Gardens for a Worthy Cause

Yesterday (July 11), with the temperatures in Boston expected to touch 90 degrees, Betty and I did what all sane New Englanders do: we headed for the coast. 

Cape Ann is 'the other cape'

For the uninitiated, Massachusetts has two ‘capes’ on its coast.  The one people refer to when then say they are ‘going down to the Cape for the weekend’ is Cape Cod and, yesterday morning, the backups on the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges were four and six miles, respectively. 

The other ‘cape’ is Cape Ann.  Cape Ann is an afterthought for most New Englanders and it barely registers if you are from outside the region.  As it turns out, this state of affairs suits Cape Ann residents just fine.  Unlike that ‘other’ Cape, the citizens of Gloucester and Rockport can traverse the A. Piatt Andrew Bridge spanning the Annisquam River that separates Cape Ann from the mainland without fear of hours-long delays.

The pedestrian bridge into Annisquam
Village

Our goal yesterday morning was not beaches but, rather, gardens.  Specifically, we went on the Gloucester Garden Tour of Annisquam Village.  Annisquam, in turn, is a hidden gem: a beautiful seaside village dating to 1646 that is suspended in time.  Its houses are a mix of grand and humble.  Streets are narrow, winding, rising, and falling.  There are stone outcroppings everywhere that dictate where homes can and cannot be built. 

A garden on the Annisquam tour. 
Double-click for a full-page show.

Most garden tours are held by garden clubs.  This annual tour (which features a different part of Cape Ann each year) is the creation of a unique organization: Generous Gardeners, a Gloucester-based philanthropic organization that raises funds for beautification projects.  Some are carried out by the organization’s members, other projects are funded through grants to other groups.  And we are not talking about modest sums.  As you come into Gloucester on Route 128, you encounter Grant Circle, a large and, until last year, graceless traffic rotary.  This year it sports a new series of glorious beds.  Three area garden clubs banded together in 2014 to raise more than $100,000 to beautify the rotary; Generous Gardeners provided a hefty contribution that kick-started funding.  Four other projects are targeted for assistance this year including expanding the plantings in the center island of Gloucester’s principal downtown boulevard.

Several of the gardens included
painters at work

But however worthwhile the cause, a $25 garden tour ticket needs to provide an experience that is both fun and inspiring.  Generous Gardeners delivered on both counts, and it did so with a professionalism that made the day effortless (except for walking) on the part of tour goers.

A garden with a sweeping ocean view

There are two ways into Annisquam Village: narrow Leonard Street and a pedestrian footbridge across Lobster Cove. We parked and checked in at a school two miles away, and boarded a school bus that let us off on the Gloucester side of the footbridge. It was an appropriate way to start the tour, a 300-foot ramble past dozens of boats with the hill upon which the village is built as a backdrop.

In Annisquam, houses adapt to the
geology of the region

I had been to Annisquam just once, as a speaker earlier this year for the Cape Ann Garden Club.  I had gotten a sense of the village’s architecture, but not of its gardens. July is unquestionably the peak of the area’s gardens.  Spirea and hydrangea groan with blooms and spill over walls and fences.  Perennial borders blaze with daylilies, lavender, sage, hosta, fern, and epimedium.

This was my favorite garden:
small but intelligent with
a framed ocean view

There were 15 houses on the tour of which we saw 13.  While there were several large, beachfront homes featuring meticulous gardens with sweeping views of Annisquam Harbor and Wingaersheek Beach beyond, my tour favorite was a small house with a compact garden.  The homeowner compensated for a small space by emphasizing the vertical drop from the front to the back of the property.  The front garden gave way to a lushly planted bluestone patio with espaliered pear trees on the side; stepping down to a narrow, intelligently designed rear perennial border separated from the small lawn by a winding row of cobblestones.  The piece de resistance?  A well-framed view of the ocean.  It was perfect.

Our appreciation for the tour was heightened by the opportunity to chat with Susan Kelly, founder of Generous Gardeners and organizer of the tour.  As we waited for the bus to take us back to the school where our car was parked, she spoke of the daunting logistics required to make the tour happen (for example, a week before the tour, she was informed that only a single bus would be available – ultimately she negotiated three).

A great tour requires commensurate signage and an explanatory guide.  Every garden had multiple docents, the winding course was superbly marked, and the tour book included a concise ‘what-to-look-for’ in the garden as well as a quick sketch of the house’s history.

* * * * *

Beneath the 'acrobats'

Instead of heading home for a cool drink and a well-deserved rest, we made a 50-mile detour on our way home to another garden Saturday afternoon.  Bedrock Gardens in Lee, New Hampshire, is a nearly thirty-year-long effort by Jill Nooney and Bob Munger to create a space that marries art and horticulture.  (I first wrote about Bedrock Gardens here.)  We were inspired to visit yesterday both to see how the garden has changed and by the fact that the Garden Conservancy had chosen to sponsor an Open Day at the property.

Horsehead sculptures guard the
parterre garden

Bedrock Gardens need to be on every serious gardener’s bucket list.  It is unique as far as I know; a 20-acre garden that is equal parts whimsy and horticultural intelligence.  It is also a garden that grows and changes.  To put it another way, seeing Bedrock Gardens once is like seeing your grandchildren once.  You need to make a pilgrimage every year or so to see how it has evolved.

Unusual plant combinations are the rule

When you go, plan to stay at least two hours.  It will take you that long just to see, from various vantage points, the 21 ‘points of interest’ listed on the garden map.  If you are serious about horticulture, add the amount of time appropriate to your knowledge level.  Very little in this garden is ‘the usual suspects’.  Instead, unusual variations are the rule.  Take a camera (or a phone with a high-rez imager) and a notebook.  You’ll find unexpected but imaginative planting combinations that will send you to nurseries that specialize in lesser-known cultivars.

Part of the 'wiggle-waggle'

The ‘garden’ part of Bedrock Gardens is primarily the work of Jill Nooney.  Her spouse, Bob Munger, is credited with creating the walkways, water features and patios that dot the garden, though he will confess to no greater contribution than the digging of holes and operation of farm equipment.  I’m willing to accept that division of labor at face value without further investigation.

The Dark Woods feature
flying objects

The ‘art’ at Bedrock Gardens is both the interplay of plants and the inspired genius of Jill’s ‘sculptures’.  As the accompanying photos show, Bedrock Gardens is stiff with metal creations made from industrial scrap.  There are some recent pieces that appear to be the result of binge-watching ‘Game of Thrones’, but every piece is a delight.  Many are for sale.  Suffice it to say that had the arc welder not been invented, it would be necessary to do so to encourage the creations on display.

Two items of note:  First, in the past few years, the Friends of Bedrock Gardens has been organized as a 501(c)3 non-profit.  This both make it easier to support the garden financially, and to ensure that it survives its two creators.  Second, the garden has four more open weekends between now and October.  Those dates are July 18-19, August 15-16, September 19-20 and October 10-11-12.