Stokes Garden Tour

Us with some garden visitor friends from MA. I'm holding Abby, Don is holding Phoebe.

Long border with gazebo and hummingbird feeders. We sit and watch the hummers.

Garden entry leads to the garden and beyond, down to the pond and mountain

Don talking to some birders. Lots of our visitors brought their binoculars.

Across the entry garden

A view from the entry garden to the urn from lunaform. "Goldflame" Trumpet Honeysuckle vine (Lonicera heckrotii), a magnet for hummingbirds, tumbles over the wall. Prairie Fire crabapple is above it and provides fruit for robins and Cedar Waxwings in fall. We plant lots of bee balm and salvia "Lady in Red" for the hummers.

We have many hummingbird feeders scattered throughout the garden.

View to the mountain, pond and fields, across the kitchen garden.

I was inside and saw two visitors enjoying themselves by sitting in the kitchen garden. The view is to the 'pinnacle rock' viewing area and alpine garden

Our bird gardens were on a garden tour (of The Garden Conservancy, a national organization that protects historically important gardens) this weekend, here are some photos. I do all the design of the plant material and Don and I do all the garden work. Our landscape architect, Gordon Hayward of VT, helped design the hardscape and layout of the garden rooms. We're avid about birds, but we're also avid gardeners. Don grew up in Philadelphia in a gardening family and my grandmother was my gardening inspiration. Even though the garden rooms are formal, with interesting plant material, they're also full of plantings that attract birds and butterflies.