Did you try these directions on Rare Find's website. That is how I got there and I did arrive via 195. Its not far at all from Great Adventure. I think I did pass Wright-Debow road initially and had to back track. When you go back over I 195, it comes up immediately.
I've never been to Ciccone.

Here is a link that might be useful: RareFind Nursery

They are alive and well, I was there a few weeks back and loaded up on plants.

Here are the directions from the back of the catalog. From the NJ Turnpike, take exit 7A for Interstate 195 East. Go 11 miles on Interstate 195, to Exit 16B. Take Rt 537 East less than one mile, turn right onto Wright Debow Rd. In 1.3 miles you go over Interstate 195: immediately make a sharp right onto Patterson Rd. About 500 feet, turn left through iron gates. I am not sure the nursery is well marked. I know it by the iron gates.

I have been there when it has not been very busy and gotten a personal tour of the gardens that they have planted in front of the owner's house. It should be beautiful about now with the rhodies in bloom.

Thanks for the info. MapQuest gave me this:

1. Turn RIGHT onto CR-537/MONMOUTH RD.
2. Turn RIGHT onto CR-526/CR-571/W COMMODORE BLVD
3. Turn LEFT onto CR-526/W COMMODORE BLVD
4. Turn RIGHT onto PATTERSON RD.

We did find Patterson Rd, but drove back and forth down it without finding the nursery. I think the turn onto Rt 526 by the Six Flag Outlets (W. Commodore Blvd) did us in. We probably should have gone a little further east. I don't remember us passing a Wright Debow Rd.

Perhaps we'll take another drive next weekend. We're only about 4-1/2 miles from Great Adventure.

The directions from the catalog are accurate and easy. I visit about once a week. It is truly an experiance. You are very close if you are only 4.5 miles from GA. Enjoy your visit, bring a truck or make sure the car is empty, you'll find lots of great plants, many not listed in the catalog.

Kirk

It is tough to find the first time. But definitely keep trying. I'm going there sometime soon to check out the azaleas and rhododendrons in bloom as well as a few other plants. Last year, my little boy and I got the grand tour with Hank no less. The boy was greatly impressed with the cart.

Sheila

Yes, I got a cart ride too. Hank was very nice and recommended a great pizza joint back on 537. You'll have to ask him the name but they had great foccacia(?)bread sandwiches.
The trick is that the turn is immediately after the overpass over I195. Like Maria said, look for the iron gates.

DON'T give up trying - you'll be missing a "rare find" indeed! I live next door in Freehold and this time
of year, I drop in weekly just to stroll through the
display and propagation areas - an endless sea of rhodo-
dendrums (and azaleas, of course) in constantly shifting
bloom, all nestled into a pine woods - but don't miss the
main sales area and greenhouses where they have hundreds
of other remarkable plants. Go soon: this continued rain
isn't being kind to all the blooms.

Both sets of directions above would work, since Wright-
Debow Road runs from Rte. 537 all the way through to
Rte. 526 - but coming from Interstate 195, the Rte. 537
is easier. Try this: when you exit the Interstate from
either direction, be aware of the traffic lights - the
first light is directly above the Interstate - the second light is the entrance to Jackson Outlets - the third light
is the intersection of Rtes. 571/526. All this happens in
LESS than one-half mile! Continue NE on Rte. 537 toward
Freehold, but immediately start looking for Wright-Debow Rd. on your RIGHT (less than a mile) - turn onto this road
and wander along for a mile or more, but the moment you
cross over a major highway (it happens to be the Interstate) almost instantly turn RIGHT onto Patterson Rd.
The big iron-gated entrance to Rare Find will appear on
your LEFT with-in the first quarter mile.

Try this when you leave: turn RIGHT onto Wright-Debow Rd.
(instead of left, back over the highway bridge) and follow
the road out to it's termination at Rte. 526 - if you turn right, it will take you back toward Jackson Outlets - if
you turn left, it will take you further into Jackson along
County Line Road and eventually all the way to Rte. 9. If
you're from Jackson, that should sound familiar!

To reach Ciccone's, approach it from either direction on
Farmingdale Road (which it's on), a road that extends from
Jackson Mills Road all the way across to Rte. 9 (the first
section from Rte. 9 to Fort Plains Rd. is actually called
Hulses Rd.) Don't you love the old English tradition of
changing road names every time it intersects a new one?!!!
LOL. . .

Just a follow-up. We did get to Rare Find on Friday, May 27. Hanks took us for the grand tour on his cart. What an amazing place!

We left with:

1. Tiarella Sugar and Spice
2. Viburnum Summer Snowflake
3. Osmanthus Goshiki (False Holly)
4. Physocarpus opulifolius 'Summer Wine'

Barbara