Weekend Spotlight: Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council's Garden Tour

Treat yourself to a day of beauty in two of the North Fork’s most scenic areas this coming Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wander and weave through five of Cutchogue and New Suffolk’s inspirational gardens during a garden tour sponsored by the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council.

Have you ever driven past a home, admired the breathtaking landscape and wished you could take a closer look? The Garden Tour will afford you the opportunity to fully absorb the artistry at each location.

The tour begins at a Peconic Bayfront home where a master gardener and his wife have nurtured various gardening environments including a native cactus garden, an ornamental dwarf conifer garden and an organic vegetable and herb garden.  The second home, also on the bay, is “all about the view,” as the official ticket brochure states. Raised beds using Long Island field stone as retaining walls along the perimeter of this property provide year-round beauty. Wind-tolerant shrubs grace the sloping landscape to the beach with perennials and spring bulbs.

The third stop on the tour is an award-winning rose garden. You will feast your eyes upon exquisite hybrid tea roses. The owner of this home is a member of both the Manhattan and Long Island Rose Societies.

Fourth on the tour is the New Suffolk Community Garden. This is a volunteer garden in progress located across from

Last, but certainly not least, is a garden that hosts shade tolerant and deer resistant plants, ornamental grasses, and containers on the back patio overflowing with color all under a canopy of weeping red maples and tall oaks.

Bring your camera and photograph the plants you would like to nurture in your garden. A notepad would help to jot down the names of all the flowering plants, shrubs and organic vegetables you have admired from afar for so long.

Your official tour ticket acts as a detailed guide to each garden, along with a map, which clearly indicates the route to each address. Feel free to follow the designated route or tour as you see fit, stopping for lunch or a bit of shopping along the way.

The Garden Tour is the first fundraising effort the council is hosting for the newly built traditional post-and-beam frame Village Garage. The Village Garage was carefully constructed to house a vintage c.1926 Model T truck that was donated in 2010 by renowned antique car collector Parker Wickham, who recently died.

Tickets are $25.00,  available at Trimble's and Bloomstrings in Cutchogue or by calling 631-734-5642. Tickets will also be available the day of the tour at the refreshment table next to the Carriage House at the Cutchogue Village Green. Refreshments will be provided at the Village Green from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for all ticket holders.