WESTMINSTER, Vt. – Many studies have found that consistent access to a garden can have significant, positive impact on lowering stress, improving mental health, and reducing levels of depression and anxiety.
Visiting the three gardens featured in this year’s Westminster Garden Tour provided more than enough evidence to support that. The sights and scents of the gardens on a breezy summer day in Vermont were practically medicinal.
Garden 1 – the beautifully curated, creative, and diverse landscape of Gordon and Mary Haywards’ garden on McKinnon Road, the main attraction of the tour, featured unique displays of “garden rooms,” a wide variety of vegetable, fruit, and flower gardens, art installations, peaceful sitting areas, and much more. The Haywards have been developing their 1 ½ acre-garden since 1984, to surround the 220-year-old farmhouse, originally built by the Ranney family.
The garden is registered with the Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens, and has been featured in articles for magazines such as Fine Gardening, Horticulture, and Martha Stewart Living. Gordon is a professional garden designer, writer, and lecturer.
Garden 2 – the Caitlin and Peter Adair “Sanctuary Garden” offered a completely different experience. These gardens feature whimsical sculptures created within a theme that offers homage to earth’s “elemental elders,” the sacred, primary elements. The Adair’s gardens were designed to express their love for “the bounty and beauty of our miraculous planet.” The artistic, yet functional pairings of trees, flowers, and vegetables was inspiring.
Garden 3 – “Mole End,” designed and maintained by Ann and Frank Kebbell, had more of an architectural element, using an eclectic array of funky garden sheds and outbuildings. Much of the garden’s inspiration originated with found artifacts that the Kebbells uncovered around the property.
Situated at the top of Court House Hill, the home was known for a long time as “Shattuck’s Place.” The Kebbells renamed the property “Mole End,” a loving reference to The Wind in the Willows stories.
Highlights at Mole End were a planted cellar hole, views of Mount Monadnock, and a video illustrating the origins of the “jungle” of a property the Kebbells purchased versus the expansive garden landscape they have created. Their vegetable garden was wild and impressive.
All along the tour, friends greeted friends, and visitors bought raffle tickets with hopes of winning one of the prizes offered, which included flowering and fruit trees, local gift certificates, home and garden items, and original art pieces.
Aside from being a wonderful opportunity to stroll through aspirational gardens, the proceeds from the fundraiser benefit Westminster Cares, a community-based, volunteer organization started in 1988, that assists local seniors and disabled adults, affording them the opportunity to lead healthy and independent lives, and stay connected to their community.