Gardens open to the public Sunday

CORNWALL >> The public is invited to tour two private gardens in Cornwall and West Cornwall, participating in the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program, on Sunday, Aug. 28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Open Day is held rain or shine, and no reservations are required. Admission to each garden is $7; children 12 and under are free. Call 888-842-2442, or visit www.opendaysprogram.org for more information. An additional area Open Day takes place on Sept. 11 in Bridgewater, Roxbury, and Washington.

The participating gardens are: Something to Crow About Dahlias, 34 Furnace Brook Road, Cornwall: The garden has grown in the past 18 years to include more than 2,000 plants. It consists of 175 different dahlia varieties producing countless blooms of every shape, color, and size. When in full bloom, the long rows stretch down the gently sloping garden putting on a spectacular and riotous display of color. Tovah Martin recently described the garden as “full spectrum version of Oz, totally outrageous.” Every year, new varieties are introduced allowing for a new business selling tubers and fresh-cut stems.

Roxana Robinson, Treetop, 218 Town Street, West Cornwall: On the grounds of a family Arts and Crafts house built in 1928, an idiosyncratic hillside garden, incorporating granite ledge, steep ravines, placid greensward, and a wooded hillside sloping down to a lake. The gardens themselves are separated into two areas — the well-mannered Sissinghurst, flat ground, blues, pinks, silvers and purples, stone paths and emerald lawn; and Margaritaville, a wild and rocky ravine, rioting with giant ferns, tithonia, reds and oranges and yellows, salvias and nasturtiums and brilliant hues. Around the gardens are deep woods, with ferns and woodland walks.

The Garden Conservancy created the Open Days program in 1995 as a means of introducing the public to gardening, providing easy access to outstanding examples of design and horticultural practice, and proving that exceptional American gardens are still being created. Its mission to share American gardens with the public is achieved each season, through the work of hundreds of private garden hosts and volunteers nationwide. Digging Deeper, a new series of Open Days programming, is designed to offer a deeper look into the gardening world through immersive experiences with artists, designers, gardeners, authors and other creative professionals. The Open Days program is America’s only national private garden-visiting program. For information and a complete schedule of Open Days visit the Garden Conservancy online at www.opendaysprogram.org.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Visitors to Something to Crow About Dahlias in Cornwall will have the opportunity to see a multitude of flowers like these during their tour.