Connecticut Gardens

Ansonia Nature and Recreation Center
10 Deerfield Lane
Ansonia, CT  06401  
Phone: 203-736-1053

One hundred-acre nature preserve, with several gardens featuring ferns and wildflowers. Of particular note is the butterfly and hummingbird garden. Natural exhibits and programs are scheduled throughout the year. Over two miles of trails run through the preserve for hiking and cross-country skiing. Visitors can also enjoy a fishing pond, picnic areas and a gift shop.
Hours: Sunup to sundown. Office and interpretive center open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. except holidays. Free admission.

Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden
9 Main Street
Bethlehem, CT  06751  
Phone: 203-266-7596

Built in 1754, this Colonial home is filled with American and European antiques. The property offers garden lovers a formal parterre garden with a collection of roses, peonies, and lilacs.
Hours: May–October, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fee charged.

Boothe Memorial Park & Museum
5774 Main St. Putney
Stratford, CT  06614  
Phone: 203-381-2046

This 32-acre former homestead of the Boothe Family (1663-1949) offers with picnic facilities, rose garden, and wedding garden. Buildings on National Historic Landmark site with displays of early farm equipment, carriages and baskets; trolley history, toll booth exhibit. Hours: Park grounds are open year-round, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Museums and displays are open June 1 through October 1, Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m. Free admission.

Brookfield Historical Society Museum
165 Whisconier Road / Routes 25 and 133
Brookfield, CT  06840  
Phone: 203-775-4628

Brookfield’s original town hall, built in 1875, is now home to a Colonial garden, as well as changing historical exhibits and a gift shop. Guided tours are available.
Hours: every Saturday and the first Sunday of each month between May and December; second and fourth Saturdays, January through March. Noon to 4 p.m. Also open by appointment.

Edgerton Park
75 Cliff Street at Whitney Avenue
New Haven, CT  06511  

Once an experimental mulberry orchard, this stately public park was the home of Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin. Bought in 1906 by the Brewster family, the stately mansion stood near the great lawn of an estate designed to replicate an English landscape garden. Now a city park hosting many public cultural events.
Hours: Open from sunrise to sunset every day of the year. The conservatory is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. every day except major holidays.

Elizabeth Park Rose Gardens
Corner of Prospect Avenue and Asylum Avenue
Hartford, CT
Phone: 860-231-9443

Friends of Elizabeth Park
The park’s world famous rose garden is the oldest municipally operated rose garden in the country. The two-and-a half-acre rose garden has 15,000 plants in about 800 varieties of roses. The park is also home to a rock garden and specialized gardens of annuals, herbs, and perennials.
Open: Daily all year, dawn to dusk.

General William Hart House
350 Main Street
Old Saybrook, CT  06475  
Phone: 860-388-2622

A Georgian-style Colonial built in 1767, featuring an herb garden and intricate decor. Of particular interest are the eight corner fireplaces. Notice the nine-window facade with 12 over 12 panes, the cornices, cornerboards and graduated clapboards.
Hours: June 12- September 13, Friday - Sunday, 12:30 - 4 p.m. Donation is requested.

Glebe House and Gertrude Jekyll Garden
Hollow Road / P.O. Box 245
Woodbury, CT  06798  
Phone: 203-263-2855

Farmhouse built in 1740 is set in the picturesque Litchfield Hills in historic Woodbury’s village center. It offers a glimpse of Revolutionary War-era Connecticut. Birthplace of the Episcopal Church in the New World and graced by the only existing American garden planned by Gertrude Jekyll.
Hours: May-October, Wednesday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m.; November, weekends only, 1–4 p.m. Fee charged.

Harkness Memorial State Park
275 Great Neck Road / State Route 213
Waterford, CT  06385  
Phone: 860-443-5725

This beachfront park on Long Island Sound, site of a former mansion is home to an unusual historic and beautiful experience. Enjoy a garden of heliotropes, bred from the plants grown on the site over a century ago.
Hours: 8 a.m.-sunset. Mansion is open for tours weekends and holidays from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day. The first tour starts at 10 a.m. and the last at 2:15 p.m. Fees for parking.

Harriet Beecher Stowe House
77 Forest Street
Hartford, CT  06105  
Phone: 860-522-9258

Open: Tours: Tuesday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Sunday, noon-4:30 p.m.; open on Mondays, Memorial Day to Columbus Day and December. Closed major holidays.

Her words changed the world with "Uncle Tom's Cabin," the groundbreaking anti-slavery novel (1852). Tour the Victorian Gothic home (1871), the Katharine Seymour Day House (1884), and the Victorian grounds and gardens. Stowe Visitor Center showcases exhibitions, museum shop. Admission: Adults, $8; seniors,$7; children age 4-12, $4.

Hatheway House
55 South Main Street
Suffield, CT  06078  

This mansion is a showplace for the history of the 18th century including a formal Colonial garden. Exhibits include French wallpaper and neo-classical architecture.
Hours: Open for afternoon tours on designated days from May 15 to October 15, or by prior appointment. Call for current schedule. Fee charged.

Holley - Williams House Museum
15 Millerton Road
Lakeville, CT  06039  
Phone: 860-435-0566

Open: Early July-Labor Day, Memorial Day and Columbus Day weekends: house tours, Friday-Sunday and holidays, noon-5 p.m. or by appointment. Grounds and outside exhibits open daily year-round.

Nineteenth-century family museum with original and period furnishings. Living history house tours, Holley pocket knife exhibit. Grounds include visitor center, ice-house, maze, outhouse, gardens, and medicinal plants. Admission: Suggested donation: adults, $5; seniors and students, $3; children under age 5, free.

Hubbard Park
West Main Street
Meriden, CT  06450  
Phone: 203-630-4259

Hubbard Park is located around East Peak and West Peak of the area called the Hanging Hills. It comprises approximately 1,800 acres of carefully kept woodland, lake and stream, flower gardens, and picnic spots.
Hours: April-October, daily, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Fee: Call for details.

New Canaan Nature Center
144 Oenoke Ridge
New Canaan, CT  06840  
Phone: 203-966-9577

Fascinating look into the science and nature in the area. Set on 40 acres, the nature center features gardens and a solar-heated greenhouse, as well as many trails, exhibits, an arboretum, live animals, and a maple sugar shed.
Hours: Grounds open dawn to dusk daily; buildings and officer open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Donation requested.

Norwich Rose Garden in Mohegan Park
Rockwell Street
Norwich, CT  06360  
Phone: 860-823-3791

Situated on two acres of gently sloping parkland, the garden features 2,500 rose bushes in 120 varieties. The roses are at their full height during June but continue to blossom throughout the summer.

Ogden House and Gardens
1520 Bronson Road
Fairfield, CT  06824 - 2828  
Phone: 203-259-1598

Built in the 18th century, this traditional New England farmhouse is host to exhibits detailing the daily lives of colonial Americans. The property also has a wildflower garden and a kitchen garden.
Open: Sundays, June to September, 1 to 4 p.m. and by appointment. Fee charged.

Osborne Homestead Museum
500 Hawthorne Avenue (near Osbornedale State Park)
Derby, CT  06418  
Phone: 203-734-2513

Open: Late April-mid-December, Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday, noon-4 p.m. Grounds: Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Sunday, noon-4 p.m.

Former estate of Frances Osborne Kellogg. Elegant Colonial Revival home (1850), original antiques and fine arts. Formal rose and flower garden, English rock garden. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Admission: Donation requested.

Pardee Rose Gardens
180 Park Road
New Haven, CT  06517  
Phone: 203-946-8025

These gardens include more than 15 different types of roses (peaking in June and July), annuals, perennials, and herbs. Picnic areas are available in this tranquil formal rose garden open free to the public. The garden is also available for weddings and special events.
Hours: Open mid-May to early September.

Pratt House
19 West Ave.
Essex, CT
Phone: 860-767-0681  860-767-1191

Colonial home, built in 1734, features antique American furniture and an herb garden. The house documents the life of early Essex through a single family over 200 years.
Hours: June-Labor Day, Saturday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m. Fee charged.

Putnam Cottage
243 East Putnam Avenue
Greenwich, CT  06830  
Phone: 203-869-9697

Known as Knapp’s Tavern during the American Revolution, this Colonial house dates to the early 1700s. It is furnished with period antiques and artifacts and includes a Colonial herb garden and carriage shed. Located on the Boston Post Road, it has been a tourist destination for almost 100 years.
Hours: Tours by appointment only during January, February and March. In season, open Sundays, 1-4 p.m. and by appointment. Call for group tour information. Fee charged.

Sharon Audubon Center
325 Cornwall Bridge Road / Route 4
Sharon, CT  06069  
Phone: 860-364-0520

Nature trails meander through gardens, woods and around ponds. Exhibits include a children’s discovery room, live animals and natural history. A gift shop and book store can also be found in the museum.
Hours: The Visitors Center and Nature Store are open year round, Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. The building is closed on all major holidays. Fee charged.

Sundial Gardens
59 Hidden Lake Road
Higganum, CT  06441  
Phone: 860-345-4290

Open: Year-round, Sat - Sun, 10 am - 5 pm; Daily Nov 1 - Dec 24

Formal gardens, tea and gift shop in the Higganum section of Haddam. Formal gardens include a Persian-style knot garden, an 18th-century style garden with geometric walkways, and a topiary garden with boxwood, roses and ivy garlands surrounding a fountain. These architectural gardens are carefully incorporated into the landscape around a restored 18th century farm house.
Hours: Tea shop and Christmas Shop open first three weekends in November, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. After Thanksgiving Day, open every day except Mondays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Christmas Eve 2005. Fee charged.

Thankful Arnold House
Hayden Hill Road, off Route 154
Haddam, CT  06438  
Phone: 860-345-2400

Open: July 4 weekend - Columbus Day weekend, Sat - Sun, 2 - 4 pm

This three-story, 1794 home has been restored to reflect the lifestyle and furnishings of the period. A garden on the property features herbs, vegetables, and flowers.
Hours: Open year-round; Wednesday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; Thursday, 2 -8 p.m.; Friday, noon-3 p.m.; Sunday (Memorial Day to Columbus Day), 1- 4 p.m. Fee charged.

Wickham Park
1329 West Middle Turnpike
Manchester, CT  06040  
Phone: 860-528-0856

This park features 10 acres of gardens and an aviary, recreational and sports areas, and walking trails. The park contains 250 acres of gardens, open fields, woodlands, ponds, picnic areas, sports facilities, and other attractions.
Hours: First weekend in April through the last weekend in October and for dates listed on the Web site under ‘special events.’ Hours: 9:30 a.m.-sunset except in inclement weather. Fee for parking.