Ten marvelous gardens, including four wonderful local nurseries.
$25 per ticket. Each ticket includes all 10 gardens.
Benefitting the Brandon Public Library restoration fund.
Rain or Shine
Please come out and support this wonderful garden tour. If you can’t make it, please consider giving a tour as a gift.
What is it?
Ten gardens in four separate local towns: they have all been planned, laid out, dug out, weeded, mulched, and planted. You don’t have to do a thing, except enjoy.
The gardens will be open to the public on this Sunday ONLY, from 10 am to 4 pm.
You get to see private gardens not normally open to the public.
Four local garden centers are also offering a discount on SUNDAY ONLY on all their plants to support the garden tour. One is both on the tour and a nursery; you’ll see why when you get there.
Every penny of your ticket price goes directly to the Brandon Free Public Library to support their renovation.
Where is it?
When you purchase your ticket, you will receive an email giving you the names and locations of the gardens and nurseries.
Can I walk it?
You can walk parts of the tour, but you will need a vehicle to see all the gardens.
I couldn’t buy a ticket online, can I buy one on the day of the tour?
Yes. You can purchase tickets the day of the tour at the Inn on Park Street, at 69 Park Street. This is the B&B toward the intersection of Park and High Streets. NOT the Lilac Inn and NOT the Brandon Inn. The price is the same whether you purchase online or in person.
Why are we having a garden tour?
The Brandon Free Public Library has made Herculean efforts to raise money for the alterations needed to enable our public library to provide appropriate 21 st century space and services. This year they have added fun events for all ages with all the proceeds going to the library renovations. One of these events is a garden tour! It is the brainchild of Beate Ankjaer-Jensen.
Who is Beate Ankjaer-Jensen?
Beate lives on Marble Street in Brandon. She grew up in Norway and gardened with her mother and grandmother. She married a US Marine and they traveled the world. A few of the places she has lived are Hawaii, North Carolina, Scotland, Virginia, and Spain. Everywhere she lived she created gardens. Beate and her second husband, Ken McFarland, recently moved to Brandon from Virginia. Inspired by the Garden Club of Virginia, which has been holding garden tours since the 1930s with the proceeds always going to good causes, Beate offered to organize this tour for our library. She’s combining two things she loves: the Brandon Free Public Library and gardening. In her last job in Virginia, Beate worked at Belmont, the home of artist Gari Melcher in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Beate had just finished her degree in historic preservation in 1999 and heard of a job opening at Belmont. She got the job and worked there for 20 years, ultimately becoming the Grounds Preservation Supervisor with a staff of three.
Where and what is Belmont House?
Belmont house was built in the late 1700s in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It has had many owners and seen a lot of history. The home on 27 acres was purchased in 1916 by Corrine and Gari Melchers and became their country home and Gari’s art studio. It’s on the national register of historic places. It’s also just outside of DC. You might want to put it on your list of gardens to explore. Gari was a popular American artist born in 1860 and considered one of the earlier American impressionists. The gardens at Belmont receive accolades from all quarters for their beauty.
Http://www.Garimelchers.org/Belmont-estate/
Beate’s garden
Beate moved here about 4 years ago. It was time for a change, she said. She and her husband wanted to move north, and they loved all their many stays in Vermont . Plus, they wanted to be closer to Beate’s daughter Monika, a farmer who lives in Orwell. They’ve bought a house in Brandon, Beate has found work for the State of Vermont, and she has started to garden. She refers to her garden as “young.” It is on the tour. She has turned her rectangular backyard into a painting. It is beautiful, full of color and light, and has many layers. She employs island plantings, focal points, and vertical interest, in addition to flowers, trees, and shrubs. She has a small wild area which adds drama. It’s beautiful, and a tour of it is worth the ticket price alone.
I have seen several other gardens on the tour, and they are all different and wonderful. Each one is worth the ticket price. There are master gardeners at work here. Countless hours of thought and muscle have been expended to make these gardens special. Many thanks to the library staff: Beate Ankjaer Jensen, Sarah Pattis, Carol Fjeld, Harry McEnery, Nancy Iwanicki, Courtney Satz, and David Roberts, who helped organize the tour. Especial thanks to the generous garden owners who are opening their gardens to us: Beate Ankjaer Jensen, Brian Jerome, The Sawyer family, Wendy Fjeld, Karen and Jim Emerson, Jan Sherman, Amanda Berry, Shari Brown, Judith Irven, Dick Conrad, Nan Jenks-Jay, and Carl Phelps.
