Spring Flowers & Gardens in the Litchfield Hills

Since 1950, family-owned White Flower Farm in Litchfield has provided a wide range of annuals, perennials, bulbs, shrubs, vines, amaryllis, gardening tools and supplies, plus gifts for gardeners. The nursery, spanning more than five acres, includes a Begonia House, Shade Garden, Moon Garden and Pollinator Garden, along with many other features. You can also get top-notch gardening advice and how-to information to take back home. Browse their extensive website and join their email list for special offers and useful tips.

Beautifully situated on a sloping, terraced site in Washington, Hollister House Garden is an American interpretation of such classic English gardens as Sissinghurst, Great Dixter and Hidcote, formal in its structure but informal and rather wild in its style of planting. Begun in 1979 by George Schoellkopf, the garden has evolved into a unique synthesis of the formal and the natural, the right angles of paths, walls and hedges melting seamlessly into the lush surrounding landscape, which forms a magnificent backdrop to the garden’s exuberant plantings. Since 1993 Gerald Incandela has contributed greatly to the garden’s development with his artist’s eye trained on redefining the surrounding landscape.

Founded in 1989 by Kasha and David Furman, Cricket Hill Garden in Thomaston is one of the first nurseries in the country to sell true-to-name varieties of Chinese peonies. In fact, their six-acre display garden featuring more than 500 different cultivars of tree, herbaceous and hybrid peonies has been dubbed “Peony Heaven.” In recent years, son Dan has diversified their offerings to include hardy fruit trees and berries, including Asian pears, pawpaws, persimmons, quinces, heirloom apples and medlars. Enjoy the beauty of the garden in bloom every May and June.

The Gertrude Jekyll Garden and Glebe House Museum in Woodbury (one of the earliest historic house museums in the nation), has a fascinating history. In 1926, famed English horticultural designer and writer Gertrude Jekyll was commissioned by Annie Burr Jennings, heiress to the Standard Oil fortune, to create an “old fashioned garden” to enhance the newly created museum. Miss Jekyll had a profound influence on modern garden design and is widely considered the greatest gardener of the 20th century. Although a small garden when compared with the some 400 more elaborate designs she completed, the Gertrude Jekyll Garden includes classic English style mixed border and foundation plantings and a planted stone terrace. For reasons unknown, the garden was never fully installed in the 1920s; however, after the rediscovery of the plans in the late 1970s, the project began in earnest in the 1980s and is now being completed according to the original designs.

The Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden in Bethlehem embodies the dramatically different passions of two extraordinary individuals. Pastor Reverend Joseph Bellamy, renowned leader of the Great Religious Awakening of the time, built the house around 1754. And in 1912, New Yorkers Henry and Eliza Ferriday purchased the property as a summer residence for themselves and their daughter Caroline, updating it with the “modern” amenities of heat, electricity, and plumbing. Eliza and Caroline designed a formal parterre garden featuring historic roses, peonies, lilacs, and numerous fragrant trees and shrubs, making the site a destination for garden lovers. Caroline, who was an actress, a conservationist and philanthropist who supported many social justice and human rights causes, deeded the beautiful historic property and furnishings to Connecticut Landmarks upon her death.

Spring is bloomin’ spectacular at Laurel Ridge Farm in the Litchfield Hills, from late April through early May, where hundreds of thousands of naturalized daffodils bloom wildly over ten gently sloping acres of natural woodlands, fields and aged stone walls. One of two small islands sitting in a large pond springs to life in brilliant gold and white blossoms. Although on private land, the owners of this working farm welcome visitors to walk along the paths and take photographs during daffodil season (Please no picnics or pets).

Osborne Homestead & Gardens in Derby resides on the former Frances Osborne Kellogg Estate, originally constructed in the mid-1800s, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The grounds are handsomely landscaped with formal gardens, a rose garden, ornamental shrubs, and flowering trees, providing visitors with an endless pageant of color from spring through autumn. Adjacent to the museum is Osbornedale State Park, with rolling hills, open meadows and several miles of hiking trails through Mrs. Kellogg's former dairy farm. The Homestead is now a facility of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, and a member of the Connecticut Women's Heritage Trail and Connecticut's Historic Gardens.