Kirkwood Gardens Plant Sale beginning May 24

HOLDERNESS — Squam Lakes Natural Science Center holds its annual Kirkwood Gardens Plant Sale beginning Monday, May 24 at Kirkwood Gardens on Route 3 in Holderness. While Covid has put the Kirkwood Gardens Day event on hold this year, a wide variety of perennial plants will be available for self-serve purchasing on the bluestone terrace at Kirkwood Gardens. 

Kirkwood Gardens were dedicated in 1996 in honor of Grace “Sunny” Kirkwood, a landscape designer who served on the Board of Trustees from 1985 to 1991. Sunny designed the garden on the grounds of the historic Holderness Inn on Route 3 in Holderness. The garden includes both shade and sun beds planted with a wide variety of trees, shrubs, ferns, and flowers adapted to the northern New England climate. Plants that are attractive to birds, bees, and butterflies are central to the garden’s design.

Some highlights of Kirkwood Gardens include a 25-by 60-foot bluestone patio on the west side of the historic Holderness Inn, which provides a scenic place for visitors to view the garden or to sit in the summer shade.

A series of granite steps lead visitors from the shaded upper garden to the sunny, informal lower garden. Visitors may sit in the shade under ancient sugar maples and view the large variety of ferns, hostas, azaleas, rhododendrons, and other shade-loving plants in the upper garden.

Sun-loving shrubs, trees, and perennials thrive in the lower garden, where visitors may enjoy a lovely sculpture, set their clocks by the sundial, watch the hummingbirds from a circular bench under the old apple tree, or view birds and butterflies as they visit a central millstone fountain.

A beautiful wooden pergola covered with a variety of vines is located at the west end of the lower garden. A combination of cobbles, pavers, and river stones provide the surface under the pergola and highlight a large Lunaform pot in the planting bed beyond it.

Perennials plants at the Kirkwood Gardens plant sale are available on the bluestone terrace at the garden. Payment is at the self-serve kiosk. Kirkwood Gardens and the plant sale are generously sponsored by Belknap Landscape Company.

Information and directions to the gardens are available at nhnature.org.