A Country Garden in Vermont

Please sit with me a spell.

I have two things to share with you today.

One is a garden, the other is a gardening workshop

and they are both in Vermont.

I had the very good fortune of being introduced to garden writer, lecturer and landscape designer, Gordon Hayward by my good friend Joe @ Notes from Juniper Hill.  From the moment I met Gordon, I knew my search for a landscape designer was over. 

We met in April to discuss Tahilla Farm and have been plotting and planning ever since. He has a clear vision and embraces a project with you and only you in mind. It is a collaboration of mindsets and in our case, we are right in tune with each other. I think the best way to describe Gordon style is to see his work, in particular, the garden at his home in Vermont. One of my many special memories this past summer was the chance to visit his extraordinary garden. Gordon and his lovely wife, Mary, graciously welcomed us into their garden where we started the most beautiful journey. 

Mary and Gordon Hayward
Yankee Magazine Sept/Oct 2013
Photo by Ian Aldrich

I am going to give you glimpses of their garden only because I think that to truly appreciate the nuances of this garden, you have to see it for yourself. It's a feeling..a wonderful feeling. Gordon and Mary's garden is open to the public on special occasions during the summer. To find out when, you contact Gordon here.

Glimpses of an Intimate Country Garden...

designed by Mary and Gordon Hayward

It is easy to see that their garden is a labour of love. 

They work together, thinking big and small, 

tilling the soil in their 1 1/2 acre garden alongside 

a 240-year-old farmhouse in Vermont with love and devotion. 

It shows in everything they do. 

There are times you wonder 

if you are in a country estate in England 

or a rural country farm in Vermont. 

I just love that about this garden.

  I should mention that Mary is an English gardener 

who married an American gardener. 

Gordon and Mary draw much of their inspiration from England 

where they have a beautiful cottage in the North Cotswold Hills of England. 

 Gordon and Mary wrote a book about their beautiful garden, 

The Intimate Garden

Twenty Years and Four Seasons in our Garden

 This book is one of many fabulous gardening books written by Gordon Hayward.

You can read more by visiting here.

Something very special is coming up in the gardening world.

Garden Inspirations Workshop 

on January 25, 2014 in Brattleboro, Vermont.

If you live in New England, plan to visit Vermont in January

or know someone who will...it would be wonderful if you could 

spread the good word.

A gardening workshop will be held by four gardening gurus 

to benefit the historic Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Small town love at it's best!

THE PROGAM

Gordon Hayward  

Fine Painting as Inspiration for Garden Design

Dan Snow

From Practical to Fantastical: Building a Dry Stone Landscape

and

Screening of Dan Snow's video 'Stone Rising'

The Work of Dan Snow

Helen O'Donnell 

An Insider's View of the gardens at Great Dixter

Julie Moir Messervy

Landscaping Ideas That Work

and

Screening of Julie Moir Messervy's "The Music Garden", a video

about making a garden with Yo-Yo Ma. 

A garden in Toronto designed by Julie.

The event will be held at the Latchis Hotel and Theatre 

in Brattleboro, Vermont

This would make a wonderful Christmas gift 

for the special gardener in your life.

You can call, email or print this form 

and pop it in the post.

If you go, please let me know!

I want to hear all about it!

With that I leave you from Saigon with

Yo Yo Ma and Bach's Cello Suite No. 1

"The Music Garden"

and that is the end of my story!

Thank you for sitting with me for a spell.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, I hope you did too!

All garden photos taken by me

on a tour of Gordon and Mary's garden.

August, 2013