A Conversation with Open Days Co-founder Page Dickey

“We should be doing this in America,” Page Dickey recalls thinking in the early 1990s, after several very personal and charming visits, many complete with tea and crumpets, to gardens that opened to the public as part of the United Kingdom’s National Garden Scheme. In 2020, Garden Conservancy Open Days, now a thriving program that has opened more than 4,000 private gardens in 41 states across America, marks the anniversary of its first 25 years in the United States, having welcomed more than 1.3 million visitors. To get a perspective on the origins and the evolution of Open Days from its co-founder, Garden Conservancy president and CEO James Brayton Hall chatted with Page Dickey about the program and changes in gardening over the years. Following is a lightly edited version of their exchange.

James Brayton Hall: Envisioning a new national program takes imagination and a certain amount of ambition; making it happen seems rather daunting. How does one even begin to create a national gardenvisiting program? Page Dickey: In the 1980s I was, for a time, on the board of the Royal Oak Foundation, the American wing of the National Trust, and enjoyed visits to England to see great Trust gardens, as well as some of the private gardens that opened for the National Garden Scheme and were listed in their famous Yellow Book. Of course those visits influenced my own garden, Duck Hill, in North Salem, NY. Knowing how much I learned in my travels from seeing other people’s gardens, I went one day in the early ’90s to my friend and fellow gardener Pepe Maynard with a question: Why didn’t we have in America a program like the National Gardens Scheme in England where private gardens were opened to the public for a day? Pepe and I decided to do something about it. Both of us were already on the Advisory Committee that Frank Cabot had created to help him launch the Garden Conservancy. We approached the Garden Conservancy for help, and, thanks to Frank’s adventurous spirit, were given full support to launch a program under the Conservancy’s aegis. That first year, we concentrated on the metropolitan New York and Connecticut region and, with the help of friends who volunteered their time, Pepe and I drew up a list of gardens we thought were special, then asked the owners if they would consider opening. Everything was done by word of mouth. We were initially concerned that garden owners might be worried about security. Much to our delight and surprise, almost everyone said yes and 110 gardens opened to the public in 1995. The small entrance fee helped with the cost of publicity, and the staff at the Garden Conservancy produced its first directory. Open Days was launched.

JBH: I’ve heard plenty of concerns about security related to house tours. That’s understandable: houses have antiques and things of value. It seems to be different out of doors. Why do you think that opening gardens is different from opening houses? PD: I think gardeners who create a landscape really enjoy sharing it. Not just sharing it, but also exchanging ideas, which is always exciting. You never tire of exchanging ideas and learning things in the garden. Over the years, I have had many kinds of groups come to see my garden. What distinguishes the people who come to visit the garden on Open Days is that they are genuinely interested in gardening and want to share gardening ideas. They are dedicated gardeners, engaged in a process of discovery. One June morning, for example, when Duck Hill was opening, as the clock struck ten, I thought, oh, no one is going to come because we’re old hat, open year after year. Just then, a van pulled up and out spilled fifteen people from Atlanta, GA. They had decided to do a trip north to see several Open Days gardens. They were all dedicated, serious gardeners and we had such fun talking together.

JBH: It’s a process of discovery and exchange. I’ve always said that gardeners are generous people. PD: I have found, almost without fail, that gardeners are generous. Some of my favorite plants are ones that people gave me years ago. Sharing of plants and ideas is somehow fundamental to gardening. I love seeing young people come to visit gardens, but it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing it, there’s still more to learn. It’s a little shocking how many plants you kill on the way. I like Thomas Jefferson’s statement, towards the end of his life, that he was “a very old man, but a young gardener.”

JBH: After a couple of years, I understand that Open Days, rather quickly, became a national program. How did Open Days grow beyond its origin in the Northeast? PD: For the first couple of years, Open Days was regional, very successful, but limited geographically to the New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey area. Then Frank Cabot started thinking he would like to make the program national. I was unable to take that task on myself, given my writing and family commitments, so he asked Janet Meakin Poor in Chicago if she would do it. She took it on, bringing in many contacts from around the country, and Open Days became a success story on a national stage. Our volunteers everywhere were awesome; I especially remember a woman in Austin, TX.

JBH: Most gardens are not complete until they have people in them. They are like a stage. People provide a sense of scale, they interact, they observe and comment. People are the last necessary ingredient to make a garden a success. What brings people back to see a garden year after year? PD: Gardens change, plants grow, the weather brings new challenges, and gardeners acquire new passions. I also like to see gardens in every season. I wish we could have Open Days in the winter, especially in gardens with great architecture and trees.

JBH: Gardens are an experiential activity, especially these days. They are full of unexpected occurrences and constantly asking to be re-invented. Topics evolve; we hear a lot about invasive plants and native plants these days. What has changed in Open Days and gardening over the years? PD: There’s a growing, almost revolutionary, interest in growing native plants. Doug Tallamy’s book Bringing Nature Home had a huge influence on me, explaining the many reasons that natives attract the most birds, bees, and butterflies. How we look at Nature with a gardener’s eye has changed. Gardeners are becoming vibrantly aware of habitat and landscape. There’s nothing like seeing plants in the native habitat, whether it’s Trillium grandiflora growing in sheets in northern New York State or fields of lavender in Europe. Gardeners have a growing awareness of the importance of paying attention to what plant is happy where. We’ve become more inclusive about what we consider to be a garden. We’re looking beyond garden walls and realizing that a garden can be more than a bed of flowers; it can be woodland walks and meadows. Who had a meadow garden in the 1950s or 60s?

The author of many gardening books and articles, Page Dickey has been gardening passionately since her early twenties. Co-founder of the Open Days program in 1995, she has served on the board of the Garden Conservancy since 2004. Page’s next book, Uprooted: A Gardener Reflects on Beginning Again, will be released in September.

GARDEN CONSERVANCY OPEN DAYS 1995 – 2020

1995 First Open Days season, with 110 gardens open in New York and Connecticut First annual edition of the Open Days Directory printed First meeting of Open Days regional ambassadors held in Cold Spring, NY

1997 First Open Days in western US: Carmel, CA, and Honolulu, HI

1998 Janet Meakin Poor becomes first chair of Open Days and leads a national expansion of the program Meeting of Open Days regional ambassadors in Birmingham, AL Sara Lee Corporation begins four-year sponsorship of program

2000 The Garden Conservancy launches a website and the Open Days schedule goes online

2001 W. Atlee Burpee & Co. sponsors Open Days program

2003 Fine Gardening magazine becomes national media sponsor for next three years 2005 James deGrey David becomes second national chair of Open Days Launch of regional Open Days email announcements and reminders Meeting of Open Days regional ambassadors in Newtown, CT

2006 Burpee returns as national sponsor and continues support through 2009 In October, Hicks Garden in Austin, TX, attracts 2,452 visitors on one Open Day

2007 Meeting of Open Days regional ambassadors in Austin, TX

2008 Open Days Directory becomes complimentary to Garden Conservancy members Open Days preview program and reception at Chicago Botanic Garden

2009 Open Days preview program and reception at Denver Botanic Gardens “Limestone & Water” symposium at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center held with Open Day in Austin, TX

2013 First Open Day in Charleston, SC, in partnership with Charleston Horticultural Society and Spoleto Festival USA 2014 An advisory committee of key Open Days participants from around the country meets in Cold Spring, NY, to explore future directions for the program

2015 The Garden Conservancy awarded the Wilfred J. Jung Distinguished Service Medal by the Garden Writers Association (now Garden Communicators International) for the Open Days program Digging Deeper educational series launches to supplement Open Days self-guided garden visits

2016 Printed Open Days Directory returns by popular demand after one-year hiatus

2017 After 23 years of directing the Open Days program, Laura Mumaw Palmer departs for new adventures

2018 Patrick MacRae joins Garden Conservancy as director of public programs and education, including Open Days

2020 Twenty-fifth anniversary of Open Days Garden Conservancy board of directors forms an Open Days Committee

1995 OPEN DAYS GARDEN HOSTS AND GARDENS STILL PARTICIPATING

Join us in thanking and celebrating the private gardens and the intrepid garden owners in New York and Connecticut who were among the first group of 110 gardens in 1995, the program’s inaugural year, and are still active participants in Open Days today! Some of the original gardens, such as Rocky Hills and the Sara Stein Garden, continue to open under the stewardship of new owners. Some of the original hosts now share new gardens in new locations and some now participate in the program as Digging Deeper presenters. To all of them, thank you for your continuing dedication and participation!

Broccoli Hall, Maxine Paetro Brush Hill Gardens, Charles Raskob Robinson & Barbara Paul Robinson Susan Cohen Page Dickey Hollister House Garden, George Schoellkopf Barbara & Thomas Israel Belinda & Stephen Kaye Vivian & Edward Merrin Lynden B. Miller Ellen Peterson Rocky Hills Anne Spiegel Sara Stein Garden Michael Trapp Phillis Warden Bunny Williams Peter Wooster