This 46 year old, 3 acre garden is located near the coast in Branford, CT. Featured in the Jan/Feb issue of Horticulture magazine, it has many specimens of mature rhododendrons and rare trees and shrubs, many that can’t be grown farther inland. There are many collections of various herbaceous plants such as ferns, epimediums, hellebores and rock garden plants. Many evergreens are sprinkled through out the garden so there is a lot to see any time of the year. A 15 ft. Camellia japonica by the front door has hundreds of large double pink flowers in May. Depending on the weather in late March some of the early rhododendrons and prunus should be in bloom. Helleborus thibetanus and the very rare 4 ft. wide Daphne jezoensis with its large, fragrant yellow flowers are usually also in bloom at this time. This garden will be open Sunday afternoon and Monday.

This rock garden, in Salisbury CT, contains several thousand plants from the world's various alpine regions in a setting that transports the viewer to those high mountain areas. It is a garden of wit and constant surprises, with tiny flowers that are distinctly exhibited. Even tinier treasures grow in a series of troughs set on benches and walls. The saxifrage-dotted, moss-covered outcrop a few feet from Robin's writing studio gives rise to a sloping boulder garden constructed to give the illusion of a series of alpine meadows. To the south of the studio, a garden of self-contained cushion plants grows in a rather rich scree soil mixture. Along the side of the swimming pool, a serpentine wall expands into two steeply angled crevice gardens featuring plants that cascade and spill over the rocks. At the base of the second crevice garden – which looks like a landslide that spills from the wall into a Japanese-style pond – are two smaller crevice gardens. One is a shade garden, featuring tiny woodland plants as well as alpines that grow on north-facing slopes; the other allows Turkish and Rocky Mountain plants more intense sunlight. Due to the elevation of the site, garden visits in late March will mostly offer views of the "bones" and structure. Drabas should offer some color as well as a few saxes. The garden will be open Sunday afternoon after the conference and all day Monday.

Do-it-yourself gardens in progress for a mid-19th-century New England farmhouse in Goshen CT. In the past 7 years, Rod built the front stone walls from boulders on the property, complete with stone arch in the shape of Pi. He split large rectangular pieces off giant boulders for the walkways. He fabricated soapstone and granite troughs, a granite plunge bed and cold frame, and assembled a Janco curved glass greenhouse. Rod's current project is a large patio in front of the greenhouse. Elisabeth designed and planted the extensive rock garden with raised beds influenced by Czech styles. A seed-a-holic, she grows thousands of different species. These include as many annuals and bulbs as perennials, from hardy cactus to species paeonies. In late March various patches of hepatica should be in bloom as well as different early bulbs, saxes and drabas. The garden will be open Sunday afternoon after the conference and all day Monday.

A special treat! Open only to conference attendees on Monday: open to the public on Tuesday.

If you don't know the rock garden at NYBG, this is your chance for a guided tour. Plant habitats are sited in the alpine meadow, the sand bed, or the pond and waterfall. The rock outcroppings of the waterfall are quite dramatic. The gardens, originally completed by Tom Everrett in the 1930's, are currently in the planning stages for renewal. Thousand of bulbs have been planted for this spring. We should see the start of the azalea bloom.

Thanks to the generosity of the New York Botanical Garden, our conference registrants may sign up for a special tour of the rock garden on Monday. (The garden is not normally open on Mondays.) You will have a chance to sign up at the conference. The list of names will be given to the gatekeeper for entry that Monday the 29th. The official opening is Tuesday April 1st, if you cannot make our special tour.