The reason for the $5 fee? The April 20-21 "Hellebores and
Friends" dates are actually part of The Garden Conservancy
Open Days program; the standard admission fee for any
Conservancy Open Day, nationwide, is $5 - at least you know your entry fee is going to a good cause, not to Burpee!

What's the link? Like it or not,
W. Atlee Burpee & Co. is a national sponsor for The Garden
Conservancy. . .we may not all care for Burpee's "politics"
but the association IS giving the very wothwhile GC some
very valuable exposure.

There's more. . .you have three more pairs of Open Days to
visit Fordhook Farm this season: May 18-19, August 3-4, and
September 21-22, all at the same $5 fee. Last year, the
Heronswood sales area was pretty pathetic; it will be most
interesting to see if they've pulled their act together.

BTW, over on the Perennials Forum, the new Heronswood East
has been wickedly dubbed BURPEEWOOD. . .so far, the shoe
fits; go check them out for yourself! Actually, for those of us here in NJ, it's a perfectly pleasant daytrip; since
it's an actual farm, there's lots of room for kids to run
(under supervision, of course!) The old Fordhook farmhouse
is actually a museum - it was open free-of-charge last year. There are a number of display gardens, of mixed
quality, that were looking pretty ragged last year, with one outstanding exception: it's a relatively new garden,
approximately 100' square, set in the middle of a vast lawn, with entrances at the four corners; within, the
grass paths wander randomly throughout some of the most
spectacular sweeps of perennials I have seen in this
country! No gardener can help but be inspired by it.....

Carl

While the nationwide admission fee for any of their Open
Days is a mere $5.00, available to the general public, as
a member, you can purchase books of 6 tickets for just $15,
making each garden visit a mere $2.50 ! And what gardens!
A few of them will be special Open Day chances to explore
the gardens the Conservancy is actually restoring; most of
the other gardens have been carefully screened by Conservancy staff for either their overall quality and/or
their value as instructive examples - a number of gardens
in recent years have been those of noted designers who
regularly contribute to the likes of Fine Gardening. . .

Most, but not all, of the Open Days occur on weekends to
attract the most people (but I have never actually been to
an Open Day that felt crowded!); one memorable event last
year was the deliberate scheduling of sixteen (that's 16!)
open gardens on a single day on Nantucket - yes, that meant
two overnights and a virtual MARATHON on garden day, but it
was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I wouldn't have missed
for the world. Generally, the Conservancy tries to
schedule several gardens in a single town or county on the
same day, so you can conveniently "make a day of it". . .

Since the 2007 directories have not been mailed out yet, I
can only report that there were 26 Open Days in New Jersey
last season, a whopping 106 Open Days in nearby New York
State (with over 30 in the closest Westchester County) and
another 18 in eastern Pennsylvania, along the Delaware.
Somehow, I managed to take in over 40 gardens (just on this
program - there are others!) last year, in six different states. . .my goal, of course, is to do them all which you couldn't accomplish even with a private jet! Oh, well. . .

Carl