Today was a day of a lot of walking in beautiful gardens in beautiful weather.

SAKONETT

This garden was started in 1973 by 2 young men, John Gwynn & Mikel Folcarelli, who still live and work there. It is a one acre garden on a 5 acre property. This is a video of the 5 acre property:

The garden is near the coast of Rhode Island on Narragansett Bay where there is a lot of wind so the garden needs to be protected. The owners have built rock and wood walls to deflect the wind.

This is an absolutely amazing garden and the best way to show it is by video because the paths are narrow. I will go along a path with a video or two, then stop and show some photos of that area and then continue on in another video.

The yellow garden:

The pollinator garden is 1 acre:

Front entry garden:

One of the owners

HIGH ELMS

This garden is on a 6 acre site with adjacent vacant land including 10 acres in conservation. There were 2 huge elms on the property but they were killed by Dutch Elm Disease. The house was built in 1700 and remodeled several times.

The summer house:

The perennial garden:

The circle garden:

Custom made ginger pot in circle garden

The rock garden:

The shrub walk:

Owners – Gioia Browne & Jim Marsh

Some unusual plants:

Blue Bottle Gentian (Gentiana ‘True Blue’)

Flowering Tobacco (Nicotiana sylvestris)

Golden Sedge (Carex ‘Everillo’)

Goldenrod (Soldego) & Helianthus

Franklinia (Franklinia alatamaha)

Autumn crocus (Colchicum)

Seven Son Flower (Heptacodium miconioides)

BLITHEWOLD

We visited this 45 room mansion right on Narragansett Bay with a 33 acre estate and arboretum.

The original property of 70 acres was purchased in 1895. The house was finished in 1908 and the property was fenced in 1912. The owner was a coal barron but died before he could enjoy the garden. His wife planted the trees and now they are over 100 years old.

The greenhouse:

The water garden:

The perennial garden:

The rose garden:

Interesting Plants:

Japanese Burnet (Sanguisorba obtusa ‘Tickled Pink’)

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’

Lily Turf (Liriope muscari’)

Red Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’)

Lotus

Head Gardener

Views inside the house:

Breakfast porch

Kitchen

Dining room

Sewing room

Pool room

Living room

Staircase

Bedroom

Phone and in-house communication

Tomorrow – rain (may not be able to send blog)