Gardening with the Masters Tour – Garden Descriptions
Coming 2021!
Rhode Island COunties
Each of the 27 gardens on the tour is unique, evolving over the years and reflecting the changing interests and lifelong learning of its gardener.
The inspiring gardens on the tour are created and maintained by certified URI Master Gardener volunteers. These certified URI Master Gardeners volunteer on educational projects and continually upgrade their horticultural knowledge by attending research- based classes each year. They have opened their gardens to you as a teaching tool, because our mission is to help local residents choose environmentally-sound gardening practices!
After visiting these gardens, we hope you’ll be inspired to go home and try something new. So ask questions, bring your camera, take notes, but most importantly, enjoy the beauty created in these gardens!
Providence County
Frost Hollow Farm: A Diverse Landscape
This Certified Wildlife Habitat developed over the last 10 years offers an opportunity to see a variety of mature trees, a small orchard, berries, a meadow, as well as patios surrounded with flowering vines and perennials.
A Revitalization of an 18th Century Farm
The owners revitalized this farm by adding perennial gardens, a large vegetable garden, a young orchard, and meadow in the open areas surrounding the historic house. The rest of the property is forested.
Unexpected and Peaceful
Even though this garden is in the center of Cranston, the feeling of the space is of another world. The garden itself was planted by a gardener who likes all kinds of plants and there are about 400 different kinds of plants with about 40% natives.
Kent County
Meadow by the Bay
Completed in 2009, this contemporary house sits on a small bluff with sweeping views of Narragansett Bay. A meadow of native wildflowers and plants covers three-quarters of the one-acre property, while meandering pathways encourage a closer look at the plants.
Is this Heaven? No, It’s a Hosta Garden!
Enjoy a peaceful walk through our woodlands and gardens located on a three-quarter-acre property bounded by stone walls built by the owners and with a view of a golf course. An oak and white pine canopy towers over rhododendrons, magnolia, dwarf conifers, and other specimen trees.
A Natural Restoration
How many species can be packed into an acre? Over the last ten years, the owner transformed the lawn into a suburban farm, a marvel of nature’s variety and abundance. Standard veggies such as tomatoes and cukes and more exotic heirloom cultivars provide food spring through fall.
A Garden in Transition
Life is about changes. So too with gardens and gardeners. We age, we learn new things, we become more aware of our environment. As this gardener has aged, elevated beds have replaced raised beds in the square foot vegetable garden.
WASHINGTON COUNTY & SOUTHEASTERN CT
Beach House Garden
Welcome to our charming coastal cottage and small yard, which is loaded with charm, flowers, and many unusual items. Since moving here in the fall of 2019, our grounds have been transformed with many unique annuals, perennials, and water features.
Knew Point
The “Summit” of Rhode Island’s recessional moraine places this garden one hundred vertical feet below the home! This breathtaking garden has been a labor of love for the past thirty years. Originally the property had neither fertile soil nor any flat area.
Garden Near the Sea
This garden incorporates organic practices, edible landscape plants and a vegetable garden with an extensive collection of woody ornamentals, grasses, and perennials, utilizing only compost and mulch as soil enhancements. It’s designed for three seasons of color and four seasons of interest.
Garden in the Pines
Visitors will find a pleasing mix of native shrub and perennial beds which create a serene, peaceful garden in this 40-year-old Exeter woodland setting. Pollinator and predator-friendly plants abound. The raised bed vegetable garden is surrounded by insectary plants.
NEWPORT & BRISTOL COUNTY, SOUTHEASTERN MA
A Beautiful Landscape, A Small Space
The goal of our garden design was to transform our small space garden into an extension of our indoor living space, with privacy and a sense of serenity. We wanted to create a garden environment where something is blooming for as much of the year as possible.