By Dorian Winslow
We were invited by friends who live in Stonington, CT to a tour of private gardens sponsored by the Stonington Garden Club last weekend. Stonington Borough, the historic center of the Town, is a compact collection of stately 19th century homes, some with high fences sheltering 'secret' gardens that were open to the public for two days. Around the edges of the Borough are seaside homes, some of which were also included in this garden tour.
Nothing speaks to the ever-changing nature of gardens more than revisiting a garden that one visited previously. Martha Snyder's pocket garden is one such garden. Womanswork featured it in a catalog ten years ago, and I visited it again as part of the garden tour last weekend. Since I was there last it has been archived in the Garden Club of America Collection at The Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens, which is an impressive attribution. It's a small garden filled with impactful focal points: a Manhattan Euonymus topiary, espaliered cherry tree, garden art and a cement cast fox perched under a mature holly shrub. Containers are billowing with cascading annuals.
Garden sculpture in Martha Snyder's garden.
Manhattan Euonymus Topiary.
Martha Snyder's pocket garden featured in the Womanswork catalog of 2015.
My other favorite garden on the tour was the home of Brock and Mary Weatherup, situated on the coastline. Next to a stone wall that separates the house and lawn from the lower sea level grade reaching towards the shoreline, are lots of hardy rose bushes and grasses.
Hardy roses growing along the coastline at the Weatherup house.
I also loved the imposing granite house built in 1835 and planted with climbing roses that is the home of Gary and Susan Danaher Buonanno. After passing through a narrow alley way to the back of the house, two modern features, a pool and elegant cabana, come into view.
Climbing roses growing on the façade of the 1835 stone house of the Danaher Buonanno's.
All the gardens we visited had tags printed with the name of each plant on them, inserted in the ground next to the plant. This must have been a lot of work for the organizers, but it made the event more special because it enhanced the learning experience. Botanical gardens have these tags, but rarely do you see them on private garden tours.
For a full list of all eleven private gardens on the tour, along with photos and an extensive plant list for each garden, visit the Stonington Garden Club's website at:
https://www.stoningtongardenclub.org/2026gardensbythesea
I love visiting gardens because of the ideas I get for my own garden. But there's also a less practical side to it. It allows me to escape to a fantasy world that has little to do with my own!
