in using the stones from our property, and had annuals and perennials planted over 3 inches of their own compost. Now the garden looks as if it has been there forever!  One can read book on one of the benches, have tea outside the back door and listen to the water running, or just smell all the different fragrances, and you will feel as if you are in heaven.

Garden #5: This garden is a work of love for over 20 years. Large shade trees and mixed borders create a refuge around the house, highlighted by container gardens in more than a dozen huge Italian clay pots on the wrap-around porch. A long garden border along the road catches the eyes of those driving by. Over the years, the garden beds have been filled with many perennials, including Hibiscus, peonies, clematis, roses, spirea, scented dwarf lilacs and many others. In between the perennials, annuals are planted for constant color through the summer. This well-kept garden reflects the love of the person who tends it.

Garden #6: When the owner first purchased their house in 2000, it had good botanical "bones." There were hundreds of tall red pines on the property. The driveway was lined with large bird's nest spruces and even larger mugo pines. Large rhododendrons sported white, lavender and dark red blossoms in the spring.  The backyard contained both a perennial garden and a gazebo. From there, the new owners' type A personalities kicked in. When grass refused to grow in one shady section of the yard, 1200 pachysandra plants, three spreading yews, a stone path and new planting beds were added. The perennial garden was dug up and reassembled. A section of the wooded area was cleared and a bed of specimen conifers was added.  Multiple paths were created to view the new plants in the backyard.  Woodland plants and over 100 unique hostas found their way into the landscape. A set of natural stone steps now snakes its way up a hillside. The progression has been slow - all design, planting, hard scape and maintenance is done by the owners. The yard is constantly evolving. The owners have the philosophy that mistakes made in one year can be corrected in subsequent years.

Garden #7: Wander this garden on its winding paths. The main feature is a 5000 sq. ft. garden planted with an eclectic mixture of flowering shrubs, perennials and annuals. There are several island type gardens with succession plantings to create colorful focal points all season, and a small orchard on the remaining area. This garden is completely installed and maintained by the owner who maintains an active life outside the garden! See what a "hidden treasure" you too can create if you do not want to invest in a staff gardener.