Tour of Private Gardens
A tour of private gardens on Nantucket will take place on Thursday, June 26 from 10 am to 4 pm as part of The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program. This walking/biking tour begins at the Jensen Garden, 15 Cliff Road. Day passes and maps will be available there and in advance at The English Trunk Show Company, 8 Washington Street. Admission to each private garden separately is $5. Open Days are rain or shine, and no reservations are required.
The Jensen garden overlooks Nantucket Harbor. A moon gate entrance begins a journey through a shady paved patio surrounded by locust trees. There is a border of astilbes, ferns, and shade-loving plants that opens to a broad lawn.
The Breed Garden is an open, calm, and pleasing space on several levels. Their garden designer transformed the space by moving a privet hedge, adding stone walls, flower beds, rhododendrons, and azaleas to soften the space.
The garden of Dr. Joanne Woodle, distinguished by its street-side undulating privet hedge, is protected by a covenant placed on the house and gardens by her mother, a former Nantucket Garden Club president. The green spaces surrounding the house are graced by Stewartia, spiderwort, and varieties of hollies.
The garden of Mr. & Mrs. Fred Boling was built around 1770, making it one of the oldest on the Cliff. Landscape design has changed with owners, but the tall, wide privet hedges and ‘Nikko Blue’ hydrangeas have been constants.
The garden of Mr. & Mrs. J. Stephen Rapp has evolved in a typical Nantucket way from a working garden to more of a pleasure garden. Throughout the yard which is surrounded by mature privet are hydrangea, 'Pink Delight' buddleia, 'Blue Mist', caryopteris, hypericum, dwarf Alberta spruce, and Leylandii cypress.
The garden of Mr. & Mrs. Radford Stone was designed in 1996. Four terraces and two moon gates create the illusion of space while weeping cherry, Vitex, Cotinus, Rose of Sharon, perennials, and containers of herbs add summer color.
The garden of Mr. & Mrs. Robert Joffe overcame some of the challenges of this historic property by using precise stonework. The dramatic change in height from the street to the back of the guesthouse has been solved by sets of stone steps, one leading to a small lawn, the other to a terrace for the guest house.
The hidden garden at Kate's Folly encircles a mimosa tree and is reached by a short pathway. Overlooking Nantucket Sound and Nantucket Harbor, the house is surrounded by hydrangeas, perennial beds, and kitchen and cottage gardens.
The Jethro Coffin House on Sunset Hill Lane will also welcome visitors on June 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with gardeners on hand to answer questions.
