by Ernie Mulch on July 26, 2010
Rhode Island is home to some of the more beautiful private gardens you will ever see as well as some of historic importance but if you are not lucky enough to get an invite don’t fret there are still lots of beautiful landscaped gardens for your to visit and marvel over.
- Blithewold Mansion, in Bristol RI. Located on Narragansett Bay, 25 minutes east of Providence and 60 minutes south of Boston, Blithewold is one of the finest garden estates in New England. Your exploration of Blithewold will include diverse gardens, specimen trees, and a 45-room English style manor house, all chronicling the rich social history of the lives of one family over a span of more than 80 years
- Wilcox Park, in Westerly, RI. “The people shall have a park.” So saying, in 1898 Harriet Wilcox purchased and donated to the Memorial and Library association the seven acre Rowse Babcock estate in the heart of Westerly’s business district
- Block Island, at Block Island, RI. Birds stop here while migrating in the spring and fall along the Atlantic Flyway. In addition to the plants and animals, the human community is dedicated to conserving open space to preserve their natural and cultural heritage.
- Linden Place, in Bristol, RI. Madam Colt ran Bristol Society from Linden Place as if she was Queen Victoria and the great actress Ethel Barrymore who married in to this most prominent of American families. At the tour’s end, visitors are welcome to stroll the sculpture-filled gardens where they will find Greek bronzes and an 18th Century gazebo.
- Prescott Farm Garden, on Aquidneck Island, RI. The plant varieties grown in the gardens represent what many Aquidneck Islanders may have used for food, medicine and other utilitarian purposes in the colonial era
by Ernie Mulch on July 13, 2010
Over the last ten days I have listed some spectacular public landscaped gardens in NH, ME and MA. Today the list visits Connecticut to give you more places to visit and gain ideas for your own landscaping projects or if you just feel like a picnic somewhere new.
Public landscaped gardens are all around us but often they are an overlooked resource. Many of the gardens are private but through the generosity of their caretakers are open for the public to enjoy. Spending some time in an oasis that are the public gardens can bring hours of relaxation and inspiration.
- Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford, CT. We offer the community year-round educational programs for all ages, an extensive horticultural library, an herbarium with specimens dating back to the 1800’s, a summer plant clinic, and seasonal events and family festivals.
- Dinosaur State Park & Arboretum in Rocky Hill, CT. Our goal is to grow representatives of as many of the Mesozoic Era plants families as we can within our zone 6 site. The initial plantings established a “backbone” of hardy conifers and then the collection was filled out with dwarf and slow-growing conifer cultivars.
- Hartford Botanical Garden in Hartford, CT. The Hartford Botanical Garden will be a 21st century garden steeped in the history of Hartford’s Colt Park and the region’s rich horticultural fabric. Specializing in past, present and future linkages between people and plants in urban environments, the Garden will feature demonstration gardens for urban settings
- New Canaan Nature Center in New Canaan, CT. The Nature Center was established in 1960 on the former estate of Miss Susan Dwight Bliss. This 40 acre site was given to the Town of New Canaan for the study of nature, horticulture and related sciences. The Town continues to own the land and buildings, and provides maintenance support. The Nature Center’s wide array of innovative environmental education programs generate more than 60% of its annual revenues
- Highstead in Redding, CT. Since its formation in 1982 by Mr. and Mrs. James Dudley, Highstead has developed as a sanctuary for the study and appreciation of woodland plants and habitats. The past two decades have witnessed remarkable growth and activity at Highstead that have yielded an attractive landscape, excellent facilities and a range of effective programs
