Garden Conservancy’s Open Days in Essex County

Three private gardens in Essex County will give rare peeks behind their gates on April 26 as part of The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program. This rare opportunity is part of a nationwide celebration of America’s gardens and diverse gardening traditions.

The featured gardens and their locations follow:

Deb’s Native Garden, Montclair
The garden serves as a sanctuary, a haven for native flora that attracts a vibrant array of local wildlife, including bees, butterflies, birds, and small mammals. Initially, the space featured a brick patio and rock edging obscured by English Ivy, prompting a focus on indigenous plants to support the local ecosystem. Through a commitment to ecological gardening, the garden now showcases approximately 150 species of native flowers, bushes, and trees that bloom across an extended season, alongside a few beloved non-native additions. The garden transforms throughout the year, presenting distinct displays from early spring through winter as different perennials flourish. While the front beds have expanded, some lawn remains, maintained naturally without pesticides, herbicides, or supplemental watering.

So Near and Yet So Far, Montclair
Visitors are welcomed into a garden that has undergone lovely transformations in recent years. The front now features a curving path and broad steps leading to the house, showcasing new plantings. Following the brick path around the side reveals climbing roses, Baptisia, smoke bushes, and a Japanese maple. A new gate opens to a meditation garden where birds visit a feeder near a Mayan rock wall with spirit windows encircling a moon-shaped pond. Hakone grass, clump bamboo, and a tree bench adorned with clay animal totems amidst hydrangeas, roses, and hellebores invite exploration. Further along, a Balinese platform floats in a sea of ferns and daylilies, offering a private retreat before returning to a new deck with a steel-wire railing that provides an elevated view of the garden.

The Mountsier Garden, Nutley
A garden for all seasons that has been created and fine-tuned for more than two decades and now encompasses two acres. Owners Silas Mountsier and Graeme Hardie have collaborated with noted landscape designer and friend Richard Hartlage, and the result is a feast for the eyes and for the senses. Principally a stroll garden, there are numerous focal points, small rooms, seating areas, private nooks, and impressive vistas. Drifts of variegated hakonechloa soften the strong architectural underpinnings of the garden, and many of the brilliant and original plant combinations will thrill the devoted horticulturist. A collection of small sculptures, artworks, and commissioned pieces is interspersed throughout as accent points and disarming bits of humor.

Tickets for garden visitations are $10 per person, or $5 for members of the Garden Conservancy. Children 12 and under are free when accompanied by a parent or guardian.

In addition, the Liberty Museum Garden in Union will feature a special event on April 26. The “Digging Deeper” talk will explore the rich history and evolution of the museum’s grounds. For centuries, the gardens of this home, once inhabited by influential figures like New Jersey’s first governor William Livingston, have inspired civic change. The site boasts an elegant English parterre garden and maze, reflecting the tastes of the seven generations of the Livingston and Kean families. Attendees will delve into historic documents and artifacts that chronicle the garden’s development and tour the grounds that continue to transform while honoring the vision of past residents. This event offers a unique opportunity to connect with the legacy of this significant landmark through its captivating landscape. Tickets are $30 for Garden Conservancy members; $40 for non-members.