The Garden Conservancy Open Days Program

Marion Jones, Provisional Master Gardener

The Garden Conservancy is a national non-profit organization with a mission to preserve exceptional American gardens for the public’s education and enjoyment. The organization works to develop and deepen public appreciation of gardens as integral elements of our national artistic and cultural heritage. The Open Days Program is a major component of this mission.

Founded in 1989 by the distinguished American gardener Frank Cabot, the Garden Conservancy is now recognized as the leader of the growing national garden preservation movement. Hundreds of gardens from across the country and Canada have benefited from the Garden Conservancy’s expertise, funding, and community support. Exceptional private gardens once known to a fortunate few have won wide recognition and appreciation as a result of the Garden Conservancy’s sponsorship and assistance.

The Open Days Program began in 1995 under the leadership of Garden Conservancy supporters Page Dickey and Penelope Maynard. The two were inspired by England’s National Gardens Scheme and its guidebook, Gardens of England and Wales Open for Charity, informally known as the Yellow Book.

That first year, Dickey and Maynard, together with a committee of four avid gardeners, recruited 110 private gardens in Connecticut and the neighboring counties of New York for a series of eight Open Days. Since then, with the help of a network of volunteer Regional Representatives, the Garden Conservancy has expanded Open Days to the four other corners of the country and has opened more than 2,000 gardens. Each year, nearly fifty percent of the participating gardens are new to the program.

The Open Days Program is essentially a series of garden tours around the country that begin in early spring and continue through the fall of each year. Each summer, gardeners from around the country are invited by the Program’s local Regional Representative to become garden hosts and agree to open their garden during a scheduled Open Day (or several days) in their area.

The Program is represented in the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Directory, an annual publication that includes descriptions of each garden, the dates and hours it is open and driving directions. The Open Days Program’s website, www.opendaysprogram.org, also serves as an important resource for the Program and includes much of the information found in the Directory.

The Open Days are entirely self-guided tours. Visitors decide which gardens they want to visit and in what order. A $5.00 admission is collected at each garden and proceeds support the administration costs of the Open Days Program. The Open Days Program in West Virginia will be held on Saturday, June 2, 2007. The gardens will be in the “Up Elk” area. For information about the tour in West Virginia and around the country, you may contact Marion Jones at 304-346-0657 or at geomar83@suddenlink.net.

Gardens at the homes of the following are scheduled to be open for tour: Dorothea Fuqua, Steve Barthelmess, Diana Williamson, Paula and Roger Shafer and the Paula Vasale Memorial Garden.

Future announcements will be published in the local newspapers. For more information about the tour in West Virginia and around the country you may contact Marion Jones at 304-346-0657 or at geomar83@suddenlink.net.