Destinations: Terrain at Styer's, Glenn Mills

Since the demise of Smith & Hawken (and subsequent acquisition of the brand by Target) there has been a void of beautifully designed high-end home and garden supplies with wide availability. Maybe that is in part because of the changing marketplace; economic pressures have made $1500 wheelbarrows - even if you can afford them - too pretentious to be seen with. 

Of course the internet is an unlimited source for any product you are looking for, though it is my opinion that A) sometimes we don't know what we are looking for, B) in that case of something as tactile as a tool, it is really helpful to be able to handle it before buying, and C) sexy sells - and by that I mean sexy retail displays or even crisp catalog pages begging to be dog-eared, torn out and savored (Pinterest notwithstanding).

A flat image of product isolated on a white screen or even displayed in an attractively photographed scene is nothing compared to a lush display of fragrant pots of lavender with smooth stones, the cool water of a trickling fountain and the rough texture of burlap. We, as gardeners, love to be able to touch, smell and hear our purchases. Nothing inspires you to tackle an ambitious and frivolous botanical pursuit (terrarium anyone?) quite like seeing the magical beast alive. There it seems so tangible...so easy to recreate and maintain. 

"Shop local" has (happily) become an economic and social trend many of us choose to live by which has a positive effect on our local garden centers who offer up well made tools, quality supplies and healthy plants - all with friendly service and advice. None, though, (in my opinion, anyways) has had quite the ambiance of S&H...that is until now. 

Terrain is not so new to the scene, having opened over a year ago at Styer’s - already an excellent garden center on Baltimore Pike (202) in Glenn Mills, Pennsylvania. Much has been written about Terrain in both local and national horticulture venues. It was a holiday feature of Garden Design Magazine (a personal favorite), reviewed by Susan Cohen of Miss Rumphius Rules blog and many more. A second location will be opening soon in Westport, Connecticut so you can expect to see it featured by Martha Stewart any...day...now. The online store places Terrain's wares with-in a mouse click of any customer, but here in the Bucks County, Main Line and greater Philadelphia areas we have the advantage of enjoying it's incredible appeal in person and still being able to call it "local." 

Terrain's parent company is Urban Outfitters,  the hip retailer that also owns Anthropoligie. They are merchants who understand their retail concepts - generating 1.5 billion dollars in sales in 2007. As such, each and every aspect of the store is well thought out to showcase not only what is for sale, but also how to incorporate it into your home. The destination itself is - most likely - designed, installed and maintained by Styer's own well-trained and talented landscapers. Unique materials including rough cut lumber siding and rustic twig fencing juxtapose with industrial architectural salvage. Lushly planted containers dot the parking lot and nursery where garden vignettes illustrate how you might combine the flora offered. 

An ample selection of plants are available for selection in the traditional nursery-style setting, while also being used in sample plantings which adorn the store and as interior accessories to the home goods. A shade house shields ferns, hosta and other shady ephemerals while a hot house protects the tropicals and house plants. The potting shed houses garden practicalities like hand tools and amendments.  You won't find everything you could want here, but what they have is high-quality, unique and/or timeless, with more than enough to satisfy most gardeners (if not landscapers.) Of course Terrain also offers a landscape design studio and no doubt has the capabilities to source any material you could desire - but hey, so do we!

The interior is a mix of finishes: bluestone, polished concrete, reclaimed (or so they seem) pine boards and sleek aluminum girders. The minimally designed space is open and sparsely populated by well-thought out displays where new merchandise accompanies one-of-a-kind vintage finds creating sculptural arrangements of retail which speak for themselves - or more appropriately sing like a choir of sirens. Each is richly layered with  a mix of materials so wonderfully blended that the shopper feels they have made a discovery when uncovering a gem hidden by the surrounding products. Individual shops are housed in cleverly designed shed-like structures and each has its own focus.  The main shop displays garden ornaments, plants, small pots, furniture, books and an area for spa products with a green wall of  staghorn ferns and other epiphytic perennials.    

Terrain's events calender includes, currently: a chocolate workshop, spring branch forcing demonstration, Valentine's Day Dinner, orchid lecture and - of course - a terrarium workshop (because after a visit  you will feel inspired to fill your former fish tank with delicate botanical specimens.) 


The venue also boasts a cafe and hosts private events at its restored antique greenhouse, lodge, and terrace - including personal chef dinners, picnics, afternoon tea, anniversaries and fundraisers. Judging by the buzz it has also received on wedding blogs - it is an incredibly popular location for engagement parties, showers, rehearsal diners, ceremonies and receptions as well. Take THAT Target!

"Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

November 30th was Mark Twain's Birthday and so we posted the following message to facebook:

Happy birthday Mark Twain! Did you know he lived at Wave Hill (a beautiful public Garden in NYC) from 1901 to 1902? Of winter there he wrote: “I believe we have the noblest roaring blasts here I have ever known on land; they sing their hoarse song through the tree-tops with a splendid energy that thrills me and uplifts me and makes me want to live always.”

It would have his 176th birthday, Mark Twain was born during a visit by Halley's Comet, and he predicted that he would "go out with it" as well. He died the day following the comet's subsequent return. Twain had been interested in parapsychology most of his life and believed he had also predicted his brother death. He is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, NY where his wife's family was from and near to where our designer, Sharon, grew up. She can attest that area is also known for its ferocious winters!

In his life Twain achieved great success as a writer and public speaker. A talented author and humorist, his wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers and are still enjoyed to this day! Here is a little history on his one-time home, Wave Hill:

A Brief History of Wave Hill 
1843-1903 
Wave Hill House was built as a country home in 1843 by jurist William Lewis Morris. From 1866-1903 it was owned by William Henry Appleton, who enlarged the house in 1866-69 and again in 1890. A publishing scion, Appleton brought to Wave Hill such pioneering natural scientists as Thomas Henry Huxley. Huxley was astounded by the site, declaring the Palisades across the river one of the world's greatest natural wonders. 

Theodore Roosevelt's family rented Wave Hill during the summers of 1870 and ‘71, when the future president was a youth of 12 and 13. Teddy's time here significantly deepened his love of nature and love of the outdoors that would later prompt him to secure the preservation of millions of acres of American parkland. 

Mark Twain leased the estate from 1901-1903, setting up a treehouse parlor in the branches of a chestnut tree on the lawn. Of winter at Wave Hill he wrote, I believe we have the noblest roaring blasts here I have ever known on land; they sing their hoarse song through the big tree-tops with a splendid energy that thrills me and stirs me and uplifts me and makes me want to live always. 

1903-1960 
In 1903, George W. Perkins, a partner of J.P. Morgan, purchased Wave Hill House. Since 1895 he had been accumulating properties to create a great estate along the river including Oliver Harriman's adjacent villa on the site of what is now Glyndor House. Perkins devoted much of his extraordinary energy to planning the grounds so as to enhance the property's magnificent vistas. To the garden and greenhouses built by Appleton, Perkins added greenhouses, a swimming pool, terraces and the recreational facility that we now call the Ecology Building. The land was graded and contoured, rare trees and shrubs were planted on the broad lawns, and gardens were created to blend harmoniously with the natural beauty of the Hudson River highlands. Across the river, Perkin's involvement at the inception of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission was pivotal in preserving the Palisades. 

The Perkins family resided in Glyndor House and leased Wave Hill House to an eminent zoologist, Bashford Dean. Dean's hobby was collecting medieval European armor, and he built Armor Hall to house his remarkable collection. A selection of 197 choice pieces was subsequently donated to or acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Other famous residents of Wave Hill House have included the conductor Arturo Toscanini (1942-1945) and chief members of the British Delegation to the United Nations (1950-1956). 

Wave Hill Today 
In 1960, the Perkins-Freeman family deeded Wave Hill to the City of New York; Wave Hill, Inc., was formed in 1965 as a non-profit corporation. Today, as one of 34 New York City-owned cultural institutions, Wave Hill's mission is to celebrate the artistry and legacy of its gardens and landscapes, to preserve its magnificent views, and to explore human connections to the natural world through programs in horticulture, education and the arts.

Wave Hill House 
Wave Hill House has been the home of not just one prominent family—but of many. Though unrelated, each successive resident shared an appreciation of Wave Hill's relationship to the Palisades, the Hudson River, and the estate's role in the preservation of Riverdale as a distinctive community. 

The original house was built in Greek Revival style in 1843-44 by William Lewis Morris, a New York City attorney. The Morrises lived here until the death of Mrs. Morris in 1852. William Henry Appleton, a world renowned publisher, bought Wave Hill in 1866 from the Morris heirs. The Appletons used the place as a summer residence. It was leased in 1870-71 to New York banker Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. whose adolescent son developed a love of nature that endured through a lifetime as military hero, conservationist, Governor, and President. Another celebrated tenant, Mark Twain, made Wave Hill a social milieu of literary greats during 1901-03. 

Financier George W. Perkins lived in Glyndor House. He bought Wave Hill House in 1903, and from 1909-1928 leased it to Dr. Bashford Dean, first curator of Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dean gained Perkins' approval to build the Armor Hall wing to house his collections. The wing was designed by Fieldston resident, architect Dwight James Baum. Following Dr. Dean's death in 1928, choice pieces of the collection went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where they are still on view today. 

The Perkins' daughter, Dorothy, and son-in-law, Edward W. Freeman, remodeled the house in 1933. They leased the house to the great maestro Arturo Toscanini from 1942-45; and to the chief British delegates to the UN, Sir Gladwyn Jebb and Sir Pierson Dixon, from 1950-56. In 1960, the Perkins and Freeman families gave the Wave Hill estate to the City of New York. 

Glyndor House 
This house, in Georgian Revival style, is the third to stand on this magnificent site overlooking the Palisades. The first was a Victorian style villa built in the 1860's by the New York financier, Oliver Harriman, called Nonesuch. It was purchased in 1895 by George Walbridge Perkins (1862 -1920). Perkins and his wife, Evelina Ball, remodeled and enlarged the house to include guest rooms and a ballroom with the professional assistance of C. Grant La Farge, architect and son of the famous stained glass artist and designer. Perkins named the transformed house Glyndor (a combination of letters from the names of his family). 

Perkins, with the help of architect Robert M. Byers, created greenhouses, an outdoor swimming pool and a two-story recreation building. The roof of this structure was covered with sod to provide a viewing platform, or terrace, to enjoy the Hudson River and the Palisades. An underground tunnel, lined with Guastavino tiles, connected Glyndor with the recreation building which contained a billiard room, bowling alley and squash court. The location of the recreation building may have been selected by Perkins to help prevent a future grid system of streets in the area; it is directly in the path of a projected street. The recreation building, now known as the Ecology Building, and its rooftop terrace still exist today. The design of the gardens and terraces was conceived, in part, to unify the three estates acquired over time by Perkins. The grey stone building, Wave Hill House, was on one of the parcels acquired by Perkins. Albert Millard, trained as a gardener in Vienna, worked with Perkins on the original layout of the grounds. 

George W. Perkins died at the age of 58 in 1920. In 1926, the house was struck by lightning and severely damaged. Mrs. Perkins had it demolished. The present building, designed by New York architects Butler and Corse, rose on the site in a year's time. In 1960, following Evelina Ball Perkins' passing, the Perkins and Freeman families gave the Wave Hill estate to the City of New York. 

http://www.wavehill.org/about/history.html

New York, New York! (It's greener thank you think) - Part 3: Central Park and Olmsted

SHAPER OF THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE

Perhaps more than any other person, Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) affected the way America looks. He is best known as the creator of major urban parks, but across the nation, from the green spaces that help define our towns and cities, to suburban life, to protected wilderness areas, he left the imprint of his fertile mind and boundless energy. Out of his deep love for the land and his social commitment he fathered the profession of landscape architecture in America.

Olmsted's unique contributions stemmed in part from the conjunction of strongly felt personal values and the needs of a young nation. America was experiencing unprecedented growth in the mid-19th century, making the transition from a rural people to a complex urban society. City life became more stressful as the crowds grew, the pace quickened, and the countryside was pushed into the distance. Olmsted and others saw the need for preserving green and open spaces where people could escape city pressures, places that nourished body and spirit. His intuitive understanding of the historical changes he was living through and his rare combination of idealism, artistry, intelligence, and practical knowledge enabled him to help soften the shocks of industrialization. Unable to separate his love and respect for the land from his belief in democracy, Olmsted saw parks as bastions of the democratic ideals of community and equality. He confronted a period of rapid mechanization and unabashed materialism with a natural sensibility and the old Jefferson virtues of restraint and rural simplicity, values still represented in his parks.

Olmsted was a true renaissance man whose many interests and ceaseless flow of ideas led him into experimental farming, writing and publishing, public health administration, preservation, and urban and regional planning. With other reformers, he pushed for the protection of Yosemite Valley. His 1864 report on the park was the first systematic justification for public protection of natural areas, emphasizing the duty of a democratic society to ensure that the "body of the people" have access to natural beauty.

Situated between 59th street and 110 streets in the heart of New York City, Central Park is arguably the most well known of all the parks that Olmsted had a hand in. Although he was the park's superintendent, he had no hand in the call for a park. Andrew Jackson Downing was the original force behind the park. He and his partner, Calvert Vaux were to submit a design for the park. In 1852 Downing died in a riverboat accident and Vaux asked Olmsted to take his place. In 1858 they entered the competition to design the park, with an entry they called Greensward, which was chosen as the park's design. The design of the park had many aspects that would become trademarks of Olmsted's designs. There were winding paths, scenic views and large open areas for people to relax in. Olmsted served as the chief architect from 1858-1861, which allowed him to supervise the construction and to make any changes that he felt necessary.

Olmsted and Vaux worked off and on with the Park's Commission on the park. Serving as the chief architect from 1858-1861 Olmsted was a presence at the construction site to make sure the collaborative vision was fulfilled. Theirs would be a park conforming to the real contours of nature with rich woodlands, winding paths and hills and valleys. Theirs would be a park replete with Vaux’s architectural vision, which united design and nature with the human spirit. Olmsted was fastidious in his attention to detail and both fought the ugly demon of political infighting to make sure events conformed to their original plan. They succeeded heroically against a succession of negativity until 1877 when the team was dismissed from the project. Olmsted and Vaux devoted twenty years of their lives to the hoped for realization of a dream only to fall victims to the city bureaucracy and petty political infighting. There is no single tribute or monument in the Park to their collaborative effort. Their memory for most is simply a footnote in history.

In what he created and what he preserved for the future, Olmsted's legacy is incalculable. The informal natural setting he made popular characterizes the American Landscape. Beyond the hundreds of parks enjoyed by millions of people, Olmsted and his firm set the standard for hospital and institutional grounds, campuses, zoos, railway stations, parkways, private estates, and residential subdivisions across the country. Olmsted's principles of democratic expansion and public access still guide and inspire urban planners. From the broadest concepts to the smallest details of his profession, the sign of Olmsted's hand is everywhere in our lives.

(Information gleaned from Wikipedia, The Central Park website and fan sites)

We recently spent a late summer weekend in NewYork City and got to experience Olmsted's vision

 

New York, New York! (It's greener than you think) - Part 2: High Line

We recently visited NYC's High Line Park. This unique public space was created on the platform of an old elevated rail track built to service the Chelsea neighborhood's meatpacking district. It is beautifully well designed, encouraging all sorts of interteraction; from playful water features and areas which encourage visitors to watch traffic below - while also being framed for veiwing - to a market, relaxing chaise, benches and, of course, gardens. The plants themselves are chosen to withstand the variety of challenges this unique setting poses: strong winds, reflected heat, dry conditions, pedestrian traffic, limited space and a low maintenance requirements. The gardens are both wild and defined, urban, yet naturalized.

(more photos below article)

Highline - New York City's Park in the Sky Was Once Just a Pie in the Sky

The following peice, describing the creation of the park, was broadcast on NPR September 3, 2011. The original content can be found at:
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/03/140063103/the-inside-track-on-new-yorks-high-line?sc=fb&cc=fp
This link also contains a slideshow, information on the book; High Line - The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky, a podcast of the show and downloadable audio tour.

In August 1999, Joshua David walked into a community board meeting in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood. People were debating what to do with an old, elevated rail track that ran through the neighborhood between Gansevoort and 34 Street. It had been abandoned since 1980. Before that, it was built to haul goods into the city's meatpacking district.

David thought it was kind of a cool old relic, and he thought other people would feel the same.
"I went into that meeting thinking, 'Oh, we'll find some historic preservation group that's all into this,'" David tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Laura Sullivan. "We'll just give them 20 bucks, lick a few envelopes and feel good about it."

But there were no groups. No one wanted to save the old track — except for one other guy at the meeting, Robert Hammond. Neither David nor Hammond had ever been to a community board meeting before, but they exchanged business cards and decided to start a nonprofit, Friends of the High Line. With a few more meetings and some fliers, they thought, maybe they could convince the city not to demolish the old track.

"My mom asked me, 'What's the chances of it happening?'" Hammond says. "I said, 'You know, 1 in 100.'" It took 10 years of fundraising, permit applications, feasibility studies, and wooing city and state officials, but Hammond and David beat those odds. They tell the story of how they did it in a book out next month, High Line: The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky.

Early Opposition
Today, the High Line is one of Manhattan's most popular public spaces: a mile-long, modern, high-concept park built on the old railroad track. In the 10 months after it opened in 2009, it drew 2 million visitors and — in a rare ratio for a public space in New York — about half were tourists. Half were native New Yorkers.

There are hints in the modern park of the High Line's history: You can see the original rail tracks sticking out from areas of shrubs and trees. These rails date back to the 1930s, when they carried trains loaded with goods into the meatpacking district on tracks that ran along 10th Avenue.

The last train ran in 1980. "It was a trainload of frozen turkeys coming into the meat market," Hammond says, "to give New Yorkers turkeys for Thanksgiving." Over the next 20 years, many people in the neighborhood came to view the High Line as an eyesore and wanted it torn down. Many thought it was holding up development of the neighborhood. "Mayor [Rudy] Giuliani really wanted to demolish the High Line," Hammond says. "One of his last acts in office — two days before he left — was signing the demolition order."

By that time, Hammond and David had the support of Chelsea's gay and art communities. The two eventually gained support from celebrities like fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg and actor Edward Norton, both of whom contributed to a growing list of benefactors funding legal efforts to save the High Line. Early on, no one had any big plans for a park. They just wanted to keep the track around.

Rail-Banked
For Hammond and David, the "holy grail" of saving the High Line was something called a Certificate of Interim Trail Use, or CITU. Issued by the Surface Transportation Board, a CITU allows the government to "bank" out-of-use rail corridors as trails on the grounds that the country might need them again. The term of art is "rail-banking." Without a certificate to rail-bank it, the land beneath the High Line would have been lost to local owners and developers. "We originally thought we could just apply and get one, they way you'd send away for a prize by mailing in a couple of cereal box tops," David writes in High Line.

After five years of fundraising, permit applications and even a lawsuit against the city, they had their CITU authorizing development of two-thirds of the full High Line. "Nothing more stood in our way," David writes. "We could break ground." A few years later, Hammond and David were on a roll. They'd settled on a design team to work around a "wildscape" of weeds and wildflowers. They'd secured both city and federal funding, including $18 million that came with the help of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton.

They'd wooed the Bloomberg administration with an economic feasibility study that showed the High Line would easily double its original $150 million cost in tax revenue from increased property values in the area. (That revenue figure has since been raised to nearly half a billion dollars.)

Still Wild
If you start at its southern terminus and walk the entire length of the High Line, you eventually arrive at a locked fence at 30th Street. Hammond and David have the combination. One the other side is the final, undeveloped third stretch of the High Line. It goes all the way around Manhattan's west side rail yards.

Hammond and David are trying to secure development rights for this part of the High Line. For now, it's just the way they found it years ago: nothing but rusty railroad tracks and waist-high weeds. "To me," Hammond says on a tour of the site, "this was the magic we wanted to save. Like right now, we're alone. It's just us, up here [in] this private garden right in the middle of New York."

Hammond says he was always secretly fearful he wouldn't like the new park as much as the old, secret High Line. "What's made me so happy is that I like the new park better," he says. "The design influences the way people interact. "I always notice when you're up on the High Line you see people holding hands. And you don't see that, just in people walking down the street. New Yorkers don't do it. But on the High Line they hold hands, and so I think that's the testimony of it really working."

New York, New York! (It's greener than you think) - Part 1: Gramercy Park

Gramercy Park is a small, fenced-in private park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The approximately 2 acre park is one of only two private parks in New York City; only people residing around the park who pay an annual fee have a key and the public is not generally allowed in – although the sidewalks of the streets around the park are a popular jogging, strolling and dog-walking route.

When the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission created the Gramercy Park Historic District in 1966, they quoted from John B. Pine's 1921 book, The Story of Gramercy Park:

The laying out of Gramercy Park represents one of the earliest attempts in this country at 'City Planning'. ... As a park given to the prospective owners of the land surrounding it and held in trust for those who made their homes around it, Gramercy Park is unique in this City, and perhaps in this country, and represents the only neighborhood, with possibly one exception, which has remained comparatively unchanged for eighty years -- the Park is one of the City's Landmarks.The area which is now Gramercy Park was once in the middle of a swamp. In 1831 Samuel B. Ruggles, a developer and advocate of open space, proposed the idea for the park due to the northward growth of Manhattan. He bought the property, which was then a farm called "Gramercy Farm", from James Duane, a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant.To develop the property, Ruggles spent $180,000 to landscape it, draining the swamp and causing about a million horsecart loads of earth to be moved. He then laid out "Gramercy Square", deeding possession of the square to the owners of the 60 parcels of land he had plotted to surround it, and sought tax-exempt status for the park, which the Board of Alderman granted in 1832. It was the second private square created in the city, after Hudson Square, also known as St. John's Park, which was laid out by the parish of Trinity Church. Numbering of the lots began at #1 on the northwest corner, on Gramercy Park West, and continued counter-clockwise: south down Gramercy Park West, then west to east along Gramercy Park South (East 20th Street), north up Gramercy Park East, and finally east to west along Gramercy Park North (East 21st Street).

Gramercy Park was enclosed by a fence in 1833, but construction on the surrounding lots did not begin until the 1840s. Landscaping began in 1838 with the hiring of James Virtue, who planted privet inside the fence as a border; by 1839 pathways had been laid out and trees and shrub planted. Major planting also took place in 1844, followed by additional landscaping by Brinley & Holbrook in 1916. These plantings had the effect of softening the parks' prim formal design.

At #34 and #36 Gramercy Park (East) are two of New York's first apartment buildings, designed in 1883 and 1905. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, nineteenth century brownstones and carriage houses abound, though the 1920s brought the onset of tenant apartments and skyscrapers to the area.

In the center of the park is a statue of one of the area's most famous residents, Edwin Booth, which was dedicated on November 13, 1918. Booth was one of the great Shakespearean actors of 19th Century America, as well as the brother of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln. The mansion at #16 Gramercy Park (South) was purchased by Booth and renovated by Stanford White at his request to be the home of the Players' Club, which Booth founded. He turned over the deed to the building on New Year's Eve 1888.

Next door at #15 Gramercy Park (South) is the National Arts Club, established in 1884 in a Victorian Gothic mansion which was originally home to the New York Governor and 1876 Presidential Candidate, Samuel J. Tilden. Tilden had steel doors and an escape tunnel to East 19th Street to protect himself from the sometimes violent politics of the day.

On September 20, 1966, a part of the Gramercy Park neighborhood was designated an historic district, the boundaries of which were extended on July 12, 1988. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.


In 1983, Fantasy Fountain, a 4.5 ton bronze sculpture by Greg Wyatt was installed in the park.

Information gathered from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramercy_Park

2011 Bucks Beautiful Kitchen and Garden Tour

Bucks Beautiful Kitchen Garden Tour

SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 2011

1:00 TO 5:00 P.M. • RAIN or SHINE

PRE-SALE TICKETS - $15 – PER PERSON

$20 PER PERSON DAY OF THE TOUR

www.bucksbeautiful.com

TICKETS FOR THE TOUR MAY BE PURCHASED IN ADVANCE AT:

The Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce

Bailiwick • Suite 23 • 252 West Swamp Road • Doylestown • 215-348-3913, ext.114

Bucks Country Gardens

1057 North Easton Road • Doylestown • 215-766-7800

The Doylestown Bookshop

16 South Main Street, Doylestown • 215-230-7610

TICKETS ARE ON SALE THE DAY OF THE TOUR AT:

Poretta Home & Garden • 272 West Court Street • Frederick-Taflin Home & Garden • 384 West Oakland Avenue Cacossa Home & Garden • 412 West Oakland Avenue Snyder Home & Garden • 413 Lincoln Avenue • McCann Home & Garden • 240 Hillendale Drive

Bucks Country Gardens • The Doylestown Bookshop

MAJOR PATRON

David Werrett of Wells Fargo Advisors

Doylestown Commerce Center • 2005 South Easton Road, Suite 108 • Doylestown, PA 18901

215-230-2888 • david.werrett@wellsfargoadvisors.com

PRINTING PATRON

MiGU Press Incorporated •

260 Ivyland Road • Warminster, PA 18974

215-957-9763 • www.migupress.com

Bucks Beautiful is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Any proceeds from this event will benefit our Bulbs for Bucks, Community Garden Grant and Scholarship programs.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

Garden Conservancy Open Days Spring 2011

April 30 – May 1: New York and New Jersey  Open Days  Save the Date for Upcoming Open Days  in NJ, NY and PA

Middlesex and Somerset County Open Day  Saturday, April 30 Visit the gardens of Hay Honey Farm in Far Hills and Babbling Brook in Colonia, NJ. Learn more. Putnam County Open Day  Saturday, April 30  Visit Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, NY. Learn more.  Westchester County Open Day  Sunday, May 1  Visit the White Garden in Lewisboro, NY where over 200,000 daffodils bloom in the woodland. Learn more.  Admission is $5. Children 12 and under are free. Open Days are self-guided and proceed rain or shine.  No reservations are required.  Photo: The White Garden, Lewisboro, NY  Save these dates!  Look forward to these upcoming Open Days near you. 5/7 New London County, CT  5/7 Suffolk County, NY  5/7 Special Members’ Only Open Day SOLD OUT 5/7 Westchester County, NY  5/8 Putnam County, NY  5/14 New Haven County, CT  5/14 Bergen County, NJ  5/14 Dutchess County, NY  5/14–15 Rockland County, NY  5/15 Rockland County, NY  5/15 New Haven County, CT  5/21 Nassau County, NY  5/21 Suffolk County, NY  5/21 Bucks County, PA  5/22 Bucks County, PA  5/22 Putnam County, NY  5/22 Westchester County, NY  5/28 Westchester County, NY  6/4 Hartford & Litchfield County, CT  6/4 Ulster County, NY  6/4–5 Hunterdon County, NJ  6/5 Fairfield County, CT  6/5 Essex County, NJ  6/5 Westchester County, NY  And save the date for the next Garden Conservancy presentation at the New York School of Interior Design,  A Conversation with Henriette Granville Suhr and Marco Polo Stufano, on Wednesday, June 1.