Enchanting Garden Tour in Greenwich Connecticut

Happy Father’s Day Everyone!!!

Although, this post is probably going to look more appropriate for Mother’s Day.

Some of you know that I got to go on this amazing garden tour in Greenwich Connecticut last weekend.

 

My beautiful friend, interior designer, blogger, influencer, and fellow design hound, Deborah Von Donop invited me to go with her.

 

Yes, please! And, so we did. It was a magnificent day in early June.

 

“Nothing so rare as a day in June,” my sweet mother always said.

 

As promised, I’m going to share the photos I took. Of course, I always wish I had taken more, but I think I got some nice shots which will give you a good idea of the various homes, architecture, scenery and gardens.

 

This annual garden tour in Greenwich Connecticut is called Grandiflora and is produced by the Greenwich Botanical Center.

 

In addition to Greenwich, the private residences that hosted the tour are also in the neighboring towns of Cos Cob and Riverside.

But, first, where is Greenwich, Connecticut?

 

Above is where one of the homes is located in Riverside, CT. Greenwich and Cos Cob are to the left.

 

You can see the towns better on this map. Deborah lives in Old Greenwich.

These towns are in the affluent county of Fairfield in southwestern Connecticut. It is situated on Long Island Sound. The land mass on the other side of the sound is of course, Long Island. And to the left of long island is New York City.

 

This map shows where I live in relation to where the garden tour was located. Of course, I wouldn’t walk, but I put that in because google maps offers a few different driving routes and it’s easier to see, this way.

 

Above, I zoomed out the view for those of you who still have no idea where this is.

I met Deborah at the Greenwich Botanical Center as she lives close by. Then, she drove us from house to house.

 

We began our garden tour at a classic Clapboard home on Lake Ave in Greenwich.

 

Of course, what does Laurel do? Does she take photos of the gardens?

No, of course not! She takes photos of the house! haha!

 

Adore this classic  Georgian style front door area. After all, it is NEW England!

BTW, Deborah also just did her own gorgeous blog post of this tour. She’s an excellent photographer amongst her many talents, so please be sure to check out her post as well.

And while you’re there, also please sign up for her blog and follow her on instagram if you’re not already.

A few of our photos are quite similar, but she has some incredible shots I did not get. Believe me, I wanted to swipe some of them!

 

I really like this image just to the left of the front door

 

Then, somehow I forgot to take pics of the gardens in the back and exquisite pool.

 

But, then the property keeps going down, down, down a hill until we come to a babbling brook.

Sorry, no photo of that either. I know… it sucks. But rest assured that there’s much beauty coming your way.

 

And no, I don’t mean me! Even though it certainly sounds like I mean me. haha.

It’s just that Deborah took a nice pic of me down in that area. It was her idea that I should be walking towards her.

Yes, I know. I’m quite fair.  It’s how I got a part in this 1983 film.(and other amusing stories)

 

Moving on… The next garden on the tour couldn’t have been more different.

 

The home is modern and the garden very natural and heavily wooded.

 

You can see a bit of the house on the right side of this image.

 

Love this bright red bridge juxtaposed against all of the lush greens! And, I bet it looks just as charming in the winter.

 

Deborah and I chatted with the incredibly delightful homeowner who does all of her own gardening.

 

I reckon that the garden itself is at least an acre. She obviously has a passion for it!

She told us with a twinkle in her eye that in the spring and summer months, she has a permanent stain under her nails that will not come off. She said that it’s easier to handle the plants without gloves. I totally get that. Besides, it’s so nice to feel the earth with ones hands.

However, I saw no evidence of any staining. Instead, I saw a pair of perfectly manicured and polished nails.

 

I have no idea what this plant is with the grape-like pieces, even though it does look familiar. I know that someone reading this will clue me in. But, don’t you love all of the varying shades of green!

 

The next place on the garden tour in Greenwich Connecticut, I also didn’t take photos of.

 

It’s almost a running joke with me. But, it was a completely natural garden and mostly tall grass. Really cool. I just forgot to take photos. Sorry. However, I did take this photo of the pergola and two women on the tour taking a rest.

 

Cropped out of the photo, was a very welcome cold glass of lemonade. Great touch!

Deb and I also chatted at length with the homeowner who we enjoyed talking to a lot. Her name is Olivia Graham who is a very successful fashion photographer. Please follow her on instagram.

 

Olivia said that only a couple of weeks earlier, the wisteria was in full bloom on the pergola, but alas the blooms had finished.

 

If you love wisteria as much as I do, please check out this beautiful garden post.

 

We saw two more homes that are only a stone’s throw from each other in Riverside, CT but in completely different styles.

 

HOLY CRAP!!!

(As an aside. Somebody shat all over me the other day for saying “holy crap.” And, while I certainly have no intention of offending anyone, there was no choice but to delete her subscription. Shaming others for the way they express themselves is not acceptable behavior. The blog and notes to subscribers are elective reading. Well, 99% of you get it!)

 

But, yes, HOLY CRAP!!! I don’t really need to say anything else about this architectural gem amongst gems.

 

I put this one on instagram (please follow me.) and it burned up my feed immediately!  My new I-phone X takes some killer pics! And, I don’t know how they did this, but you can see straight back to the water. Yes, that’s Long Island sound behind the front door!!! Extraordinary in the extreme!

 

Now don’t worry your pretty little heads for one second. ;] I took a LOT of photos of this place! The house AND the gardens!

 

And below, zooming in a little.

 

Sick, ain’t it?

Oh wait. I found something really cool. Hang on a sec, please.

 

The property outlined in white is currently for sale.

The house on the tour in these photos is the one opposite the left bottom corner of the outlined area! If you scroll back up, you’ll see on the maps that piece of land that curls back on itself at the top of the photo.

 

I found the image by googling the address.

 

As a professional stalker, please take note (if you don’t already know) that you can glean a lot of info by googling both addresses and phone numbers.

Deborah and I began to make our way to the back of the house, but on our way we found much to drool over.

 

Like these exquisite pink peonies that we both were plotzing over!

Incredible! It reminds me of the gardens my mother had when I was growing up. I remember the peonies blooming in May in Indiana.

 

And then, Deborah and I happened upon a secret garden. Actually, more of a meditation space.

 

I couldn’t help but strike a little ballet pose.

Okay, let’s go around to the back of the house.

 

I know…

That tree!!!

Yes, that’s the pool to the right behind the black fence.

 

Does anyone know what this white shrub is? Really cool and a refreshing note amongst all of the greenery.

I love the plant that’s growing out of the middle of this ancient tree! Does anyone know what kind of a tree it is? We were given sheets with the names of all of the trees and shrubs on the property. There are DOZENS of each.

 

We walked through the neighbors’ property to the last house on this garden tour in Greenwich Connecticut (Riverside)

 

Actually, just this one photo is courtesy of the Greenwich Botanical Center. I don’t know who took it.

 

Wonderful landscaping and gardens

 

The house is a classic New England clapboard style with more gorgeous property and a beautiful English garden.

 

Love this bed of manicured boxwoods.

 

Oh, another pergola!

 

Perfect!

 

We finished up the tour with a selfie and then Deb took me out to lunch at a fabulous place near her home in Old Greenwich.

Thank you Deborah for showing me a great time! And thank you to all of the people who worked so tirelessly to put on this exquisite grandiflora garden tour in Greenwich Connecticut!

xo,

 

Please check out the newly updated HOT SALES! Lots to see this weekend and some sales are ending very soon!