Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program Includes Pasadena Gardens

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On Sunday, April 30th, six private gardens in Pasadena will participate in the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program, welcoming the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Open Day is rain or shine, and no reservations are required. Admission is $7 per garden or $35 for six tickets; children 12 & under free. Call 1-888-842-2442, or visit www.opendaysprogram.org for more information. An additional Open Day will take place in Los Angeles and Santa Monica on Sunday, May 7th.

Visitors may begin the Pasadena Open Day at the La Casita del Arroyo Garden, 177 South Arroyo Boulevard from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (each garden open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) for maps and to purchase discount admission tickets. This year all of the Pasadena gardens have been recently updated to reflect the water conservation efforts of our responsible owners, most of whom worked with notable area landscape designers and architects. Featured on the tour will be a 1906 Craftsman Chalet style home, softened and redesigned with river rock and brick paths, and the very last 1911-1912 Greene & Green Asian-influenced house built, where 3500 feet of lawn were replaced with a potager/herb garden. Nearby a classic Mediterranean 1920’s garden features a loggia, citrus filled parterres, and graceful garden “rooms.”

In the Langham Hotel area, admire a 1906 Craftsman home with a double lot garden that was completely re-landscaped with a stunning collection of drought tolerant grasses, roses and raised, colored corrugated steel vegetable planters.

And lastly, two side-by-side modernist mid-century homes with gardens tweaked differently: one with a small front permaculture outdoor vineyard dining area and a surprise tiny “plunge pool” in the rear, while next door the surprise is the rear garden with rusted steel planters filled with vegetables and succulents around a saltwater pool.

All Open Days gardens are featured in the 2017 Open Days Directory; a soft-cover book that includes detailed driving directions and vivid garden descriptions written by their owners, plus a complementary ticket for admission to one private garden. The directory includes garden listings in seventeen states and costs $27.95 including shipping. Visit www.opendaysprogram.org or call the Garden Conservancy toll-free at 1-888-842-2442 to order with a Visa, MasterCard or American Express, or send a check or money order to: the Garden Conservancy, P.O. Box 219, Cold Spring, NY 10516. Discount admission tickets are available as well through advanced mail order.

The Garden Conservancy introduced the Open Days program in 1995 as a means of introducing the public to gardening, providing easy access to outstanding examples of design and horticultural practice, and proving that exceptional American gardens are still being created. The Open Days program is America’s only national private garden-visiting program, and is made possible by the work of hundreds of volunteers nationwide. For more information, a complete schedule of Open Days, or to suggest gardens for inclusion in the program, visit the Garden Conservancy online at www.gardenconservancy.org.