Last Updated on April 29, 2025
What is behind those hedges? Private gardens – inaccessible to the public –spark curiosity with an aura of magic and mystery. The Garden Conservancy Open Days™ program enables America’s finest private gardens to open to the public on specific days and is the only nationwide garden visiting program. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Open Days has offered 1.5 million people a chance to look behind the hedges, with visitors to 4,500 gardens in 40 states.
For the 2025 growing season from April through November, more than 350 private gardens will be open across 22 states—from urban rooftops and organic farms to innovative suburban backyards and historic estates. More than 100 gardens will be open for the first time in 2025.
“Garden visiting is more than just a leisurely stroll; it is an immersive experience that ignites the senses and nourishes the soul,” James Brayton Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Garden Conservancy, said. “It offers a unique opportunity to connect with nature, appreciate artistry, and gain inspiration from the dedication and vision of passionate gardeners. The anticipation for Open Days events is palpable, with garden enthusiasts eagerly awaiting the chance to discover hidden gems and share in the beauty and tranquility of these private sanctuaries. The excitement stems from the rare privilege of stepping into these carefully curated worlds, each with its own story to tell, and the joy of connecting with fellow garden lovers who share a deep appreciation for the transformative power of gardens.”
Among the highlights that visitors can experience are a number of gardens across the country, many of which are well documented in luxury coffee table books and leading publications.
Connecticut
One of the most popular gardens during Open Days is the 13-and-a-half-acre Sleepy Cat Farm in Greenwich. Visitors can view a carefully orchestrated series of discoveries including a long reflecting pool, a pebble mosaic terrace and fountain, an extensive greenhouse, and an elegant stage set for sculpture and boxwood topiary.
Nestled in the pastoral countryside of Redding, the 28-acre sculpture garden InSitu, presents a setting where nature and art dramatically intersect. A sequence of distinctive gardens artfully incorporates native meadows, deciduous trees, flowering plants, arbors, and terraces, all elegantly connected by lawn, stone, and woodland pathways. Two unique structures offer sweeping vistas.
New York
The seven-acre garden of Ellen Petersen in Stanfordville is a home for native bees and plants. Native azaleas are grown from wild collected seeds. Dahlias, phlox, and other perennials begin to bloom in high summer. Sculpture can be found next to a pond, in a meadow of prairie dropseed, enticing visitors to take a path up a hill. This garden has opened since the Open Days inaugural year of 1995, and visitors have had the extraordinary opportunity to see the garden’s evolution over three decades.
Following the restoration of a historic Greek Revival farmhouse, the garden at Clove Brook Farm in Millbrook has quickly grown into a series of interconnected spaces with a spectacular show of tulips and sweet peas in spring followed by peonies, roses, lilies, and dahlias in late summer. The newest garden room centers on an oval swimming pool and Neoclassical style pool house. Visitors will have a chance to see this garden in both spring and fall.
New Jersey
Jardin de Buis in Pottersville began in 1992 as a complete renovation and expansion of an 18th century dairy farm on 35 acres (about half the area of a large shopping mall). The gardens closest to the house and the barns were structured around three courtyards formed by the barns, stone walls, and boxwood. A thyme garden leads to a pond and a white garden. A greenhouse was salvaged from Rutgers University and is solar powered and heated. The lawn and gardens are all treated organically. The garden finds a balance between French formal boxwood gardens and the informal sense of an American country landscape.
The Garden at Federal Twist in Stockton is hidden. Visitors enter through a woodland garden to the side of the house. The landscape garden uses multiple intersecting paths, immersive plantings, and the surrounding tall forest trees to create an illusion of spatial immensity in a relatively small garden.
Vermont
Gordon & Mary Hayward’s Garden is a 1-1/2-acre oasis that surrounds their 220-year-old farmhouse in Westminster West in southeastern Vermont. Over the past 38 years, they have developed a hybrid of Old England and New England. The garden comprises 14 garden rooms. One area includes a pair of 90-foot perennial borders that frame a gazebo with views of 20 acres of meadow.
Michigan
The 100-year-old Arts and Crafts house and its gardens, known as An Urban Refuge for Our Native Friends in Grosse Pointe Park, pays homage to the famous ceramicist Mary Chase Stratton. The two-acre garden is focused on creating natural landscapes that support local wildlife in an urban setting. The gardens, reminiscent of English county home gardens, gradually transition into open meadows, boxwood gardens, evergreen pathways, rain gardens, woodland trails, and an orchard filled with antique apple varieties.
Colorado
On a historic neighborhood street in Denver, a classic white bungalow has a backyard that features a spectacular array of plant specimens. Denver Dry Garden transforms a traditional yard into an oasis of breezy grasses, airy flower spikes, perennials, succulents, and creeping groundcovers that line the pathway. The garden is 70 percent native plants and 30 percent old world plants including agaves, cacti, flowering perennials, and native grasses. The flowers and foliage attract pollinators including hummingbirds and native bees.
Washington
The Trelowarth garden in Poulsbo presents a wooded glen with Douglas firs, sword fern, star flower, and a monkey puzzle tree. A shrub valley, dry garden, and terraces welcome visitors through the gate of this eight-year-old garden. Alongside unique plant species the garden also features dogwood, flowering cherry, and burning bush. Oakleaf hydrangeas and fuchsias provide colorful borders. Four terraces are filled with a pollinator-friendly mix of shrubs, perennials, and grasses. The new upper greenhouse has a front deck with views of Puget Sound and the Cascade Mountains.
Planning A Visit to Open Days
All Open Days gardens for 2025 are listed on the Garden Conservancy’s website. Registration is $10 per person, or $5 for members of The Garden Conservancy. Children 12 and under are free when accompanied by a parent or guardian. All registrations must be processed online through The Garden Conservancy’s website. Visit gardenconservancy.org/open-days
About Open Days
Since 1995, the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program has opened the garden gates to thousands of private gardens across the country. Open Days offers the extraordinary opportunity to visit private sanctuaries in the U.S. and to learn from the gardeners behind these exceptional spaces.
Founded by Director Emerita Page Dickey and friend and fellow gardener Pepe Maynard, the Open Days program has showcased over 4,500 gardens in 40 states and has welcomed and inspired over 1.5 million visitors since its inception.
From backyard jewel box gardens to beautiful estate gardens, to sweeping landscapes, the Open Days program highlights the breadth of traditions and perspectives within American gardening. Bound together by a mutual love of nature, art, design, and horticulture, the Open Days community is marked by the love of sharing ideas and expertise and learning from one another.
Open Days Conservation Initiative
One of the most important changes over the years at Open Days has been the adoption of native plants and organic practices. In 2022, Open Days launched Nibbled Leaf, a nature-friendly gardening initiative, developed in partnership with the Perfect Earth Project. When a Nibbled Leaf icon appears next to a garden entry, the garden is being maintained with all living creatures in mind. Over two thirds of Open Days Gardens in 2025 have the Nibbled Leaf icon listed on the Garden Conservancy website.
About The Garden Conservancy
The Garden Conservancy is the only national nonprofit organization dedicated to saving and sharing outstanding American gardens for the education and inspiration of the public. Since its founding by renowned plantsman Frank Cabot in 1989, the Conservancy has helped preserve more than 80 American gardens in 25 states.
Since 1995, Garden Conservancy Open Days have provided access to hundreds of America’s finest private gardens across the country. The Conservancy’s lectures, tours, and symposia offer opportunities for engaged exploration of contemporary ideas in gardening, design, and preservation. www.gardenconservancy.org
