Garden envy.

 It is the seasonal malady that turns law-abiding citizens into voyeurs who spend spring and summer surreptitiously hovering around their neighbor’s garden gates. Now they can shamelessly enter these enticing places armed with cameras and garden journals in hand as gracious green thumbs across the United States open their gardens to the public on select weekends through October, thanks to The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program.

Gardening is already the country’s number one hobby. The diversion continues to grow in popularity, and Connecticut is no exception. On Sunday, May 7, garden lovers can explore and admire the first 12 private gardens of the 62 in the state being opened to the public this year through the conservancy program. This weekend’s offerings include a Westport oasis for the largest collection of Primula sieboldii in North America and Europe, not to mention the headquarters for the American Hepatica Association; a Scotland (CT) garden that offers a stream bordered with candelabra primrose; and a one-acre woodland garden in Stamford covered by dogwoods and azaleas blooming over a carpet of old-fashioned spring perennials and biennials.

Three more gardens will be opened on Sunday, May 21, in Middlebury, Ridgefield and South Glastonbury. Additional gardens and remaining Open Days are scheduled for June 4, June 25, July 9, July 23, September 10 and September 24.

The 2000 Open Days Season offers 416 private gardens in 26 states. The gardens are all listed in the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Directory: The Guide To Visiting Hundreds of America’s Private Gardens (published by The Garden Conservancy, distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishing; 448 pages, softcover, February 2000), which is updated and published annually as gardens are added to the program, dropped by the program, or changed by their creators. Each listing in the directory contains a description of the garden written by its keeper, the dates and times it is open to the public, and driving directions.

The 2000 directory is $14.95 and can be ordered directly from the conservancy by sending a check to The Garden Conservancy, PO Box 219, Cold Spring, NY 10516; calling the organization toll-free at 888/842-2442; or visiting www.gardenconservancy.org. There is a $3.50 shipping and handling fee for each copy ordered.

The conservancy has gone with a new distributor for its annual directory. The book is now in the hands of Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishing, which makes it more accessible than ever. The directory is available nationally and internationally wherever books are sold.

Admission to gardens is $4 per person, with no reservations necessary. Visitors may pay at the gate. Advance tickets can also be ordered by calling the Garden Conservancy, and discount booklets with six tickets are available for $20.

The Open Days program is now entering its sixth season, having growing from a regional offering of gardens in New York and Connecticut to a national program that attracted more than 50,000 garden visits in 1999.

“The Open Days Program presents an opportunity for people who like gardens to exchange ideas and information, as well as share their mutual admiration for nature and gardening,” says Janet Meakin Poor, chairman of the Open Days Program.

Anyone who gardens knows the fragile nature of the gardener’s creation: Subject to the ravages of climate, weeds, erosion, pests and other problems, even the most carefully designed gardens can vanish within just a few years when left untended.

The Garden Conservancy is a national non-profit organization dedicated to preserving America’s exceptional private gardens and facilitating their transition from private to independent non-profit ownership and operation. By opening the best private gardens to the public, the conservancy works to strengthen America’s commitment to preserving exceptional gardens.

The conservancy works in partnership with individual garden owners and public and private garden organizations. It uses its legal, financial and horticultural resources to secure each garden’s future and to make it permanently accessible to the public.

While the Open Days Program tends to focus on private gardens opened to the public for one or two days each year, the conservancy’s directory also includes information on a number of public gardens as well. In the closing pages of the Connecticut & New York section of the 2000 directory, for instance, are descriptions, addresses, operating times and contact phone numbers for Ballard Park & Garden in Ridgefield, Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden in Bethlehem, Boothe Memorial Park/Wedding Rose Garden in Stratford, Brookfield Historical Society’s Museum Garden, and Gertrude Jekyll Garden at The Glebe House Museum among the 31 public gardens listed.

Opening CT’s Gardens

As mentioned earlier, Connecticut gardeners have played a large role in the Conservancy’s Open Days Program since its inception. Among the gardens that will be opened to the public over the course of the next few months are a few locations that are just a short drive from Newtown.

While the following is a look at some of the more local gardens, a perusal through a copy of the conservancy’s Open Days Directory can provide more details.

Highstead Arboretum in Redding (telephone 203/938-8890) will be open Sunday, May 7, the first Sunday the conservancy will be hosting its Open Gardens Program across the country this year. Located at 127 Lonetown Road, the arboretum is 36 acres of relatively undisturbed Connecticut woodland, meadow, wetland and rock ledge.

This month, a collection of 14 species of deciduous azaleas, fenced for protection from deer, can be enjoyed for both color and fragrance. When Highstead is open for its second Open Days Program on June 4, visitors can explore an expansive understory of mountain laurel, and a special Kalmia exhibit expected to feature more than 60 cultivars and three of the seven laurel species.

The arboretum will be open from 10 am to 4 pm, with guided walks offered every two hours beginning at 10.

Also on Sunday, gardens will be open in Farmington, Scotland, Stamford and Westport.

On Sunday, May 21, Middlebury resident John Spain will open his gardens to visitors for the sixth time. Mr Spain, a cactus enthusiast, is among the Connecticut residents who have opened their gardens for the public since 1995. His garden will be open from 10 am to 6 pm, and will be opened again on June 4 during the same hours.

Mr Spain’s garden areas include a rock garden, a woodland garden with paths, an outdoor (winter hardy) cactus garden, planted walls and troughs. The rock garden combines dwarf conifers and many unique rock garden plants. There is also a 32-foot landscaped greenhouse of cacti and succulents — not surprising, considering Mr Spain is one of the co-founders (and was the first president) of the Cactus & Succulent Society of America, the author of Growing Winter Hardy Cacti in Cold/Wet Climate Conditions, and has been cultivating cacti since 1965.

Also on May 21, Garden of Ideas in Ridgefield will be open from 10 am to 4 pm. Twelve years ago the spot at 647 North Salem Road was covered with Kentucky bluegrass and poison ivy-infested woods. Today a fine collection of both woody and herbaceous ornamental plants grow there, along with a stunning natural marsh. A recently completed plankway across the marsh allows exploration of heretofore uncharted garden territory.

Other points of interest include hand-built cedar structures, whimsical statuary, water features, unusual animals, and lots of birds and bugs. A large raised-bed vegetable garden produces a bounty of delicious edibles from April through November, and poetic verse is actually displayed along the way for visitors to discover as they wander through shade and sun.

The only other Connecticut garden that will be open on May 27 is the one at the home of Brad and Toni Easterson, at 124 High Street in South Glastonbury. The Easternsons’ garden will be open from 10 am to 4 pm.

A Few Basics

Of course, the only reason the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program continues to be such a success is due to the generosity of the homeowners who agree to open their land for anyone to visit, even for just a few hours each year. While the conservancy does not want visitors to feel surrounded by a lot of structured regulations, it does ask that visitors use common sense:_don’t litter, don’t stray off pathways, and keep an eye on the kids, among other measures.