Bus Trip: Long Island September Delights
July 22, 2018
Sit back. Relax. Leave the driving to us! Join DIG IT! and the Rollin' Garden Party Bus for an overnight garden intensive tour to Long Island on Wednesday, September 26 and Thursday, September 27, 2018. Tour Old Westbury Gardens, three extensive and unique private estate gardens, a catered lunch at Old Westbury, a stay at the Hyatt with buffet breakfast, lunch on your own in tony Bridgehampton, and discounted plant shopping at a fun nursery where horticulture, art and passion unite. All gardens and nursery have been featured in several magazines and newspapers.
**Partial proceeds benefit the Garden Conservancy.
Day One
Meet the bus at the Hilton Garden Inn in Rockaway, NJ. If you wish, come early and have breakfast before the bus arrives.* If you come from a distance, and know this may be your only chance to visit spectacular gardens on Long Island, take a room at HGI, relax and completely beat the traffic. We will park here for the trip.
STOP 1: We'll have guided tours of the mansion and gardens at Old Westbury Gardens, the former estate of John Shaffer Phipps, in Nassau County. Old Westbury's exquisite gardens and 26-room house have appeared in many movies. Then we'll have a fun lunch at Old Westbury's "Café in the Woods" (weather permitting).
Stop 2: On the North Fork, we'll visit a 3-acre private garden surrounding a restored 1840s farmhouse. Hundreds of container plantings flow over decks, porches and terraces. Perennial and mixed-shrub borders, themed gardens, formal knot garden, bog plantings, meadow gardens, woodland shade area plus rustic arbors, trellises, stone walls, vegetable/herb garden, Tiki hut with exotic plants. The newest meadow garden surrounds a subterranean stone grotto partially covered with a sedum-planted green roof. Three roundels support climbing roses and seasonal exotic vines. There are places to sit, a pond with stream and bridge, others with water lilies and papyrus. Many plantings contain tropicals, subtropicals, tender perennials, annuals, hardy palms and a grove of Musa basjoo, the hardy banana.
Sop 3: A 3-acre Peconic Bay-front property overlooking the Nature Conservancy's 17-acre beach-and-wetland preserve, a haven for migratory and nesting sea birds. The gardens flow from an 80-foot elevation to sea level via winding paths with landings and overlooks. A massive log gazebo fronts a wetland the owners lovingly rescued from invasive vines and replanted with indigenous bayberry, high tide bush and grasses, which put on a delightful burst of color in late fall. Extensive stone walls surround a pool tucked into the hillside. Rolling lawns, specimen evergreens, antique and salvaged garden ornaments, and 180-degree bay views with magnificent sunsets enhance a magical spot on the North Fork. Our garden is self-designed and boasts plenty of natives. - Arthur Blair
At the Hyatt East End Long Island in Riverhead, toss your bags in your room and have a delightful dinner there or in town on your own. A restaurant list will be provided. If you are feeling revved-up, take a dip in the indoor or outdoor pool, hit the gym or take a cab to Tanger Outlet.
Day Two
Stop 4: After a satisfying hot and cold buffet at the Hyatt (included in your ticket), we'll hop the bus to East Hampton for a tour of a unique, Asian-influenced, 20-acre garden of a private estate. You will feel like you've been around the world after touring its 31 separate garden areas including the 1491 Meadow - with native plants that predate Columbus's arrival to the New World, and also Jurassic Park - with plants that would have existed here in pre-history. Acres of moss, a special assortment of plants, including some that grew in Asia over 100 million years ago, a Japanese stroll garden, Japanese stone garden and bridge garden, a Chinese pond garden, Himalayan birch grove, sand dunes, waterfall hidden among the pines are accented by antique ornaments collected from Asia and other parts of the world. "The result: a misty window into the Asian aesthetic. Yugen is a Japanese aesthetic term relating to the subtle mystery and transience of beauty, like clouds passing across the moon." - property owner
Stop 5: Peconic River Herb Farm. Let's do some shopping at this "boutique style specialty plant nursery providing passionate gardeners with garden worthy plants since 1986." With eight greenhouses, outdoor sales areas and displays including herbs, L.I. natives, flowers for cutting, gourmet and heirloom vegetable varieties, unusual small trees and shrubs, creative container plants, hedges for hiding, wonderfully textured groundcovers, ferns and grasses for lower maintenance yards and a unique garden shop, you're sure to fall in love. Owner Christina Spindler (with husband Mike) is offering 10% off one regular-priced plant, though many will be 50% off by late September.
Come join us for fabulous September Delights!
DATE: Wednesday, September 26 & Thursday, September 27.
TIME: 9/26-Lakeland Bus leaves the Hilton Garden Inn at 8:30am SHARP! and returns 9/27 at 7:30-ish.
PARKING: Hilton Garden Inn, Mount Hope Avenue, Rockaway, NJ, parking lot. Details will accompany registration confirmation. The Hilton has parking lot security.
COST: $350/person. If sharing a room, $325/person. Cost includes bus, driver tip, hotel, buffet breakfast, catered lunch, garden entrance fee and all guided tours, treats and homemade goodies for the ride home, and donation to Garden Conservancy
REGISTER:
here or
mary@dig-itmag.com
QUESTIONS:
mary@dig-itmag.com
DIG IT!reserves the right to cancel the trip due to insufficient registration.
If DIG IT! cancels the trip, you get a full refund. If you cancel the trip you get a 30% refund up till September 19. No refunds after September 19.
Garden Conservancy
www.gardenconservancy.org/
Old Westbury Gardens
www.oldwestburygardens.org/
Peconic River Herb Farm
http://prherbfarm.com/
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