BELFAST — At the 1849 home of Judy and David Bond in Belfast, hollyhocks, phlox, and daisies are just some of the heirloom plants that evoke the grace and charm of a 19th-century English cottage garden.
The public is invited to tour the Bonds’ garden at 15 Congress St. in Belfast Saturday, Aug. 5, during the Belfast Garden Club’s summer event series, Open Garden Days. Their garden will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine. Admission is $5, helping support the club’s public service projects throughout the year. It is the seventh of nine private gardens the club is showcasing on Saturdays through Aug. 19.
The Bonds retired to Belfast from Massachusetts in 2014, bringing their love for cottage gardens with them. David was a real estate appraiser, Judy, a cardiac nurse. Their historic brick home on Congress sits on one-third of an acre with a level and open area for gardening.
The previous owners had created a fenced vegetable garden that was amply fertilized by a flock of chickens. The couple has continued to maintain these successful vegetable plots, adding three circular gardens, planted densely and informally, Judy Bond says, with the “old, old plants” of the cottage-garden style.
In addition to hollyhocks, phlox, and daisies, visitors will also find such heirloom garden classics as coneflowers, clematis, bee balm, sedum and lavender. Along a backyard fence, the Bonds have planted grapes, blueberries and rhubarb.
“We put in what we like,” Judy says, “If it doesn’t work after two years, we try something else.”
To support the Bonds’ substantial gardening habit, their son built them a large, shingled garden shed. There visitors will find seating and refreshments on Aug. 5.
For more on the Open Garden Days schedule, visit belfastgardenclub.org. Proceeds support the garden club’s school programs, camp scholarships, library donations, and Belfast’s public gardens.