Public Gardens Day On May 12 Offers Free Tours Of Bridge Gardens, LongHouse Reserve, Madoo Conservancy

It’s a challenge to keep up with Rick Bogusch, the manager of Bridge Gardens on Mitchell Lane in Bridgehampton, as he trudges through the grass. The weather recently has been chilly and wet, and he needs to work double-time to ready the grounds, part of the Peconic Land Trust, for National Public Gardens Day on Friday, May 12.

If you didn’t know about National Public Gardens Day, don’t feel bad. It was only recently instituted, in 2009, by the American Public Gardens Association “to raise awareness of public gardens and the important role they play in their communities and on a global scale,” according to its website.

And on the South Fork, Bridge Gardens is one of a horticultural triumvirate—along with LongHouse Reserve and the Madoo Conservancy—that are opening their garden gates to the public for a day of tours and talks, free of charge, on the 12th.

“We team up with our sister gardens,” Mr. Bogusch said, referring to LongHouse and Madoo. “We have an open day with scheduled tours at each garden, but you can also tour on your own if you prefer.”

Bridge Gardens, in particular, is a demonstration garden—one where homeowners and professional landscapers can learn about sustainable gardening practices, including organic approaches to lawn care, a focus on using native grasses and plants, many of which are being grown from seed, and organic vegetable and fruit gardening.

This year, Mr. Bogusch is particularly excited about adding currants to the roster of small fruiting plants that Bridge Gardens will cultivate—they’ve been on the “no-grow” list since 1911, due to a white pine blister rust, and were only recently reintroduced in the United States.

He is a strong proponent of National Public Gardens Day, which he says draws a different crowd from the usual garden-goers, sometimes from farther west. It’s important, he said, for everyone “to have an opportunity to learn more about public gardens and what they provide —which is recreation, education and inspiration.”

Alex Feleppa at LongHouse Reserve on Hands Creek in East Hampton couldn’t agree more. Although mid-May is a little early to see very much in bloom, the last few National Public Gardens Days, at least since he’s been the horticulturist at LongHouse, have seen a steady stream of newcomers.

“They’re often daytrippers. They often come from up-island. And by giving them free admission it opens up the door.” He said the three local landmark gardens work together well. “Jack [Lenor Larsen, LongHouse’s founder] was so forward thinking, not only to create this place, but to want to open it up. Along with Bob Dash’s vision for Madoo and Bridge Gardens, we all offer a different experience. We don’t have to be competitive with each other.”

Alejandro Saralegui, the executive director of the Madoo Conservancy in Sagaponack, said, “National Public Gardens Day offers an opportunity for the three major public gardens of the East End to work together to further garden appreciation, and working with Bridge Gardens and the LongHouse for the third year in a row is a pleasure. We live in a unique environment and to be able to share beautiful built environments with the public is important.”

Madoo is celebrating reaching its half-century mark this year, and the summer house and studio are undergoing restorations that should be done by mid-June. But for those without massive lands or art studios, Mr. Saralegui still feels that a visit to Madoo can encourage visitors.

“Opening our gardens to the public for National Public Gardens Day free of charge allows the public to appreciate the gardens in their own backyard,” he said.

When observing the arc of human history, public gardens are a fairly new addition. Until the mid-17th century, gardens were for nobility only, used for hunting and exhibiting flora and fauna curios brought from far-off lands. But when, through public outcry, the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris was opened to the bourgeoisie in 1667, the people finally knew what they had been missing.

Over the next 100 years, public gardens began to pop up all over Europe. They had little in common with the gardens we think of today. As Bill Bryson puts it in his book “At Home: A Short History of Private Life,” “For one thing, they were luridly colorful: paths were filled with colored gravel, statues were brightly painted, bedding plants were chosen for the intensity of their hues. Nothing was natural or understated. Hedges were shaped into galloping topiary … Formality ruled.” It was not uncommon to build a small hermitage in a park, and pay some poor soul a few pennies a year to live in it as a hermit. It was the brilliant efforts of garden architects, like Capability Brown and William Kent, to actualize the more natural vision of the gardens enjoyed today.

For a time, in this country, rural graveyards were all the rage for a quiet afternoon with friends. Mount Auburn Cemetery, which opened in 1831 in Boston, was a popular park with natural plantings and views over the city. “Today Mount Auburn continues its historic dual role as a sacred site and pleasure ground,” the website propounds.

There are several contenders for the first public gardens in America, including those in Boston, Washington, New York and Philadelphia, but it’s the former Magnolia plantation outside of Charleston, South Carolina, that wins the prize. Although preceded by a few public parks, including Central Park, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, which opened in 1872, was the first official public gardens featuring thousands of blooms in an array of colors to be enjoyed by the public.

“We’re so used to the ‘haves,’ and their estates and their private gardens, and I want to provide that experience for everybody. That’s what public gardens do. We’re biological creatures,” Mr. Feleppa at LongHouse said. “We get further distracted by the gadgets and technology, but we have a biological affinity toward nature. And we need to connect with nature on a regular basis.”

Although visitors are welcome to visit all three gardens throughout the day on Friday, May 12, tickets should be reserved for the more formal, but free, one-hour guided tours at each place—10:30 a.m. at Bridge Gardens, 1 p.m. at Madoo Conservancy and 3 p.m. at LongHouse Reserve—since space is limited. Tour reservations can be made by contacting the Peconic Land Trust at 631-283-3195 or events@peconiclandtrust.org.