The 2023 Westminster Garden Tour
is just around the corner
Westminster Cares is proud to announce the details of our 20th anniversary Westminster Garden Tour. Please check here for updates and additional information as the dates get closer. The Tour Dates are Saturday July 8th and Sunday July 9th. Gardens will be open from10am till 3pm.
Gordon and Mary Hayward’s Westminster West gardens will once again highlight the Westminster Cares Garden Tour. Gordon and Mary helped start the tour in 2003, after a successful garden tour for the Yellow Barn Music
Festival. “We love it,” Mary says. “It’s great to have everyone come by and chat. It’s all volunteer, and that makes it great, too.”
Tickets are $16 or $30 for two and are good for both days of the tour. Tickets are available through out site - you can find them available here.
The Westminster Center School garden, a working cut-flower farm and one other private garden in addition to the Haywards’ will be on the tour. Several special programs are planned throughout the weekend. On Saturday there will be a puppet show by Sandglass Theater; and a garden design “Talk and Walk” with Julie Moir-Messervy. On Sunday there will also be a bee-keeping workshop.
Entry to these special events is included with your ticket. You will be able to purchase tickets here on the website, starting June 1st. They can also be purchased throughout the tour.
Eric and Ines Bass, founders of Sandglass Theater, will present two short puppetry pieces Saturday at the Haywards’ garden. One, titled “MUD,” is a Vermont sort of story about a young man whose truck gets stuck in the mud. It’s performed with song and guitar and, of course, puppets. The other is a crankie (a rolling sk/croll that tells a story in pictures) called “BIG PIG,”
also told with song, guitar, and a dance. These shows are for all ages.
“We really enjoy sharing what nature and we have created,” Mary Hayward says. They planted 110 new plants this year. We revised it last fall; put in lots of compost. Mary, originally from the Cotswold region in England, and Gordon, from northwest Connecticut, were teachers who purchased the Ranney Farm, built in the late 1700s, in 1983. Both raised on farms, they treasure the long history of the property. “The house has been part of the life of the community for 200 years, so it’s also a celebration of the history,” Gordon says. The garden, begun in 1984, is based on the footprint and the remnants of the Ranney farm, including the milking parlor and a stone wall that ran to the silo. Their garden shed was originally a tobacco barn moved up from Connecticut River Valley.
As part of the tour, visitors can explore the first project in Windham County to establish a forested riparian buffer. The project, in conjunction with the Windham County Natural Resources Conservation District, is restoring a five-acre field to bird and wildlife habitat. The Haywards have been weeding out invasive species, and planting native species of trees and
shrubs, alongside an existing wildflower garden.
Lunch and beverages will be available for purchase in the garden café under tents at the Haywards’. Morning Star Perennials & Trees will again have an array of unique and Vermont-hardy plants for sale at the Hayward garden. For more information call or email our office:
802.722.3607 westminstercaresvt@gmail.com.
is just around the corner
Westminster Cares is proud to announce the details of our 20th anniversary Westminster Garden Tour. Please check here for updates and additional information as the dates get closer. The Tour Dates are Saturday July 8th and Sunday July 9th. Gardens will be open from10am till 3pm.
Gordon and Mary Hayward’s Westminster West gardens will once again highlight the Westminster Cares Garden Tour. Gordon and Mary helped start the tour in 2003, after a successful garden tour for the Yellow Barn Music
Festival. “We love it,” Mary says. “It’s great to have everyone come by and chat. It’s all volunteer, and that makes it great, too.”
Tickets are $16 or $30 for two and are good for both days of the tour. Tickets are available through out site - you can find them available here.
The Westminster Center School garden, a working cut-flower farm and one other private garden in addition to the Haywards’ will be on the tour. Several special programs are planned throughout the weekend. On Saturday there will be a puppet show by Sandglass Theater; and a garden design “Talk and Walk” with Julie Moir-Messervy. On Sunday there will also be a bee-keeping workshop.
Entry to these special events is included with your ticket. You will be able to purchase tickets here on the website, starting June 1st. They can also be purchased throughout the tour.
Eric and Ines Bass, founders of Sandglass Theater, will present two short puppetry pieces Saturday at the Haywards’ garden. One, titled “MUD,” is a Vermont sort of story about a young man whose truck gets stuck in the mud. It’s performed with song and guitar and, of course, puppets. The other is a crankie (a rolling sk/croll that tells a story in pictures) called “BIG PIG,”
also told with song, guitar, and a dance. These shows are for all ages.
“We really enjoy sharing what nature and we have created,” Mary Hayward says. They planted 110 new plants this year. We revised it last fall; put in lots of compost. Mary, originally from the Cotswold region in England, and Gordon, from northwest Connecticut, were teachers who purchased the Ranney Farm, built in the late 1700s, in 1983. Both raised on farms, they treasure the long history of the property. “The house has been part of the life of the community for 200 years, so it’s also a celebration of the history,” Gordon says. The garden, begun in 1984, is based on the footprint and the remnants of the Ranney farm, including the milking parlor and a stone wall that ran to the silo. Their garden shed was originally a tobacco barn moved up from Connecticut River Valley.
As part of the tour, visitors can explore the first project in Windham County to establish a forested riparian buffer. The project, in conjunction with the Windham County Natural Resources Conservation District, is restoring a five-acre field to bird and wildlife habitat. The Haywards have been weeding out invasive species, and planting native species of trees and
shrubs, alongside an existing wildflower garden.
Lunch and beverages will be available for purchase in the garden café under tents at the Haywards’. Morning Star Perennials & Trees will again have an array of unique and Vermont-hardy plants for sale at the Hayward garden. For more information call or email our office:
802.722.3607 westminstercaresvt@gmail.com.
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Enjoy this slide show from our 2019 Westminster Garden Tour!
wecares@sover.net Westminster, VT 05346