Connecticut Gardens
Connecticut gardens enhance public parks, nature centers, and historic home museums. A grand garden of this state is the Elizabeth Park Rose Garden in the capital city of Hartford, site of a famous flower show every spring. Many of the state's fine historic homes have grand gardens, as do many of the state parks.
Gardens are a beautiful place for romantic walks or nature exploration with children.
Our picks
Darien, CT
The Mather Homestead
19 Stephen Mather Road 203-202-7602The Mather Homestead, Darien’s only National Historic Landmark, is a beautifully preserved 1778 home with a rich American story spanning more than two centuries. Built during the Revolutionary War, the home was designed to keep the Mather family safe from Tory raids. Deacon Joseph Mather, son of the influential patriot preacher Reverend Moses Mather, lived here with his wife and their eleven children. In 1906, Stephen Tyng Mather, borax entrepreneur and first director of the National Park Service, occupied the home as his summer residence and added the beautiful gardens that continue to grace the property. Today, guided tours (Monday through Friday) tell the Mather family story and bring American history to life, from the Revolutionary era through the early 2000s, when the home was entrusted to The Mather Homestead Foundation.
Bethlehem, CT
Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden
9 Main Street 203-266-7596 for toursThis antique home features a formal parterre garden with chains of connected flowerbeds; roses, peonies, and lilacs. See a full description on our Historic Homes & Sites page.
Stratford, CT
Boothe Memorial Park & Museum
5774 Main Street 203-381-2046A lovely rose garden is among the attractions at this park aside the Housatonic River. The park includes a historic home of the Boothe family, exhibits of antiques, and picnicking grounds. See a full description on ourHistoric Homes & Sites page.
Hamden, CT
Pardee Rose Gardens
180 Park Road 203-946-8142Pardee Rose Garden and Greenhouse is in bloom from early spring to fall, showcasing a glorious array of roses. Traditionally, many brides and grooms come here for wedding pictures.
Hours: Open year-round.
Washington, CT
Hollister House Garden
300 Nettleton Hollow Road 860-868-2200Located on a terraced site in the hills of Litchfield County, Hollister House Garden is an American interpretation of such classic English gardens as Sissinghurst , Great Dixter and Hidcote. Hollister House sponsors such events like Twilight in the Garden, Connecticut Open House Day, and Music in the Garden. Garden map.
Hours: late April to late September, Fridays, 2-5 p.m. and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Private group visits on weekdays by appointment only.
Wilton, CT
Weir Farm National Historic Site
735 Nod Hill Road 203-834-1896Home to three generations of American Impressionist painters, Weir Farm is the only national park dedicated to American painting. The site includes a Colonial-style sunken garden and the Weir Garden, which was created in 1915 and features a fountain, sundial and a rustic cedar fence.
Hours: Grounds open year-round, daily, dawn to dusk; Visitor Center open May through November, Wednesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Admission: Free.
Waterford, CT
Harkness Memorial State Park
275 Great Neck Road - CT Route 213 860-443-5725This park is on the 230-acre property occupied by the former summer mansion of the Harkness family. The property is loved for its vast lawns sweeping down to Long Island Sound, its old trees, and beautiful flower gardens. These include an Alpine rock garden. Property is open year-round, daily, from 8 a.m. to sunset. Parking fees are charged. - Park Map (PDF)
Fairfield, CT
Ogden House and Colonial Gardens
1520 Bronson Road 203-259-1598Built 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. The 18th-century style kitchen garden, behind the house, features raised beds, walkways of crushed sea shells with plants and herbs typical of those used at the time.
Hours: June to September, Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. and by appointment.
Hartford, CT
Elizabeth Park Rose Garden
In Elizabeth Park - 1561 Asylum Avenue 860-231-9443The 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. Restrooms are in the Pond House Café building, open daily except Mondays. Picnicking is welcome, but fires are not allowed.
New Haven, CT
Edgerton Park
75 Cliff Street at Whitney AvenueOnce 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.
Woodbury, CT
Glebe House and Gertrude Jekyll Garden
49 Hollow RoadUpon the museum's creation in 1926, English author and landscape designer Gertrude Jekyll started a traditional garden -- and in the 1970s, her plans were completed. Now, visitors marvel at the wholeness of this garden as they stroll through border plantings and a rose allee.
Haddam, CT
Thankful Arnold House
14 Hayden Hill Road 860-345-2400This 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.
The house’s gardens were redesigned in the 1980s in the Colonial Revival style with granite-edged beds and gravel paths, using plants commonly grown in 1830. Most of the garden is now devoted to herbs used for cooking, medicine, dyeing, fragrance and other household uses. Over 50 varieties of herbs are planted in the garden, including many of the ones Thankful Arnold would have used.
Hartford, CT
Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
77 Forest Street 860-522-9258At the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, interesting things to look at are found outside as well as inside. Inside the center, exhibits inform visitors about the life of the famous activist, abolitionist and author of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Outside, the gardens are instructive about the author’s knowledge of and appreciation for Victorian-era flowers and plantings. The gardens, one of Connecticut’s Historic Gardens, include a woodland garden, a wildflower meadow, a high Victorian texture garden, heritage roses and and formal color-coordinated gardens. The property also includes the state’s largest magnolia tree and a dogwood that is more than 100 years old.
Suffield, CT
Phelps-Hatheway House and Garden
55 South Main StreetFormal gardens and an ornate fence enhance the beauty of this house, a fine example of a prosperous 18th-century New England family. See a full description on our Historic Homes & Sites page.
Manchester, CT
Wickham Park
1329 West Middle Turnpike 860-528-0856The park contains 250 acres of gardens, open fields, woodlands, ponds, picnic areas, sports facilities, and other attractions. There are three sets of public restrooms in the park, and all are handicapped accessible. Gardens include the Arboretum, the Irish Garden, the English Garden, the Scottish Garden, the Cabin Garden & Amphitheater, the Oriental Garden, the Italian Shrine, the Lotus Garden, the Wetlands Garden, and the Sensory Garden.
Norwich, CT
Mohegan Park
189 Mohegan Park Road 860-823-3798Norwich is the Rose City, and a formal rose garden is one of many features in late spring and summer -- including a swimming beach and walks -- in this delightful urban park. - Trail Map (PDF)
Wethersfield, CT
Colonial Revival Garden of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum
211 Main Street 860-529-0612Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum is composed of four historic homes from the 18th century. Tours and special events take place all year. The Webb House garden was a prototypical of Colonial Revival gardens dating from the 1920s. It was created by landscape designer Amy Cogswell.
Derby, CT
Osborne Homestead Museum & Kellogg Environmental Center
500 Hawthorne Avenue 203-734-2513This 1850 estate is the former home of Frances Osborne Kellogg. The grounds include several gardens, among them an English rock garden and formal rose garden. Inside, visitors will find fine art and antiques collections. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A donation is requested from visitors.
Old Lyme, CT
Florence Griswold Museum Gardens
96 Lyme Street 860-434-5542In the early 20th century, Florence Griswold’s boarding house in Old Lyme was the hub of one of the most important summer art colonies in America. Visitors may explore the beautiful property alongside the Lieutenant River and walk through the “old-fashioned” historic gardens.