Private gardens tend to disclose themselves slowly, over seasons and years—and usually only to the people who tend them. On September 12, the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program offers visitors a rare look inside two distinctive Ulster County landscapes, along with a pair of more focused programs exploring ecological approaches to gardening.
Presented in partnership with Stone Ridge-based Hortus Arboretum, the self-guided tour includes Dinsmore Garden and Tongore Acres, both in Olivebridge. The gardens will be open from 10am to 4pm, allowing visitors to see how two gardeners working in the same corner of the Hudson Valley have arrived at very different expressions of place.
Dinsmore Garden combines exuberant planting with a strong architectural framework. Hedges, paths, arbors, and trees organize four principal perennial gardens, while a long shrub border leads toward a Chinese pagoda. A latticework “temple,” dry-stone creek, ornamental gates, and other constructed elements create a succession of composed views, giving the abundant plantings room to run without losing their underlying shape.
At Tongore Acres, cultivated beds meet the surrounding woodland with softer edges. Naturalistic plantings and meadows mingle with more formal parterres, balancing structure and spontaneity. Plants including verbena are allowed to self-seed, creating an intentionally untamed atmosphere in which flowers, grasses, and foliage overlap and shift across the landscape. The garden’s relaxed style demonstrates how a degree of disorder can become its own form of design.
For visitors interested in digging beneath the surface, two ticketed “Digging Deeper” programs will take place the same day. At “Successional Mosaic Landscape” in Stone Ridge, garden owner David Nyzio will discuss the removal of problematic introduced species and the reestablishment of native plants to create an increasingly stable habitat for diverse plant and animal communities. The program runs from 10am to noon.
“ReWilding (with Dahlias!),” held in Highland from 4 to 6pm, considers how gardeners can work with nature’s existing strategies. The session will examine weeds, rest, and chaos—and how favorite garden plants can fit within a more earth-friendly landscape.
Founded in 1989, the nonprofit Garden Conservancy works to preserve and share significant American gardens. Its nationwide Open Days program has welcomed more than 1.4 million visitors into over 4,000 private landscapes since 1995, ranging from urban rooftops and organic farms to historic estates and suburban sanctuaries.
Open Days admission is $10 per garden and $5 for Garden Conservancy members; children 12 and younger attend free with a parent or guardian. Each Digging Deeper program costs $40, or $30 for members. Advance online registration is required, and pets are not permitted. For tickets and additional information, visit Gardenconservancy.org/opendays.
