With the spring weather here to stay, the Garden State begins to live up to its nickname.
Many locations have special gardens, events, trails and activities planned for spring.
KEYPORT GARDENWALK
The 14th Annual Keyport GardenWalk will be held on Saturday, June 7, and Sunday, June 8, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This event was first started in 2012 and has quickly grown to be one of the top tourist attractions for Keyport. Each year the Garden Club of Keyport’s members transform their yards into peaceful retreats, colorful oases, and productive vegetable gardens.
This allows the gardeners to showcase their gardens and share their expertise and creativity. Each year, thousands of visitors take self-guided tours through public and private gardens. Tourists discover perennial gardens in Keyport’s neighborhoods and learn about the environmentally beneficial rain gardens along Keyport’s waterfront.
The garden club’s website states, “We believe that a garden is more than just a collection of plants – it’s a space that can inspire, relax and rejuvenate, to make each GardenWalk an event for the community to remember.”
This is a two-day event throughout Keyport, filled with art, music, and educational speakers. While this is a free event, the club will be accepting donations.
The garden club will also be collaborating with Musicians on a Mission, a local nonprofit organization that exists to create connections and inspire giving through music. The GardenWalk will be showcasing local performers with live music all day throughout the town. To learn more information, visit keyportgardenclub.com.
RUTGERS GARDENS
The Rutgers Gardens, located at 130 Log Cabin Road, New Brunswick, is a 180-acre botanic garden, consisting of designed gardens, farms, plant collections, natural habitats and a farmers market.
As part of Rutgers University, Rutgers Gardens provides experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and serves as a living laboratory for faculty and staff to better serve plant science research, landscape architecture and the nursery and public horticulture industry.
Flower and vegetable varieties designated as All-America Selections (AAS) are showcased in display gardens of annuals and a few perennials, all grown from seed. The Art Rudolph Sun and Shade Garden features plants that grow in part-sun or part-shade conditions. A two-acre bamboo grove and the 60 acres of Helyar Woods, an old-growth forest of oak, birch and maple trees, are popular places to seek relief from the heat.
There are over a dozen different gardens and environments for visitors to enjoy.
Rutgers Gardens is open year-round from Tuesday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission is free. For more info, go to rutgersgardens.rutgers.edu.
DEEP CUT GARDENS
Deep Cut Gardens, 152 Red Hill Road, Middletown, features 54 acres of gardens and greenhouses that act as a living catalog of cultivated and native plant materials to be observed through the seasons.
Part of the Monmouth County park system, Deep Cut Gardens is renowned for its 52 varieties of roses, grown on a parterre, a flat, often ornamental garden area featuring symmetrical patterns made up of plant beds, low hedges or gravel, separated by paths.
The greenhouse is open during regular park hours, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. No pets are allowed at this location.
On May 17, Deep Cut Gardens will be hosting a native plant workshop and exchange. Both the exchange and the lecture are free and open to the public.
The lecture begins at 9:15 a.m. and will run for approximately an hour in the Gardener’s Cottage on the property. Lecturers will discuss using native plants in landscapes and garden preparation for climate change. Space is limited, available on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, go to monmouthcountyparks.com.
PRESBY IRIS GARDEN
The Presby Iris Memorial Gardens invites all to visit the “Rainbow on the Hill.” Given this name due to the variety of colors on site, this garden contains over 14,000 irises of approximately 3,000 varieties and produces over 100,000 blooms over the course of the season
Opening on May 15, this will be the 98th year of blooming. While admission is free, a suggested donation of $10 per person is appreciated.
The gardens, part of the Essex County parks system, were started as a memorial to Frank H. Presby, one of the founders of the American Iris Society and a leading citizen of Montclair.
Presby was an iris hybridizer and owned a curated iris collection. It was his expressed wish to give a collection of his favorite flower, the iris, to Montclair’s newly acquired Mountainside Park. Unfortunately, before he could carry out his plans, he died in 1924.
Three years later in 1927, Katherine Inness, the first curator of the Montclair Art Museum, acted on behalf of the Montclair Museum Board and presented to the Montclair government the project of establishing an iris garden as a memorial to Presby.
According to its website, “The proposed iris gardens would act not only as a place of remembrance, but would also draw in visitors and encourage educational projects such as teaching the care, history and hybridization of iris.”
The gardens also feature a bee sanctuary, dubbed PresBee Sanctuary. The garden’s journey toward establishing a bee sanctuary unknowingly began in 2007. That was the year the gardens eliminated pesticides and herbicides from the park.
The PresBee Sanctuary currently supports seven active hives with well over 100,000 Italian honeybees.
For more information, go to essexcountyparks.org.
RUDOLF W. VAN DER GOOT ROSE GARDEN
Passionate for roses in particular? The Rudolf W. van der Goot Rose Garden is the place. This garden is located Colonial Park, at 156 Mettlers Road in the Somerset section of Franklin Township. Admission is free.
This one-acre rose garden, part of the Somerset County park system, was established in 1971 and contains more than 3,000 roses of 345 labeled varieties. The collection includes popular modern hybrid roses and heirloom or “Old Garden roses,” which are varieties of roses grown before 1867.
“From late spring through fall, the roses present a changing scene of color, form, and fragrance. Peak bloom is celebrated in early June with the annual Rose Day Festival,” according to the park’s website.
The Rose Day Festival will be held on Saturday, June 8, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. This free event will feature live music, picnicking on the rose garden lawn, artisan craft vendors, rose sales and kids’ activities. There will also be a variety of food trucks. Pets are not permitted within the gardens. The rose garden and surrounding arboretum were part of the original Mettler Estate, which was once a working farm, dating back to the mid-1800s. In 1981, the garden was named in honor of Rudolf W. van der Goot, the first horticulturist with the Somerset County Park Commission, as a tribute to his efforts in designing and developing the garden.
The front garden was developed from features of the Mettler’s formal garden. Today this area features modern hybrid roses, urns with tree roses, a fountain and “The Grandmother’s Garden,” a bed planted with roses popular through World War II. The middle garden is framed by a rope trellis, which supports a variety of climbing roses and clematis, and beds with more of the modern hybrid rose collection. Along the garden’s perimeter are heirloom roses, which are cherished for their full blooms and intense fragrance. The fence boasts some of the collection of rambling roses.
The central walk is named in honor of Millicent Fenwick, a four-term Republican Congresswoman from New Jersey and United States representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. These beds are planted with a collection of polyantha and miniature roses and provide seating under a pergola covered with native wisteria and climbing roses.
The Dutch Garden is designed in the formal Dutch style, with raised beds framed by low-growing flowering plants. Here, the collection of modern hybrid roses is continued, along with more heirloom roses, native and species roses and pergolas covered in climbing roses. For more information, go to somersetcountyparks.org.
POLLINATOR POINT
For a smaller, very local garden, head to Pollinator Point, located next to the Point Pleasant Borough Municipal Complex, 2233 Bridge Ave., across from Community Park. Pollinator Park opened in 2023 and has quickly become a popular local destination.
With its small walking path, abundant native pollinators, plenty of shade and places to sit, this is a great spot for a lunch break. A brick walkway winds through the garden. Signage encourages visitors to learn more about the native plants in the garden and their benefits to both water quality and wildlife. QR codes placed on the placards allow visitors more in-depth information on each plant. On May 17, from 9 to 11:30 a.m., the garden club will be hosting a plant swap, where residents can bring a plant, grab a plant or just look at the other plants available. This event is free and open to the whole community.
MANASQUAN GARDEN TOUR
On Thursday, June 26, residents are welcomed to the streets of Manasquan for the 13th annual garden tour.
The event will run all day from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., where attendees can view over 10 curated private gardens throughout the borough. These local gardens have been lovingly created and tended by their home owners. Local artists and musicians will also be featured at various gardens.
Tickets can be purchased prior to the event for $30 from Eventbrite or by cash or check at several local stores in Manasquan such as Booktowne, Manasquan Lighting or Weston Gallery, all located on Main Street.
Day of tour tickets are $35 and can be purchased in the Parking Lot at St. Dennis Parish Center at 119 Virginia Ave. Tickets sold through Eventbrite are also picked up at the parish center.
The actual ticket will have a map with the locations of the local gardens.
Several restaurants in Manasquan will also be offering a 20% discount on lunch on the day of the tour for patrons with a ticket. Participating restaurants are Paramount Diner, Peach Pit Cafe, Town Grill, Squan Tavern and The Committed Pig.
In the event of rain, the decision on whether to reschedule the event to Friday, June 27 will be announced on the Manasquan Sea Lavender Garden Club Facebook page facebook.com/ManasquanSeaLavenderGardenClub, or residents can call 732-528-2198 to listen to a message about whether or not it has been rescheduled.
DUKE FARMS
Duke Farms, located at 1112 Dukes Parkway West, Hillsborough, is on the 2,700-acre estate of the tobacco heiress and environmentalist Doris Duke, who died in 1993. The estate, featuring over 500 species of plants and over 200 bird species. This massive nature preserve features nature trails and promotes conservation, boasting some rarer species of animals in New Jersey, such as elusive bobcats.
The mission of the Doris Duke Foundation, which operates the farms, is to build a more creative, equitable and sustainable future by investing in artists and the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research, child well-being and greater mutual understanding among diverse communities.
“Duke Farms is a center for environmental stewardship that restores nature, demonstrates equitable climate solutions and engages leaders through the work we do on our 2,700 acre campus and through the influence of the Doris Duke Foundation,” according to its website.
In addition to its walking and biking trails, the preserve also features the Orchid Range. This massive greenhouse is home to nearly 2,000 orchids, encompassing approximately 1,300 varieties. The collection includes both tropical and subtropical species, reflecting the diversity and beauty of orchids from around the world. Along with other conservation efforts for a variety of other species, Duke Farms also prides themselves on the conservation of Bald eagles.
Since 2004, a pair of bald eagles has nested on the property, drawing thousands of viewers annually via their live-streaming Eagle Cam. This can be found on their website at dukefarms.org/eagle-cam/.
REEVES-REED ARBORETUM
Reeves-Reed Arboretum, 165 Hobart Ave., Summit, is a nonprofit arboretum with landscapes that include natural woodlands, formal gardens, and open vistas that owe much to the 19th-century landscape architects Andrew Downing and Frederick Law Olmsted.
Each year, Reeves-Reed Arboretum hosts a diverse array of special events that bring the community together and celebrate nature. All these events can be found on its website, reeves-reedarboretum.org.
The arboretum is open seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. While admission is free, the grounds recommend a $10 donation per person.
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