Art, Gardening, People

South of the Border to Bedrock Gardens in Lee, New Hampshire

76 Comments

“The property was a 37-acre dairy farm that had been abandoned for about 40 years. The first years were clearing out the acres of poison ivy, and the pucker-brush. Work on the farm as a landscaped project started about 1987….Bed by bed, gardens were eked out. In 1991, a wildlife pond was added….Now, about 2/3rds of the property is garden.”
—From the Bedrock Gardens website.

Thursday was quite a day for this homebody. In my trusty red Honda Fit, I traveled out of Maine to go to Bedrock Gardens in Lee, New Hampshire, where I met my blogging friend Judy of New England Garden and Thread.

We had hoped other bloggers from northern New England would be able to join us, but that did not work out. A busy time of year, I know.

But two is indeed company, and as soon as we met, we chatted as though we were old friends, which, in a way, we are. We have been blogging friends for many years and have gotten to know each other through our words about our lives in Maine and New Hampshire.

Here we are at the entry to fabulous Bedrock Gardens. Lovely Judy is on the left, and I am on the right.

And here are some pictures of Bedrock Gardens, a really wonderful place. I am afraid my pictures do not do justice to these beautiful  gardens with its many sculptures, most of them done by Jill Nooney, one of the founders who designed and planted Bedrock Gardens.

A faithful canine waited near the entrance to the gardens.

We went through the magic pathway,

where three guardians waited.

What was this lurking in the woods?

Or this?

Then there was this fine fellow.

Finally, a more tranquil scene.

After spending over two hours at Bedrock Gardens, Judy and I went a few miles down the road to Emery Farm Market and Café.  We had delicious bagel sandwiches, and we were able to sit on the café’s porch, where we could eat and chat as long as we wanted.

What could make this already excellent day any better? Why, an utterly delicious donut. (Longtime readers might remember my passion for donuts.)

All too soon, it was time to head home. But I was full of good memories and good food. As we would say in Maine, it was a finest kind of day.

I am hoping that meeting with Judy in the summer will be an annual event, perhaps in New Hampshire, perhaps in Maine. Such a great pleasure to meet with blogging friends.

 

 

 

76 thoughts on “South of the Border to Bedrock Gardens in Lee, New Hampshire”

  2. Judy’s place is beautiful, Laurie. I am glad you were able to get together. I am too far away here in Oregon to visit easily, but maybe someday when I am able to travel again.

  3. What a delightful post. Meeting up with a blogging friend and exploring such a special garden, complete with sculptures. Perfect! Thanks for sharing, Laurie.

  4. So fun! I have met a few blogger friends…at one time I knew how many but I’ve since forgotten. It’s always fun. Your garden adventure look like a great place to visit! I’ll have to add it to the things to see up that way if we ever get headed northeast again!

    1. So fun to meet blogging friends! Be sure to let me know if you head to the Northeast. I remember that you asked if you could pitch a tent in our yard. You certainly could!

  5. That sure does look like an apple cider doughnut. I sure do miss those! The garden looks like a fun place, and it’s great that you and Judy got to enjoy it together. I had to smile at the mention of the years it took to get rid of the poison ivy and that other plant. That sounds like the kind of long term effort that’s involved when it comes to getting rid of our invasive Chinese tallow tree.

  6. Well done, Laurie! Meeting some of my blogging friends face-to-face is a goal I hope to carry out one day, too. You’re fortunate to have seized the day to make it happen! I enjoyed traveling the garden with you two — the magic pathway is beautiful, and the tranquil scene is definitely that. Glad you could share your day with us … and perhaps encourage other blogging buddy meetups!

    1. I will have to check out if there any public gardens in southern Maine. I am not aware of any, but there might be something I haven’t heard of. In South Portland, there’s a delightful little park called Kettle Cove, which overlooks the ocean and Crescent Beach. When the weather is nice, it is a splendid place to bring chairs and have a picnic. So we can keep that in mind.

  12. Lovely to see you two getting together…two of my favourite people. I’d love to catch up with you both, and if I win the lottery, I’ll be there the next time you meet!

  14. If I lived closer I would love to join such a gathering. It’s a long haul from Central Texas! And it’s really, really hot and humid right now, so a bit of New England would be a treat.

  17. What an amazing day! I wish I could have attended but it’s a challenge for me to slip away. The good thing is that my library has summer passes for the Bedrock Gardens so I might be able to take the kiddos at some point!! So glad you had fun and that donut looks amazing!

  18. Thanks for taking us along! I was grateful for the bit of context in the introduction of your post: what an enormous undertaking! That information made your account all the sweeter. My favorite sculpture is the saw-nosed fellow on the tree stump. It was topped only by the donut (!) and your joy of meeting a blogging friend (!!).

    1. Thank so much! Wish you could have been there in person. I did feel that Bedrock needed an introduction. What a wonderful place, a labor of love. All in all, a finest kind of day topped by a delicious donut. I could have one right now. 😉

  21. What a great place to meet up and enjoy some time together, Laurie. Maybe next year more bloggers will join in. The Gardens sound wonderful and a huge labor of love. Happy Solstice!

  22. Thank you for letting us know about Bedrock Gardens. What a magical place! It sounds like a magical day, Laurie. I bet you were plum tuckered out by the time you got home. xo

    1. Bedrock is magical. Well worth visiting. I was tuckered out. But even so I went to a retirement party that night. Phew, a big day for this homebody.

  23. Lovely that you could meet up with your blogging friend. The gardens definitely seem worthy of a visit, and that dog sculpture looks wonderful (as does the donut! 🙂)

    1. Thanks, Tanja! Yes, many hands helped create the garden, but it seems to have been the brainchild of two people, who also put in a lot of work. Extraordinary vision.

  25. I loved your pictures Laurie! Great to see you and Judy and be able to picture you when I read your posts. That garden is amazing! I love the avenue of trained trees and what fabulous sculptures! I like gardens of all kinds and always come away with ideas for mine but ones with mostly green and lots of space suit me better than formal dense planting. And not-plants to look at adds extra.

    1. Many thanks! Always fun to see pictures of our blogging friends. To me, Bedrock Gardens was a place to be admired rather than a place to get ideas for my own garden. However, I love sculpture gardens. They appeal to my sense of fantasy and whimsy as I’m sure you gathered from the post.

  26. As far as I know, co-founder Jill Nooney is the brains behind all the amazing sculptures. She used to scout for big old crazy farm machinery and the like that showed her possibilities other folks don’t see.

  30. Meeting blogging friends in person is an amazing gift. I’ve made so many friendships through this blogging world. I know you have, too. You chose a fabulous place to walk, talk, and enjoy the views. I’m happy for both of you, Laurie.

  34. It’s heartwarming to think of you and Judy able to enjoy a garden together and to share it with us, in our different places around the world.

Comments are closed.