1.  Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden
2.  Butler-McCook House & Garden
3.  Florence Griswold Museum
4.  Glebe House Museum & The Gertrude Jekyll Garden
5.  Harkness Memorial State Park
6.  Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
7.  Hill-Stead Museum
8.  Osborne Homestead Museum and Kellogg Environmental Center
9.  Promisek Incorporated
10.  Roseland Cottage, Bowen House
11.  Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum

Each site offers special activities emphasizing their garden program. Programs and fees vary.
Visit a site or two in your area, or head off to explore another part of the state.

Enjoy strolling through the stone walled garden designed in 1921 by noted landscape architect Beatrix Farrand. Garden volunteers will be on hand to tell the story of the restored garden, the amphitheater, and the larger 300 acre property situated at the confluence of the Shepaug and Housatonic Rivers. Having been lost to years of overgrowth, the garden was rediscovered in 1992 and restored using the original plan found in the University of California Berkeley archives. While viewing the garden from the terrace, enjoy a cool cup of iced tea and then walk the trails to the Lake Lillinonah shoreline. There is a suggested donation toward the ongoing care of this unique Litchfield county historic garden.Directions

The Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden, Bethlehem

Enjoy a tour of this Litchfield County garden noted for the circa 1915 parterre garden and woody plant collection. Learn the garden’s social and horticultural history within the context of American gardening history and about the mother and daughter who passionately designed and maintained their four-acre landscape. The plant collection includes historic roses, peonies, lilacs and numerous perennials as well as unusual specimen trees and flowering shrubs. Refresh yourself with a cup of iced tea before strolling more leisurely around the perimeter walk and through the historic apple orchard noting the unique views of the house so nicely sited within the landscape. Tours will be held on the hour.

Visitors can discover the restored Griswold House, stroll through  "Miss Florence's” historic gardens and down to the river. Try your hand painting en plein air  (in the open air) just like artists who stayed at the Griswold House over one hundred years ago. Supplied with canvas, palette, paint, and brushes (and the all important smock!) let the hollyhocks and Black-eyed Susans be your inspiration! You'll have a wonderful souvenir of your day in the garden!

View Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France, in the Krieble Gallery.
No fee for outside activities, Museum admission applies to exhibitions.

Special Garden Day Lecture
2pm
$7 (advance reservations necessary) 860-434-5542 x 111
Translating English Garden Design to American GardensNationally recognized garden designer and writer Gordon Hayward explains how to attain the charm and beauty of an English garden through garden ornaments, marking transitions between gardens, framing views, and more. Lecture co-sponsored by Hog River Journal

Harkness Memorial State Park, Waterford
Garden tours and talks about the history and Beatrix Farrand design of the Harkness gardens will be provided free of charge by Friends of Harkness volunteers. In addition to the garden tours, take a tour of the mansion from 10am to 2pm, visit the Gift Shop, or enjoy some refreshments with spectacular views of Long Island Sound.

June is bursting out all over the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center!  Celebrate the first days of summer in the Stowe Center’s Victorian Gardens with a walk through our historic gardens in full bloom. Find your favorite spot in the gardens--watercolors, paper and brushes will be on hand so that you can tap into your inner artist and paint plein air!  Refresh yourself with a cool glass of lemonade. Don’t miss a visit to the Stowe Center Museum Shop for inspiring garden stones and other garden treasures.

Garden Guru Rob Fuocco will offer his legendary garden tours at 12:30 PM, 2 PM and 3:30 PM.

Garden activities are FREE.  Harriet Beecher Stowe House tours offered every half hour – admission applies.  

Enjoy views from Hill-Stead's Mt. Vernon-style verandah while sipping a glass of cool lemonade. Stroll the paths of the 1920 Beatrix Farrand-designed Sunken Garden, where interpreters will be on hand 12-4 pm to answer questions. Hear a talk at 2 pm, "Beauty Rooted in Tradition: Connecticut's Historic Gardens." Activities are complimentary to the public.

Osborne Homestead Museum, Derby, CT
Throughout the afternoon, visitors can enjoy guided tours of the museum's lovely Colonial Revival gardens, including the rose garden with over 100 rose bushes.  Children can explore the garden with scavenger hunts and craft activities.  After strolling through the gardens, visitors can visit the historic house museum and learn about Frances Osborne Kellogg's passion for roses and conservation.  Complimentary museum and garden tours will be offered every half hour.  Parasols are encouraged if it is a bright, sunny day.

Free garden tours at 1, 2 and 3 pm will share information about the historic garden design and plants, the boxwood restoration project and share information about the famous Fourth of July Garden Parties that Henry Bowen held from 1870-1894 to which four US Presidents and other dignitaries attended. The parterre garden includes 21 flowerbeds surrounded by 600 yards of boxwood hedge; each bed is planted following Bowen’s 1850's plant inventory list. Guided tours of the museum are offered on the hour (fee charged for museum tours). Children can enjoy old-fashion games including hoop rolling and games of graces (weather permitting.) Bring a picnic lunch and enjoy the grounds.

Tours of the museum and outbuildings are available from 11-3pm, on the hour, for an additional fee.

The Webb House 1921 Colonial Revival Garden designed by Amy Cogswell and the Stevens House Herb Garden are open, free, to the public.  Garden guides and "What's in Bloom Board" are available. Tours of the Museum houses available on the hour. $8 for adults, $4 for children.