Colonial Connecticut Map

Public Gardens Turn on the Charm

IF you are still bummed by the endless 2011 winter and sunless spring, here’s a way to put your blues away: Get out into a public garden . They weathered many tough months too, but they’ve recovered, are full of color and ready to charm. In mid-May I toured Western and Central Connecticut, visiting gardens of varying size, style and spirit. Here are five favorites.

WICKHAM PARK: PRETTY IN PINK

Wickham Park stretches over 250 rolling acres, with open fields, woodlands, ponds, picnic areas, an aviary and, seemingly, a garden for everyone’s taste. In the Oriental Garden a gleaming white moon bridge serenely spans a pond lined with trees. Some flower, like Japanese snowballs, and some don’t, like Japanese maples. As I strolled over the bridge, a lone white swan swam into view. Beyond the pond’s end two brick pillars signal the entrance to a three-room English Garden. You can pick either the Lilac Walk (my choice) or the Cherry Walk to enter an evergreen maze surrounding a statue of Peter Pan, a lovely knot garden and a great lawn. Disappointingly, while there is a Hydrangea Corner and a Rose Walk, the English garden lacked the profusion of flowers and topiary one expects from an Eden modeled after the Hidcote Manor garden in England.

Fortunately, many flowers lie down the road. An Italian Shrine, with two small religious statues, is lined with colorful annuals, and beyond that are rhododendrons. In the Lotus Garden bullfrogs croak, and a fountain jet spews from a pond, which for my visit was partly rimmed by purple and magenta azalea. A rare Usuzumi cherry tree, grown from cuttings from a 1,400-year-old tree said to have been planted by Japan’s 26th emperor, Keitai, bloomed, pretty in pink.

Atop a hill, the Sensory Garden features six rooms with flowers and fixtures (like wind chimes) chosen to illustrate the five senses as well as a sort of sixth sense, imagination. “Sight” offers a kaleidoscope of colorful blooms like hydrangea and roses, while “Touch” has soft, furry lamb’s ear, prickly Golden Sword yucca and spiny Rosy Glow barberry. They are all well labeled, providing a beguiling learning place for children and adults.

ELIZABETH PARK: ROSES GALORE

Elizabeth Park , in a stately West Hartford neighborhood, is most famous for its 2.5-acre rose garden. From a central gazebo, barely visible under Virginia creeper vines, eight archways covered in roses radiate like spokes on a wheel. They are flanked by hundreds of rectangular beds, and the garden is enclosed by rose-covered “fences.” Dozens of varieties are planted to bloom in sequence — first the fences (mostly Harrison’s yellow) and last the archways, which are mostly dark pink Excelsa and pink Dorothy Perkins roses. In between, the beds blossom with Queen Elizabeth, Knockout, Flower Girl, Baby Love, Betty Boop, on and on, about 800 varieties in many colors. The beds are labeled, and there is also a diagrammed list of the varieties available at the visitors center and a map posted at the garden’s main entrance. At peak it’s just gorgeous.

Spectacular In-Town Colonial - Al Filippone Associates | Fairfield ...

7 Caccamo Lane, Westport, Connecticut

Exquisitely decorated five Bedroom home on coveted cul-de-sac.  Four floors of stunning space with extensive mill-work  thru-out.  Cherry Library, state of the art open Kitchen, Family Room with fireplace, Living Room with fireplace as well as two Powder Rooms complete the first floor.   This house has been professionally decorated.  Light, bright and open!. Lovely landscaped yard with stone work.  Terrace and pool site.  A joy to show!

http://www.visualtour.com/shownp.asp?