Garden Tour

Today concludes our garden tour, and I've saved my favorite for last.  This garden, although tucked down a quiet, country road , is quite well known in the gardening world. Since this was actually the first garden I toured, and the tour had only begun about 15 minutes before I arrived, I really expected only a handful of people to be there.  But clearly everyone was anxious to see Juniper Hill Farm, because there were already about 50 cars parked in the field.  (And although I didn't photograph them, I feel compelled to tell you that there were sheep in a pen at one end of the field.  Sheep make every pastoral scene complete, do they not?)

Walking from the field where we parked the car, we come first upon the meadow and its iron focal point.

Then we pass the woodshed, with an espaliered tree against it.  And a cart!  What I loved most about this property was the integration of historic elements into the landscape.  I loved the connection it forged with a working New England farm of the past.

Then we move on to the Lilac Garden.  Now, having come from southern California, a lilac-less place, I'm still enamored by the lilac bushes growing everywhere across the New England landscape.  But THIS seemed like something very rare to me...a formal lilac hedge!  I would love to see this in full-bloom in May!

Around those grasses, and off to the right, we see this view of the Frog Pond.  I love the formality of the beautifully planted black urn mingling with the naturalness of the frog pond beyond.

Down the steps to the frog pond we go.  On this property, I loved the natural manner of the water features...not contrived, but as integrated with the landscape or with history as possible.

Then back up the stairs and through the lilac garden and across the driveway we go to the front of the house and barn.  Here's what the homeowners/gardeners had to say about their property:

The Gardens at Juniper Hill Farm surround an eighteenth-century saltbox house and farmstead that remain as they were 200 years ago.  The approximately two acres of gardens surrounding the farm might best be described as "country formal".  There is a courtyard garden, a formal lilac garden leading to a frog pool, a whimsical stumpery, a tranquil Mediterranean-inspired "clipped green" garden, a formal potager, and a pool house modeled after the garden pavilion at Hidcote.  Scattered throughout the garden are many planted containers and more than 150 boxwoods representing eleven different varieties.  Because winter interest was an important consideration in the original layout of the garden, strong architectural lines become an important design element.  The house and garden have been featured seeral times in both regional and national magazines..."

Although barely visible from this vantage point, just off to the right is another of the property's water features...a small, stone watering trough for small animals that has been turned into a burbling fountain.

Well, hello there!

My favorite view of the whole day!  Ahhh...I could sit there and stare at this scene forever!

Now, back around the woodshed, past this sleeping beauty, we go to explore the gardens behind the house.

Always mindful that farms are work and their beauty reflects hard work, I loved the placement of the carts and tools of the farmer.

And just when you start to think it simply cannot get an lovelier, strains of music could be heard.  Ahh...sublime!

The musicians were playing classical music just on the other side of the hedge from the pool.

The formal hedges, planted boxes, and urns mingle so effortlessly with the more natural elements in this garden.  I particularly noticed how spaces were defined with hedges, gates, arbors, and posts.

The view from the side of the house looking back towards the pool area, the musicians, and beyond.

Some beautiful, summer blooms.

This clever idea was so simple that I thought even a novice gardener, like myself, could easily tackle it.  A peony border!  But peonies heavy with blooms droop so, you may say.  Ah!  But look at the clever way this one is held up with a forked stick and a stalk of bamboo.  

And lastly, we found our way to the potager.  Gorgeous!  But by this point, we expected no less, right?  Of course it would be beautiful!

Heading back out to the car, although really loathe to leave this place, we pass by this pergola adjacent to the woodshed.  But this time, by studying it just a bit more closely, we can see that this pergola is really the most lovely, natural disguise possible for a clothesline!

So much hard work and so many little cares went into making this garden a lovely refuge of true New England beauty!

You can visit Juniper Hill Farm's website here, or friend them on Facebook as "Notes From Juniper Hill".

I hope you've enjoyed this 6-day garden tour!  I can't wait to go again next year.  And if you can't wait that long, do look up The Garden Conservancy and see if there's still an Open Day in your neighborhood.