Tag: gardens

Peter Lawrence Gallery Presents SCULPTURE FEST 2012

Ghetti-Elvis

The First Annual Sculpture Exhibit and Culture Fest is being hosted by Peter Lawrence Gallery located on the banks of the Housatonic River on Rte. 7 in Gaylordsville through June 17th on Saturdays and Sundays plus Memorial Day. This exhibit will feature works by locally, nationally and internationally recognized sculptors. This fun-filled cultural event will include an artist walk and talk, musical entertainment performed by Broadway stars and jazz musicians, box lunches, wine tasting, and other artisanal delicacies. Visitors to the event can explore sculptures inside and outside.

The Inside Gallery will host an eclectic grouping of smaller works including those by: Suzanne Benton, listed in Who’s Who of America and Who’s Who of American Artists, an international artist whose works are in private collections worldwide; Jocelyn Braxton Armstrong, a critically acclaimed ceramic artist; Dalton Ghetti, a Brazilian-born pencil sculptor whose work is currently on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England; Michael Johnston, an artist who uses recycled electronics to build futuristic, steampunk-style sculpture; Justin Perlman, an internationally trained sculptor and winner of the Marquis Who’s Who in American Art Reference Award; Derek Uhlman, recently accepted into the Copley Society of Art, is an award-winning sculptor who likes to push the envelope; and Patricia Warfield, recognized nationally as a consummate artist, is constantly experimenting with a wide variety of media.

J.B. Armstrong Soul SIster

The outdoor sculpture is situated in a idyliic four-acre garden along the Housatonic River. On display in this beautiful rustic setting will be monumental works by Jan Abt, German-born, New York-based sculptor who creates abstract figurative pieces inspired by Picasso, Henri Moore and the ancient Greeks; Jennifer George Andrea, a kindergarten teacher by day and a large-scale sculpture artist in the off hours; Cindy Booth, a Hudson Valley artist creates large-scale copper and steel sculptures “beyond the thinking mind”; David Boyajian, an acclaimed master sculptor, founder of the Sculpture Barn in New Fairfield, CT who creates monumental works that are both conceptual and rationally accessible; Steven Brooks an award-winning architect turned sculptor loves the physicality of creating forms and shapes with his hands; Margie Cohen who is transfixed by creating whirling, spinning and rolling sculptures out of steel; Jim Felice, a master restorer and award-winning creator of sculptures that, in his use of scrap matter, redefine the use and purpose of industrial materials; Denis Folz an intentionally styleless artist whose works are informed by Van Gogh, Max Ernst and Andrew Wyeth, leaves it to the viewer to define his work; Lannie Hart whose sculptures evoke nature, religious images and cultural references with a strong feminine point of view; Peter Holmberg, a local sculptor whose works are among a collection situated on a private estate; David McNeil a former police sketch artist, now seeks to construct abstract shapes from nature created by a living thing and to capture its energy in its form; M. Meken-Silvestri an award-winning fused-glass artist who works with delicate fragments to create solid works that sparkle and dazzle; Justin Perlman, mentioned earlier; Richard Pitts, a professor at FIT in New York City and a multi-media sculptor who constructs abstract sculptures as metaphors for the natural environment; Judy Rowley who currently uses debris from Hurricane Katrina as the substance of her sculpture to pay tribute to the resilient spirit of the people of the Gulf Coast ; and Marcia Spivak¸ one of the pre-eminent metal horse sculptors in the country.

Denis Folz – Kelp

In addition to sculpture, the Festival boasts live entertainment, and local artisan delicacies. The delicacies include a box lunch prepared by local Gaylordsville Country Store; chocolate truffles, hand-made in the French tradition by Carol Monnerat Artisan Truffles of Branford, CT; simply heavenly cakes baked with all natural, allergen-free ingredients by Izzi B’s of Norwalk, CT; tasting rare raspberry, rhubarb and cassis wines from White Silo Farm and Winery of Sherman, CT, or traditional grape wines and sun-ripened berry wines from Jones Family Farm of Shelton, CT, both Connecticut Wine Trail Vineyards; and more. A Jazz ensemble from the Easton, CT Jazz Guild will be among the performers, as will Broadway stars Niki Scalera (Footloose, Hairspray, Tarzan, Jake’s Women), Tevin Campbell (Hairspray and R&B recording star under the direction of Quincy Jones) and others.

The Sculpture Fest is a ticketed event. Admission includes entry to the sculpture garden and gallery, a box lunch and a glass of wine, a catalog and map of the garden, tours and talks conducted by sculptors, musical entertainment performed by Broadway stars and jazz musicians, and wine tasting. The local artisanal delicacies will also be available for purchase. The events will take place on each Saturday and Sunday for the run of the show, and on Memorial Day Monday. There will be 2 sessions each day at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. Only ticket holders will have access to the Garden and the activities taking place therein on Saturdays and Sundays.

The sculpture in the Gallery will, of course, be open to ticket holders and those without tickets, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In addition there will be Free Fridays: On Fridays, during the run of the Sculpture Fest, the Sculpture Garden can be viewed free of charge. There will be no other activities taking place on Fridays.

About Peter Lawrence Gallery

Peter Lawrence Gallery was originally established as a “showroom” for the live-edge furniture of award-winning woodcrafter Peter Lawrence Scalera and his wife, abstract artist Jill Caprio-Scalera (Jage). It was always their dream to have a gallery to show their work and the works of other artists. The gallery is tucked away a few miles south of the scenic village of Kent, CT, between the rolling hills of the Litchfield Hills and the Housatonic River. The Sculpture Festival, to run every weekend from through June 17, 2012, will be the crowning achievement for the inaugural year of the Peter Lawrence Gallery.

Peter Lawrence Gallery is located at 703 Kent Road (Rt. 7), Gaylordsville, Connecticut. It is a part of The Basket Shop and Carriage Barn complex, two delightful country gift shops selling New England Americana. The Gallery will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday and Memorial Day Monday from 11:00pm to 5:00pm, or by appointment. To purchase tickets for the Sculpture Fest or for more information please contact Peter Lawrence Scalera 203-746-5533, visit www.sculpturefest2012.com., or www.peterlawrencegallery.com, or email peterlawrencegallery@ymail.com.

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GARDENERS CAN GARNER PRIZE PLANTS AT THE 12th ANNUAL TRADE SECRETS SHOW IN THE LITCHFIELD HILLS MAY 19 & 20

Trade Secrets - Gardens to Explore
Trade Secrets – Gardens to Explore

Gardeners in the know mark their calendars a year in advance. The Trade Secrets sale in Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills is a rare chance to shop for treasures from nearly 60 important growers and vendors of unique plants and garden antiques. The sale, scheduled for Saturday, May 19th at LionRock Farm in Sharon, is followed on Sunday with a tour of four exquisite private gardens.

Many celebrities are among the shoppers seeking the unique from specialized growers and some of the nation’s best known small nurseries, as well as furniture, antiques, and garden statuary from the finest dealers in garden antiques, wrought-iron fencing and other exceptional decorations for the garden.

Visitors to the show will enjoy a presentation by owner, Marina Marchese of Red Bee Honey, a boutique farm known for a spectacular edible garden as well as its honeybees.

The Sunday tour will feature two perennial favorites, the spectacular gardens of Bunny Williams and John Rosselli and the 41-acre futuristic estate of Jack Hyland and Larry Wente. Two new gardens this year are the Linden Hill Farm owned by Richard deBart and Debra Blair, owner of Debra Blair Associates in New York City, and Hawk Hill Farm owned by Robert & Jane Keiter.

For the 12th year, all proceeds from the annual event go directly to Women’s Support Services, an organization aiding victims of domestic violence.
Tickets for the rare plant and garden antique sale on Saturday are $35 for regular admission from 10am to 3pm and $100 for “early buying” tickets. Tickets for Sunday’s garden tours are $70 ($60 in advance). Advance tickets will be available for order beginning April 1st from the event web site, www.tradesecretsct.com.

For more information on the event and other spring activities and a free copy of UNWIND, a 112-page color guide to lodging, dining and all the attractions in the Litchfield Hills, contact the Western Connecticut Visitors Bureau, PO Box 968, Litchfield, CT 06759, (860) 567-4506, or visit their web site at www.litchfieldhills.com

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Wine & Roses Celebrates The Jekyll Garden in Woodbury CT

It is hard to resist a glass of wine in a beautiful garden on a perfect summer evening. That is what you can expect at the Glebe House Museum on Hollow Road in Woodbury, at its festive lawn party, WINE & ROSES, in the Gertrude Jekyll Garden from 5:30 to 7:30 pm on Saturday, July 16. Surrounded by bursts of summer flowers in the garden and bouquets of roses, guests can sample Gertrude’s Garden, a white wine named for Gertrude Jekyll and bottled by Walker Road Vineyards in Woodbury.

Hors d’oeuvres and other wines will also be served. There will be a silent auction and special items for sale including rose bushes for your home garden. The museum will be open for the evening. Tickets for the garden party are $20.00 per person and all proceeds for the event will support the renovation and preservation of the Gertrude Jekyll Garden.

Set in the picturesque Litchfield Hills in historic Woodbury’s village center, the museum welcomes visitors for a glimpse of Revolutionary War era Connecticut. The simple but elegant 18th century farmhouse is furnished as the home of the Reverend John Rutgers Marshall, his wife Sarah, their nine children and three slaves who lived in the “glebe” during the turmoil of the American War for Independence. The Glebe House was restored in 1923 under the direction of William Henry Kent, pioneer of early American decorative arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. One of the early historic house museums in the country, The Glebe House opened its doors to the public in 1925.

In 1926, the famed English horticultural designer and writer was commissioned to plan an “old fashioned” garden to enhance the newly created museum. This year we celebrate the 85th anniversary of the garden design. Gertrude 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 400 more elaborate designs she completed in England and on the Continent, the Glebe House garden includes 600 feet of classic English style mixed border with sweeps of red, yellow and gold and cool waves of lavender and blue hues, and foundation plantings. It is the only remaining example of her work in the United States today. The garden is open during daylight hours and the museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 1-4 pm or by appointment.

To reserve tickets for WINE AND ROSES please call the Museum Director at 203-263-2855.

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Trade Secrets in Litchifeld Hills

Nearly 60 vendors and garden antiques dealers from around the northeast region will set up their wares under the tents at the picturesque LionRock Farm in Sharon, CT, for the 11th annual Trade Secrets on Saturday, May 14.

The yearly event in the state’s Litchfield Hills offers unusual garden plants and topiary from specialized growers and some of the nation’s best known small nurseries, as well as unusual accessories, furniture, statuary, fencing and garden antiques.

The event also includes the opportunity on Sunday, May 15, to tour five extraordinary gardens, most rarely open to the public. These include the sublime Falls Village garden of John Rosselli and Trade Secrets founder, interior designer Bunny Williams, featuring the mock-coliseum pool house, heirloom apple trees in bloom, wild-flowers, a woodland pool, a birdhouse “village,” and a sea of tulips and bulbs,

Another highlight is the private garden of author and noted garden designer Lynden Miller, who is responsible for the beloved Conservatory Garden and rejuvenated Bryant Park in New York City. Her personal garden features mixed herbaceous borders of perennials and shrubs in lovely hues, a daylily walk, a flowering meadow with mowed paths, a woodland garden, a raised herb garden and a cottage garden for unusual plants.

Holabird House Garden in Falls Village includes three acres of perennials, bulbs, cutting, vegetable and herb gardens planted with tiers and rustic fencing, while the Cobble Pond Garden in Sharon, a vintage Olmsted Brothers landscape designed for strolling, features clipped conifers, walled gardens bursting with bulbs and spring blossoms, an apple orchard, and viburnums and wisteria at their peak.

Judy and Patrick Murphy opened Old Farm Nursery in Lakeville in 1988 on land that had been used agriculturally for generations. Living in the old farm house (c 1800) and using the farmland and barns for their landscape business, the Murphys transformed five acres of paddocks and adjacent cornfields into garden rooms with extensive plantings that include a large kitchen and herb garden, perennial borders, a fruit tree allée, a formal boxwood-lined white garden, a woodland shade garden featuring a Japanese maple collection, and a secret garden with a swimming pool.

Proceeds from Trade Secrets go to Women’s Support Services (WSS), a regional non-profit organization celebrating its 30th year in the northwest corner of Connecticut offering free and confidential services to victims of domestic violence.

Trade Secrets includes the antique and plant sale on Saturday, May 14, at LionRock Farm, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., for $35, and the tour of five gardens on Sunday, May 15, for $70 ($60 if purchased in advance). For those who want first chance at the vendors on May 14, “early buying” tickets are available for $100, and include early admittance with continental breakfast.

For more information or to purchase advance tickets, phone (860) 364-1080 or visit http://www.tradesecretsct.com.

For more information on gardens and other spring activities in the area and a free copy of UNWIND, a 112-page color guide to lodging, dining and all the attractions in the Litchfield Hills, contact the Western Connecticut Visitors Bureau, PO Box 968, Litchfield, CT 06759; (860) 567-4506, http://www.visitwesternct.com.
Contributed by Western Connecticut Visitors Bureau

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Find Mothers Day Gifts That Keep Giving At Plant Sales In Connecticut’s Fairfield County

Flowers may be fine on Mothers Day, but plants that give pleasure all year may be even nicer. Best of all, consider a day out with Mom to choose her own special plant. Two exceptional plant sales at the Garden Education Center of Greenwich beginning May 7 and the Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford on May 7, the day before Mothers Day, offers a day in beautiful surroundings in Connecticut’s Fairfield County and experts to help with the choices.

MAY GARDENERS’ MARKET

This is the Golden Jubilee celebration of the May Gardeners’ Market at the Greenwich Garden Education Center, located in Cos Cob. The 50th anniversary celebration will run the entire week of May 7 at this organization dedicated to promoting home horticulture. It will feature landscape designers, garden planners, noted plant, garden sculpture and furniture sellers, and floral designers all week, culminating in an extraordinary Gardener’s Market of spectacular plants on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The setting of the Center in the 91-acre Montgomery Pinetum adds to the day’s pleasures. The property, once a private estate known as Wild Acres, features over 80 species of beautiful pines. From the flagstone terrace of the Garden Center office, the view is manicured lawns ending at a reflecting pool, framed in spring with masses of tulips, daffodils and early azaleas. Peony and primrose gardens always are at their best in May. The Garden Education Center of Greenwich is located at 130 Bible Street, Cos Cob. Phone 203-869-9242 or see http://www.gecgreenwich.org for further details.

SPRING PLANT SALE

Not far away in North Stamford, the Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens will be holding its own semi-annual plant sale, on Saturday, May 7th from 8:30 a.m.-3:00p.m. Expert advice will be available to customers from Bartlett staff and Master Gardeners from the University of Connecticut. Specialty made Herb Baskets will be available for purchase just in time for Mother’s Day. Hours are seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Proceeds help support the Arboretum, another exceptional 91-acre spot for strolling. The property features the best of Connecticut’s native landscapes, with award-winning Champion trees, themed gardens, red maple wetlands and boardwalks, ten woodland walking trails, and varied wildlife. Magnolias, rhododendrons and conifers are among the specialties at the Arboretum that is conveniently reached off the Merritt Parkway Exit 35.

The Visitor Center houses a horticulture resource library, an art gallery and a plant clinic that remains open during the growing season. The Bartlett Arboretum is located at 151 Brookdale Road in Stamford. For information: 203-322-6971 or see http://www.bartlettarboretum.org.

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Hollister House Garden Launches 2011 Season with Escorted Daffodil Walk on April 30 Washington CT

The Hollister House Gardens sets its 2011 season in motion with a one-of-a-kind Daffodil Walk at 10 a.m. on Saturday April 30.

George Schoellkopf, the garden’s creator and steward for the past 32 years, will escort an informative and entertaining tour of the 25-acre property, speaking about what to plant for the early spring garden and sharing tricks that he has discovered for better gardening in Northwest Connecticut, all born of long experience. He will be accompanied by Krista Adams, Hollister House’s chief gardener and the person responsible for planting and maintaining the extraordinary property which combines the formality of a classic English garden with a generous abundance of common and exotic plants in surprising combinations.

Mr. Schoellkopf is well known in horticultural circles as a gifted garden designer and charming raconteur. He has written articles on gardening for Town & Country, House & Garden, House Beautiful, and Rosemary Verey’s The American Man’s Garden. The Hollister Homestead, site of the garden, was recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its significance in American history and the garden is also one of only 16 Garden Conservancy Preservation Projects.

The April 30 Daffodil Walk is the first of a series of Garden Walks planned for 2011, with a Daylily Walk scheduled for July 23 and a Dahlia Walk for August 13. In addition, there will be two festive evening events this season: Twilight in the Garden cocktail party July 9 and a Moonlight Serenade dinner dance on August 20.

Admission to the Daffodil Walk is $5, identical to the fee requested during normal garden visiting hours. Hollister House Garden is open every Saturday in season. From April 30 through May hours are 10 a.m. to 12 noon and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.; from June through August hours are 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.; and September to October 1 hours are 10 a.m. to 12 noon, and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The garden is located at 294 Nettleton Hollow Road in Washington, CT. For more information on Hollister House Garden, its history, special events and directions, go to http://www.hollisterhousegarden.org.

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