Hidden in Plain View: America's best private gardens are right around the corner

My early morning run, whether for relaxation, fitness, or marathon training, takes me on the backroads through America's Grape Country, the oldest, largest Concord grape-growing region in the world. Who needs a trip to Europe to experience the wine growing region when you can lace up your running shoes, and in a matter of minutes, disappear among the vines?

Yet despite the exquisite scenery, all too often my mind races ahead to writing projects in the works, interviews to be scheduled, and upcoming meetings with clients. I am grateful to be busy, don't get me wrong, but as my old yoga instructor once said, sometimes you need to breathe deeply and live in the moment.

One of those moments came in early spring, as I padded along Curtis Road, near Grimshaw Glen. Behind a crumbling winery wall and remnants of an old woolen mill lies a lush landscape of rhododendrons, azaleas, hostas, and wildflowers that makes you want to step off the road and go exploring. Good thing I know the owners, Charles and Karen Wagner, who love to talk about the history of this place that has been in their family since the 1830s. They won't mind if I find respite there.

The general public will have a rare opportunity to step behind the garden gate this Memorial Day weekend, when the national Garden Conservancy hosts its Open Days program here in North East, Pa., on Sunday, May 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Garden Conservancy selected six private gardens in my area for inclusion in the directory of more than 300 of America's best private gardens.

Proceeds from the program support local charities and the national preservation work of the Garden Conservancy, such as the rehabilitation of the gardens on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay and other significant landscape architecture around the country. Admission to each garden is only $5.

Come take a look at the gardens in my backyard:

Grimshaw Glen 11274 Curtis Road, North East, Pa.

Nestled among the Concord grape vineyards is the historic Grimshaw Glen, hidden in plain view behind the ivy-covered ruins of an old winery. Follow a welcome mat of shade-loving wildflowers, hostas and aromatic gingers to a display of more than 100 rhododendrons and azaleas, at their peak in late May. Six generations of family have enjoyed the babbling of Orchard Beach Run, the spring-fed trout stream that runs through this informal one-acre garden. Ask Charles and Karen Wagner to show you the rare rhododendron, R. yakushimanum, they propagated from plants brought back from a mountainside in Japan, just before World War II. Low-growing and dark green, their leaves have a fuzzy underside that begs to be touched. A portion of the proceeds benefits the North East Historical Society.

Soul Safari 11501 Cole Road, North East, Pa.

In a garden bordering 16-mile gorge, you will delight in more than three acres of informal gardens that reflect the passions and philosophy of owners, Brett and Kitty Maloney, “Nature is the caretaker and we are the receivers.” This certified wildlife garden hosts a profusion of wildflowers, perennials, evergreens, flowering shrubs, and trees. Features include a koi pond, a rock garden with gazebo, a woodland patio, a sunny patio with a trellis and kitchen garden, a children’s garden with a handcrafted log cabin, aged fieldstone boulders, a sand pit, play fountain, children’s teepee, cedar tree house, and custom, handmade lighting throughout.  Landscape designers for more than 30 years, the Maloneys have truly become one with their gardens, interacting in a wonderful community of plants, animals and songbirds as they live and breathe. The Maloneys have designated the Shriners Hospital for Children as their preferred charity.

Raku Place 4570 Old State, McKean, Pa.

Raku Place is a 47-acre naturalized Arts and Crafts-style garden with 18 named gardens and a serendipitous “Continental Divide” that provides two gentle water courses, creating 14 ponds and pools to serve the polka dot garden, the “primrose-less” path, the lady pools, the alpine forest, Hungarian tea house, and Steven’s Mountain. Susan and Steven Kemenyffy, two artists working over thirty years, are turning a neglected landscape into a “pleasure garden” whose numerous paths circulate through the plant colonies supporting myriad ideas. Long an advocate for the arts, landscape design, and the transcendent power of beauty, we have Susan to thank for Erie's inclusion on the Garden Conservancy's national tour. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Erie Art Museum.

Bonnie and Mark Bestoso 4828 Wolf Road, Erie, Pa.

This six-acre blank canvas was purchased in the mid-fifties. Garden development began with the planting of numerous trees, shrubs and foundation plantings. Wayside Gardens then designed what remains as the “formal garden” of French design, and an orchard with fruit and nut trees, as well as several hundred naturalized daffodils. In the past 20 years, two herb gardens, a shade garden, vegetable gardens, a secret garden, a softly winding 115-foot English border garden, small pond, and grape vineyard have been developed. About three acres are left uncultivated for the benefit of wildlife. Red-winged blackbirds nest and breed in the early summer. Monarch butterflies feast on milkweed and goldenrod in the fall, and deer and turkeys are prevalent. This property has been designated as an official Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Erie Zoo and Botanical Garden.

Brier Hill Garden 6721 Brier Hill Road, Fairview, Pa.

Brier Hill Gardens is a 12-acre country manor estate with a naturalized, contoured ravine that reveals a spring-fed stream and pools. The carefully manicured gardens were originally created in the spring of 1927 by Arthur Wescott Cowell, a landscape architect from State College, Pennsylvania, for the F. B. McBrier family. The gardens were passed on to the McBrier’s son, James, and his wife Blossom. She continues the work of planting, replacement, and rhododendron hybridizing. An old dam serves as passage from the candelabra primrose bog garden to original azalea and rhododendron plantings. Visitors will appreciate the podocarpus, a conifer whose gray-green foliage resembles a big, course poodle. A portion of the proceeds will help preserve the Goodell Gardens and Homestead.

The Frenzel Gardens 7700 Admiral Drive, Fairview, Pa.

Bob and Kathleen Frenzel's 70-year-old stone house on seven acres of heavily wooded property on Lake Erie is the quintessential gardeners estate cottage. Mature plantings of deciduous trees, conifers, rhododendron, and other shade-loving plants enhance the beauty of the setting. The Frenzels have added some 50 additional garden areas featuring more then 300 rhododendron and azalea species and hybrids, and large collections of dwarf conifers, kalmia, hydrangea, magnolia and other shade-loving herbaceous and woody plants. Other features include stone walls, a gazebo, a lily pond and statuary. Asbury Woods and Nature Center will benefit from the proceeds.

"When somebody takes the time to visit our garden, they poke around for a while. Maybe they sit down and relax; maybe they feed the fish; maybe they climb the tree house; maybe they gaze at a single drop in the rain garden. Or maybe they get in the sand and play with their grandkids. I guarantee you, something good will happen. It always does."

~ Bret Maloney

Brett Maloney Landscapes

Plan your trip by state or by date with The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Directory: The 2009 Guide to Visiting America's Gardens. Includes one free admission ticket to any participating garden, a $5 value. Order from the Garden Conservancy ($21.95 includes shipping and handling) or join the Garden Conservancy as a member and receive a free copy, 1-888-842-2442.

National sponsors for The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program are W. Atlee Burpee & Co and Garden Design Magazine.

For more details, read my story in Lake Erie Lifestyle magazine.