My friend and I recently had the pleasure of taking in this magnificent garden and several others at the Gardens by the Sea tour. The event, which takes place in South Kingstown and Charlestown Rhode Island,  raises money for the Cross’ Mills public library. It is only one day, but we lucked out and the weather was perfect for visiting beautiful gardens.

The top photo was taken at Long Pond farm, a former sheep farm that occupies 50 acres next to a lovely pond. This post will focus on the Long Pond farm garden. I will  write about the other gardens in later posts.

You reach the house after slowly making your way down a very long driveway. One of the first things you notice is this Japanese maple. There is one on either side of the entrance.

The many large and venerable trees on the property, like this copper beech, made sections of the garden cool and pleasant during the heat of the day.

Looking back at the house, you can see the topography of the property, which is rather hilly.

When they renovated the house a couple of years ago, the owners added a roof garden, which, as you can see, is just getting established.

The hardscape is elegant, and provides interest throughout the garden, almost always with a focus on the pond.

Maybe this is where the sheep used to graze. The family also keeps bees, but we did not see any hives.

A parting view of Long Pond, on a sparkling early summer day.

I’ll be writing about the other amazing gardens in upcoming posts.