One of the joys of any gardener is the opportunity to peek into other people's gardens, which is why garden walks are a summer staple for many. A few years ago, I stumbled into the Garden Conservancy Open Days, completely unaware that they would rock my garden-walk-world forever.
The Garden Conservancy is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping sustain some of the notable gardens in the US. They regularly schedule Open Days throughout the US as well, an amazing program that allows people access to incredible private gardens that would otherwise be unavailable to them.
I am always astonished at these gardens, which, with their combination of history and splendid design, capture my imagination. Today's garden was no exception.
There were 4 gardens schedule on the walk, but we only made it to two. The first was pleasant. Lovely. But the second was a show stopper. It was originally the home of Mr. & Mrs. John T. Pirie of Lake Forest, IL (Pirie as in Carson, Pirie, Scott). The home was built by Benjamin Marshall in 1904, and the gardens designed by Rose Standish Nichols.
The property covers 11 acres, so there is plenty of room for puttering around in the garden. And almost every inch has been properly puttered in--manicured, pampered, and finessed. We were greeted at the front door by the owner, the aptly named Posy Krehbiel. A little later, we met the head gardener, with whom I enjoyed a lovely chat (she claimed that her sister was a regular customer at the nursery at which I work, but maybe she was just being nice). At some point in our ramblings through the gardens, we picked up the tidbit that the garden employs 15 full time gardeners during the summer season. That's basically 1 per acre, plus a couple of people to do all the containers, and a few spares to cover days off! Their efforts are evident. So without further ado, let's dig in and see what all the fuss was about.
At the back edge of the lawn that marched away from the rear of the house stood a tall evergreen hedge, forming an impressive wall. Following a small footpath around the edge led us into a shady private retreat so well tucked away that it came as a delightful surprise. It features a pair of matching Chinese statues at either and, at the feet of which are still, dark reflecting pools. The "walls" of this garden are exquisitely designed, dense layers of a beautiful selection of shade-loving plants. At the feet of the statues, a lovely collection of Ghost fern, Japanese Painted fern, and 'Jack Frost' Brunnera. The lateral walls featured Annabelle Hydrangea, variagated Dogwood, and Aruncus, it's frothy white blooms nodding gracefully in the breeze. I could have spent the whole afternoon just exploring this garden room, but there was so much more to see.
A woodland path set in wide flagstone led us along the edge of a ravine, with occasional garden resting spots featuring beautiful vignettes. In this one, a dead tree trunk forms an elegant architectural element, and has been set around with a bed full of Prairie Dropseed grass. The effect was so stunning that a photo cannot begin to capture the actual beauty of the location.
The woodland path meandered around the edges of the path, eventually leading us out to the top northeast corner of the property, where a statue of Diana the Huntress stands cradling several varieties of Clematis in her arms. It's so lovely that I'm tempted to hunt for a similar collection of Clematis myself. 
Here is the view Diana the Huntress gets to look at--the perfectly manicured lawn leading, on the left, to the pool and pool house, and, straight ahead, to the house. An amazing Linden Alle lies just outside the frame of this photo, on the left. The wide terraced steps are wonderfully flanked by specimens selected for their shape, texture, and color, creating an impeccable view fit for a goddess, even if she is a statue.
Here is a detail from the purple plants flanking the steps. Many of us are familiar with the lovely foliage of the smokebush. Most gardeners would cut this plant to the ground at least once every few years, as we are told that is the best way to ensure good color as well as to control the size. But this is a smoketree--the trunk was a good 6" around, and the tree stood about 18' high. If you look at the photo of the steps above, you can see this specimen in the upper right of the photo--that will give you and idea of the scale of this planting.
The pool house, located in the back northeast corner of the property, featured formal knot gardens at either end. This photo is from the south end of the pool house. The north end was similar, but in an unusual move, the espalier were some very impressive Ginko biloba. Both of these formal knot gardens were completely surrounded by tall yew hedges, and therefore create an intimate and private setting.
The pool house, framed by a lucky grouping of hollyhocks that suited themselves to photo ops.
As you come back up to the east side of the house, you find yourself in a fabulous cutting garden. The perennial border was about 5'-6' across, tightly planted. This is where I met up with the head gardener, who told me that most of it is planted fresh from plugs each year. She had a particularly gorgeous Mallow called "Primley Blue," for which I will launch a dedicated and devoted search to include in my own garden next summer.
Oh, look, it's the Gardeners House. And the front door has a cute little trowel as a door knocker. I wonder if they are hiring? What a beautiful place to work--I can't imagine ever having a bad day in this setting, although I suppose into every garden a little rain must fall. But if you have a gardener's house into which you may retreat during the cloudburst, who cares!?! 
This garden was truly a delight. I took far more pictures than I can decently share in a single blog post, so I may have to revisit this topic another time so that I can share the rest. In the meantime, it's time to get back to reality and my own little suburban garden. But this visit was a welcome respite from my mid-summer garden blues.
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