Matt Ingersoll writes about all things food and drink, covering new restaurants and following the most delicious foodie trends in the state. Reach him at [email protected].
• ’Cue it up: The Grazing Room at The Colby Hill Inn (33 The Oaks, Henniker) launched its Sunday Night Out event series earlier this month — every Sunday now through Aug. 29, the eatery will serve a local seafood raw bar, a special barbecue-themed a la carte menu, and flight trios of beer, wine and sake, in addition to hosting a different live music act each week courtesy of the New Hampshire Music Collective. Items include New Hampshire oysters on the half shell, jumbo shrimp cocktail or crab claws with cocktail sauce, grilled marinated octopus with tzatziki, a fried clam po’ boy with spicy kimchi and chili mayonnaise, and a cider-braised pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw. Seatings are outdoors, from 4 to 7 p.m. each evening, with reservations required. Visit colbyhillinn.com.
• Ready for tacos: Londonderry-based food trailer B’s Tacos is now open for its ninth season — you can find it outside the BP Gas Station (2 Mohawk Drive, Londonderry) every Tuesday through Saturday (exact times vary) through about October, serving up fresh items from tacos and burritos to taco salads and quesadillas, with fillings that include slow-cooked pork, seasoned ground beef, grilled chicken and chorizo sausage. B’s Tacos also now has a brick and mortar location at 372 Kelley St. in Manchester that is open year-round. Visit nhtacotruck.com or find them on Facebook and Instagram @bstacos.
• Foraged foods: Join the Beaver Brook Association for Wild Edibles, a program to be held at Maple Hill Farm (117 Ridge Road, Hollis) on Sunday, May 23, from 1 to 3 p.m. Presenter and clinical herbalist Rivka Schwartz will talk about the best methods and times for harvesting herbs and how to preserve them. The vitamins, minerals and health benefits of all kinds of wild edibles found in your garden will also be discussed. Attendees will participate in a wild harvest hike followed by preparing and eating foods they harvested. The cost is $22 for Beaver Brook members and $25 for non-members. Visit beaverbrook.org.
• New pasta-bilities: Table 8 Pasta in Bedford, a fast casual eatery specializing in customizable pasta dishes with scratch-made sauces and other ingredients, has assumed new ownership after three years in business. “We are passing the torch … [to] Lisa DeSisto, owner of Rig A Tony’s Italian Takeout and Catering, who we trust will keep our pasta lovers in good hands,” reads a May 9 Facebook post from Table 8 founders Mitch and Stacey DeBonville. “Table 8 will continue to operate during our normal business hours, serve our usual menu offerings and employ our regular … staff.” The post goes on to say that new menu items are expected to be added in the coming weeks, including sandwiches and salads, while catering orders with those expanded items can be placed by phone. Table 8 opened in the summer of 2018 in a 2,600-square-foot space that formerly housed the Royal Bouquet flower shop. DeSisto, who also took over ownership of Clam Haven in Derry last year, has owned Rig A Tony’s for two decades.
• A taste of Haiti: Pre-orders are available now for the next installment of Ansanm, a Haitian-themed dinner series brought to you by owner and executive chef Chris Viaud of Greenleaf and Culture in Milford, along with his family. Viaud, along with his parents Myrlene and Yves, siblings Phil, Kassie and Katie, wife Emilee and sister-in-law Sarah, all work together to create a menu of authentic Haitian dishes each month, offering both dine-in and takeout options at Greenleaf on Sunday, May 23. Items will include poule nan sós (stewed chicken in creole sauce) and griot (marinated pork), each available with side choices of rice, plantains or pikliz, a spicy vegetable slaw of carrots, cabbage, onions and peppers; as well as diri djon djon, a black mushroom rice dish popular in Haiti, potato and beet salad, a Haitian-style spaghetti, and pineapple upside down cake. Order by Saturday, May 22, at 5 p.m., by visiting toasttab.com/greenleaf/v3.
Beth Vine of Derry, also known as The Mad Baker (themadbaker.net and on Facebook and Instagram @themadbakernh), offers fresh items baked to order like focaccia bread, butter bread, cinnamon rolls and bread bowls for soups and chowders. A self-described “stress baker,” Vine began accepting orders for her cinnamon rolls and breads last October. Orders can be placed online through the website or by emailing [email protected], with pickups at an arranged time on Fridays at The Grind (5 W. Broadway, Derry). Vine will be participating in the Derry Homegrown Farm & Artisan Market, to be held at 1 W. Broadway on Wednesdays from 3 to 7 p.m., beginning June 2.
What is your must-have kitchen item?
I always have a pastry scraper, because it cuts nicely through the dough. But I like it mostly because I use it on a pastry board that was given to me by my grandmother-in-law, who was a master pie maker in the 1950s and ’60s.
What would you have for your last meal?
Scallops in Pernod, from Street & Co. in Portland, Maine. That is the best dish that I’ve ever had in my entire life.
What is your favorite local restaurant?
I’d probably go with the East Derry Tavern. It’s right around the corner from us — I walk down there a lot with my kids. Their tandoori nachos are delicious.
What celebrity would you like to see trying something that you’ve baked?
This is sort of terrifying, but my top choice would probably be Gordon Ramsay. I’m a huge fan of his. His Thanksgiving turkey [recipe] is such a glorious way to eat a turkey, and I don’t do it any other way now.
What is your personal favorite menu item that you offer?
My favorite is definitely the focaccia bread. A fresh focaccia out of the oven is about as good as you can get.
What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?
I would say cooking at home, especially during the pandemic.
What is your favorite thing to cook or bake at home?
Honestly, I like just baking with the kids. Nothing too complicated, just cookies or brownies or whatever. It can be messy and disorganized, but it’s always a great experience and builds memories.
Beth’s “One arm chicken Parm” Courtesy of Beth Vine of The Mad Baker in Derry (entire recipe can be made while holding a baby on one arm, as Vine, a mother of four, can attest)
Thinly sliced chicken breasts or tenders 1 egg ½ cup milk 2 cups Italian-style breadcrumbs ½ cup vegetable oil 1 jar of your favorite tomato pasta sauce Shredded mozzarella cheese
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Whisk egg and milk together. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then dredge in breadcrumbs. Lightly fry chicken pieces in vegetable oil, just until breadcrumbs are crispy. Place in an oven-safe dish and cover with sauce. Top with shredded cheese. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbling. Serve over your favorite type of pasta.
Pizza pies cooked in an imported Italian oven — and prepared by a fifth-generation pizza chef from Naples — will soon be available at a new spot coming to Bedford.
Gusto Italiano Market, on track to open in the coming weeks, will also be offering a variety of imported Italian items for sale, plus prepared meals, desserts and a selection of Italian wines.
The new market is the latest venture of husband and wife Matteo Ronzio and Francesca Dallora, who were both born and raised in Italy. The couple has also owned Real Italian Gusto Ristorante & Pizzeria in downtown Medford, Mass., since its October 2015 opening.
According to Dallora, she and Ronzio originally came overseas to the United States while on vacation in 2014, touring and falling in love with New England. They first settled in the Boston area before later moving up to Manchester in the summer of 2019.
“We were living in North Reading, [Mass.,] but New Hampshire was really our first love,” she said. “We were thinking also about having a second location once we moved up here.”
Last fall, Ronzio said, they came across the vacant building space on Wallace Road in nearby Bedford, a spot most recently occupied by The Wine’ing Butcher before its closure in 2019.
Unlike the couple’s Massachusetts location, which operates as a traditional dine-in Italian restaurant, the new space in Bedford will follow more of a grab-and-go concept. Imported items like cheeses, boxed pastas and bottled wines and olive oils will be available for sale out of a retail space. Ronzio said scratch-made meals like meatballs, lasagna and eggplant Parmigiana will also be prepared at Real Italian Gusto and brought up to Bedford for sale to go.
But Gusto Italiano Market will make a number of other items in house too, among them the Neapolitan-style pizzas. Plans are in the works to bring in a Valoriani-brand dome oven from Italy not available for sale in the United States, according to Ronzio. Ciro Langella, Real Italian Gusto’s chef, will come up to Bedford to help with the market’s opening once the oven arrives.
“Ciro is a fifth-generation pizza maker from Italy,” Dallora said. “He actually already had another place in Beverly, [Mass.,] where he was making pizzas before he joined us.”
Through a connection with the True Neapolitan Pizza Association in Naples, Dallora and Ronzio are also hiring Giovanni Russo, himself a third-generation pizza maker, to work with the oven.
Gusto Italiano Market’s pizza menu will be similar to that of its Massachusetts predecessor — the traditional margherita pizza, for instance, features fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and basil, while other options will include an Italian meatball lover’s pizza with ricotta, mozzarella, arugula and cherry tomatoes, and a pizza with grilled eggplant, peppers and zucchini. Dallora said a special pizza topping will also likely be created just for the Bedford space.
A few bar seats will be available by the pizza oven, with additional seating outdoors expected during the summer months. Ronzio said third-party delivery will also likely be an option soon.
Gusto Italiano Market An opening date is expected in the coming weeks. Visit their website or email them for updates. Where: 254 Wallace Road, Unit B, Bedford Hours: TBA More info: Visit gustoitalianomarket.com, or email [email protected]
Milford chef Keith Sarasin of The Farmers Dinner has written three books since 2018 — his latest, available May 18, is a whopping 800 pages filled with recipes using all kinds of meats, from beef, pork and poultry to lamb, goat and several species of wild game.
But more than a traditional recipe book, Meat: The Ultimate Cookbook also contains a variety of easy-to-learn techniques for the home cook, in addition to stories from local chefs and farmers Sarasin has worked with. Signed copies can be pre-ordered now through his website.
Structurally, the book is broken down into sections by protein, totaling more than 300 recipes with accompanying photography. Various guides and descriptions are provided, on everything from how to carve cooked meat to the different types of cuts you might use, as well as the importance of letting meat rest during the cooking process.
“There are some beautiful sections on techniques like braising for some of the tougher cuts, and stuff on how to break down parts of the animal properly,” Sarasin said. “There’s a subsection on burgers with some fun flavors … and then the pork section is massive with a lot of recipes. … There are tons of demis and sauces in there too that elevate so many dishes to another level.”
Sarasin, who has a passion for Indian cuisine, noted the diversity of recipes and concepts throughout the book. Chicken tikka masala and lamb vindaloo are among the featured dishes, as well as a masala braised short rib sandwich with cilantro chutney and Indian spices to give it an extra kick. Others include a rib-eye with salsa verde and porcini mushroom salt, and a rosemary and mustard marinated leg of lamb that’s garnished with parsley.
“There are a lot of nods to many different cuisines, from Korean to Indian to Chinese,” he said.
Sarasin also delves into less commonly consumed meats like venison, pheasant, rabbit and duck.
“It goes into things about how cooking duck breast is different from chicken breast, so woven in are some techniques there,” he said. “Those definitely have some Asian influence, like Peking duck.”
Featured farmers in the book include Noah Bicchieri of Arkhive Farm in Chester, which raises its own wagyu beef, and Carole Soule of Miles Smith Farm in Loudon, which offers its own grass-fed beef, locally raised lamb and pastured pork and poultry.
“The publishers … really gave me the freedom to do some creative things, and so I started contacting some farms that I knew I wanted to highlight in the book,” Sarasin said. “Some of these farms are real gems that not a lot of people know about.”
Several other chefs receive mention in the book too. George Bezanson of Earth’s Harvest Kitchen & Juicery in Dover contributed what Sarasin calls his “famous” pork belly, while Justin Dain, former executive chef of Pine at the Hanover Inn, shares a burger recipe.
Masala braised short rib sandwich with cilantro chutney Courtesy of Keith Sarasin, as seen in his new book Meat: The Ultimate Cookbook (serves at least 4)
3 pounds bone-in short ribs Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste 1 Tablespoon canola oil 1 large sweet onion, sliced 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon garam masala 1 teaspoon curry powder ½ teaspoon red pepper powder 1 teaspoon cumin powder 1 teaspoon coriander powder Kosher salt 1 16-ounce can tomatoes (or two large fresh tomatoes, chopped) 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger 4 cups beef broth 2 cups water 2 tablespoons cilantro chutney
Season the short ribs generously with salt. Heat the canola oil in a heavy-bottomed pot, over medium-high heat. Add the short ribs, working in batches if necessary, and brown on all sides (about 2 to 3 minutes per side). Remove and reserve. Add the onions and saute until beginning to brown (about 3 to 4 minutes). Stir in the garlic, ginger and tomatoes. Cook for about one minute, then add the cumin, curry powder, garam masala, red pepper and coriander powder. Pour in the beef stock to deglaze the pot. Scrape all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until the stock has reduced to about half. Add the short ribs back into the pot. Cover, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook for two hours or until tender. Once tender, let it rest for 20 minutes. Slice out the bone from the short rib, and assemble the sandwich with a bit of cilantro chutney on top.
Meat: The Ultimate Cookbook, by Keith Sarasin Available May 18 through Amazon, Simon & Schuster, or wherever books are sold. Visit keithsarasin.com to pre-order a signed copy.
Aatma pop-up dinner series Since launching The Farmers Dinner in 2012, Keith Sarasin has hosted nearly 100 farm-to-table events across New England in collaboration with other chefs, raising more than $125,000 collectively for local farms. In tandem with its ninth season, Sarasin is now also hosting a pop-up tasting experience specializing in food from the Indian subcontinent. Aatma, named after the Hindi word meaning “soul,” is a new collaboration between Sarasin and Tarun Bangalore, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and chef of Indian origin. “We’re taking modern plating concepts and techniques and essentially fusing them with regional Indian cuisine,” Sarasin said. “We want to teach people that Indian food is more than butter chicken and samosas. It’s so much more diverse than that.” While Aatma’s debut dinners scheduled for May 16 and May 17 are sold out, more are expected to be announced in the coming weeks and months. Visit thefarmersdinner.com/aatma or follow them on Facebook and Instagram for updates.
Feautred photo: Meat: The Ultimate Cookbook is the third book from Chef Keith Sarasin of Milford, owner of The Farmer’s Dinner farm-to-table pop-up dinner series. Courtesy photo.
• More Greek eats to go: Join St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral (650 Hanover St., Manchester) for its next Taste of Glendi event on Saturday, May 15, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. This will be another “Gyro Day” drive-thru pickup event similar to what the church held last fall, where attendees can get a meal featuring a gyro with a lamb and beef mixture on pita bread with lettuce, tomato and tzatziki sauce, a bag of chips and a drink for $10 per person (payment is by cash only; no advance ordering necessary). If you can’t make St. George’s event, Assumption Greek Orthodox Church (111 Island Pond Road, Manchester) is holding its next drive-thru food fest on Saturday, May 22, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., with orders being accepted now through May 18. This month’s menu is all about grilled meats, featuring items like open-face lamb and beef gyro plates or grilled chicken souvlaki plates, as well as tossed Greek salads with the option to add chicken or gyro meat. The church will also be selling desserts and pastries, like loukoumades (fried dough balls), homemade Greek rice pudding, and koulourakia (crisp braided butter cookies). This event is also pickup only (stay in your car; no walk-ins). Visit foodfest.assumptionnh.org.
• Henniker market returns: The Henniker Community Market will kick off its outdoor season on Thursday, May 20, from 4 to 7 p.m. in the town’s Community Center park (57 Main St.), coordinator Monica Rico confirmed. The market will continue every Thursday during those times through Oct. 21, and is expected to feature a variety of local vendors throughout the season selling fresh produce, meats, artisan products and more. Find them on Facebook @hennikercommunitymarket.
• The Beach Plum opens in Salem: The Beach Plum, a local eatery known for its fried seafood and ice cream options as well as lobster rolls, foot-long hot dogs, burgers, sandwiches and chowders, opened its newest year-round location on May 1 in Salem’s Tuscan Village plaza (8 S. Village Drive). This is The Beach Plum’s fourth location — the others are in Epping and Portsmouth, both of which are open year-round, and in North Hampton, which is typically open from March to October. The Salem location is open Sunday through Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Visit thebeachplum.net/salem to view their menu.
• Historical brews: The Whipple Free Library in New Boston is partnering with New Hampshire Humanities to present Brewing in New Hampshire: An Informal History of Beer in the Granite State from Colonial Times to the Present, a virtual event set for Thursday, May 20, at 7 p.m. via Zoom. Presenter Glenn Knoblock will explore the history of New Hampshire’s beer and ale brewing industry from the colonial days, when it was more home- and tavern-based, to the modern breweries and brewpubs of today. Several lesser-known brewers of New Hampshire will be discussed, including the only brewery owned and operated by a woman before the modern era. Admission is free. Visit nhhumanities.org to register — you’ll then be emailed a Zoom link prior to the talk.
Get all of the flower-filled beauty with none of the work at public gardens
Plenty of people like working in the garden, planting and pruning and watching things grow. But there’s something to be said about relaxing in a luxurious garden where you don’t have to lift a finger to reap its rewards. Public gardens are the perfect opportunity to enjoy stunning displays of nature, from flowers that are bursting with color to vibrant trees, grasses and water features. So take a break from weeding — or from endlessly watching HGTV in the hopes that you’ll be inspired to do some weeding — and check out some of these public gardens.
Fuller Gardens
10 Willow Ave., North Hampton964-5414,fullergardens.org
Colorful history: Fuller Gardens is a public, nonprofit botanical garden that dates back to 1927, when Massachusetts Gov. Alvan Fuller commissioned a landscape architect for his summer estate, known as Runnymede-by-the-Sea. In the ’30s, Fuller — also a successful businessman who started the first auto dealership in Boston — hired another firm to improve those gardens and to create a rose garden to honor his wife, Viola. Since then, the garden has expanded even more, with additions like a Japanese garden and a dahlia display garden.
The brains behind the beauty: Jamie Colen has been the garden director at Fuller since 1999, and there’s a staff of seven that works at the gardens seven days a week.
Standout features: Three acres of gardens featuring annuals and perennials, water features, a koi pond, ornamental statuary and more. Fuller is best known for its roses, Colen said, with about 1,700 rose bushes and approximately 125 varieties.
Growing season: At Fuller Gardens, getting the space ready for its busiest time of year starts in February and March, with work in the greenhouse. There are thousands of pots that have to be replanted, and then the crew gets outside to start the maintenance, like making sure the underground irrigation system is working and undoing all of the winterization that they did back in December, like tying the rose bushes and preserving the statuary and other parts of the garden’s hardscape.
“We basically take care of an outdoor museum,” Colen said.
And yes, there’s raking and pruning and weeding, too. What you won’t see, though, is the crew using bark mulch, a staple gardening supply for many home gardeners.
“Bark mulch is really acidic and you’re putting it on plants that like a neutral pH,” Colen said.
Fuller Gardens is also “virtually pesticide-free,” using potassium bicarbonate to keep the roses pest-free. Colen said they make a point of working with nature, not against it.
“We mow three times a week, no chemicals — there’s no magic here,” he said. “We have some clover. It looks great [and] takes a lot of abuse.”
Your garden experience: Because they do succession planting, there’s never a bad time to see the gardens, Colen said.
“It’s a beautiful design because there’s something in bloom all the time,” he said.
The roses start blooming at the end of June and are often still blooming until November, growing as high as 12 feet tall, Colen said.
“The first bloom is probably the biggest, but it’s not the most spectacular,” he said.
Whenever you choose to go, you can walk through the gardens at your leisure.
The details: Fuller Gardens opened for the season on May 10 and will remain open through mid-October, seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The cost of admission is $9 for adults, $8 for seniors, $6 for students with an ID, $4 for kids under 12 and no charge for infants who are carried.
Photos courtesy of Fuller Gardens.
The Fells
456 Route 103A, Newbury763-4789, thefells.org
Colorful history: The Fells, which encompasses 83 acres of woodlands and grounds and nearly half a mile of undeveloped Lake Sunapee shoreline, is located in Newbury and is the former summer home of American writer and diplomat John M. Hay (1838-1905), who began acquiring abandoned sheep farms in the late 1800s and ultimately owned nearly 1,000 acres of land. His son Clarence inherited the property when John Hay died in 1905, and he and his wife Alice transformed the rock pasture into extensive formal and informal gardens. In 1960 the Hays deeded 675 acres to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests to protect it from development, and the remainder was deeded to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the ’70s.
The brains behind the beauty: HorticulturistNick Scheu has been the landscape director at The Fells for three seasons and has an assistant and typically two interns in the landscape department.
Standout features: There are eight major gardens at The Fells, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Scheu said The Fells is well known for its rhododendrons, and he particularly likes the heath and the heather, and the “lovely” perennial border that dates back to 1909. There’s also a poetry walk and an ecology trail. On the property this year will be the Art in Nature 2021 Sculpture Exhibit, with pieces that areintegrated into the surrounding landscape and are based on the theme “Stillness & Motion.”
Growing season: Getting the property ready for the spring season starts in mid-March, Scheu said, when they start uncovering winterized plants and pruning the fruit trees and shrubs. Scheu runs pruning workshops throughout the spring, specific to blueberries, apple trees, spring bloomers and more, plus potting workshops that have participants potting seed and planting plugs for both The Fells and their own home gardens.
Your garden experience: Though the landscape will evolve throughout the spring and summer, “We hope we have things in flower pretty much from May to September or November,” Scheu said. Different plants do shine at different times, though, he said, noting that the rhododendron and azaleas are especially nice from mid-May to mid- to late July, while the asters in the fall are on full display and attract hundreds of butterflies.
“Early summer gardens are always a joy to see,” Scheu said. “[They have] really great colors and new growth appearing from Memorial Day to the end of June.”
The Fells offers guided garden tours each day that the Main House is open (see details below), and there’s a free guided hike on the first Thursday of every month. At any time, you can “casually walk the grounds and enjoy whatever is flowering,” Scheu said.
He said there’s often wildlife to see too — he had just left a fox den full of babies, and it’s not unusual to have deer, bear and fisher cats roaming the property.
Scheu suggests that prior to visiting The Fells guests should look at the extensive website, which includes maps of the property, a calendar of events and other useful information that can enhance the experience.
The details: The gardens and trails at The Fells are open daily year-round, and visitors may hike the trails and visit the gardens from dawn until dusk. The Fells’ Main House opens for the season on Saturday, May 29, and will be open on weekends until the summer season begins on June 16, at which point it will be open Wednesdays through Sundays until Sept. 6, when it reverts back to weekends and Monday holidays only, through Columbus Day. The hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. When the Main House is open, the cost of admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students, $4 for kids 6 to 17, free for kids 5 and under, and $25 for families of two adults and two or more children ages 6 or above. When the Main House is closed, admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and students, $3 for children and $15 for families of two adults and two or more children ages 6 or above. Winter admission, December through March, is $5 per household, payable at the self-serve Welcome Kiosk. Admission is always free for active military members and veterans, and their immediate family.
Forty-minute guided tours of the gardens, included in the cost of admission, are offered Wednesday through Sunday, Memorial Day weekend through Columbus Day weekend. Tours begin in Rose Garden at 11 a.m.
Scheu will host the next potting workshop on Saturday, May 22, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. The $5 per person fee includes a sample of plant specimens to take home. Reservations are required; call 763-4789, ext. 3. Check the website’s list of events for all kinds of activities scheduled throughout the remainder of the year.
Rose terrace at The Fells. Photo courtesy of thefells.org.
Bedrock Gardens
45 High Road, Lee828-8300, bedrockgardens.org
Colorful history: The original farmhouse at Bedrock Gardens dates back to the 18th century, and the property was a dairy farm from 1845 to 1957. It was sold to the present owner in 1980 on a handshake, the 37 acres having been abandoned for about 40 years. It was first cleared of poison ivy and puckerbrush, and the landscaping project started around 1987, adding access to roads along with garden beds and a wildlife pond. About two-thirds of the property is now gardens.
The brains behind the beauty: Led by Executive DirectorJohn Forti, Bedrock Gardens also has a group of volunteers and a small ground crew. The founders are still very involved: “The two of them are like having a staff of a dozen,” Forti said.
Standout features: One main focus at Bedrock Gardens is showcasing rare and unusual native plants. “Everything looks vaguely familiar, but [for example], you’ve never seen a maple quite like that,” Forti said. There’s the ornamental Grass Acre — “the space was designed to look like an impressionist painting,” Forti said. “It evolves through the whole season.” There’s also a spiral garden, a rock garden, a Japanese Tea House and garden, and a serpentine waterway that Forti particularly likes, with its lotus and water lilies and the sense of motion that it adds to the landscape.
Growing season: “We are a garden that looks at sustainability,” Forti said. “We’re not racing to put out tens of thousands of annuals in the spring. … We really rely on perennials.
Of course there are a few garden cleanup days, plus planting the annuals and improving soil quality, he said, but the garden is laid out on a sort of grid system so that everything is easy to get to and maintain.
Your garden experience: “Unlike a lot of other public gardens, it’s not a single design space — it’s a landscape journey,” Forti said. “Over the course of 37 acres it keeps you moving through room after room, and each space has its own feeling and emotion.”
Forti said there are a number of ways to enjoy the garden, whether you want to take a walk along the mile-plus of walking trails, get a guided tour to learn about the gardens, or just relax. Forti said that one volunteer has said that when she walks through the gardens her blood pressure goes down about 20 points.
“Some people are just going there to quiet their minds … [and] enjoy nature,” he said. “They love to relax into the landscape. … You might be relaxing and reflecting by a pond and then move on … to a different garden.”
He said you can spend a couple hours there or a whole day — and there’s no “best” time of the year to visit.
“It’s so different by the season, and that’s … part of its design,” he said.
The details: Bedrock Gardens opened for the season on May 12 and is open Tuesday through Friday, and the first and third weekends of the month, through Oct. 11. The hours each day are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There’s a suggested donation of $10 per adult; children 12 and under get in free. Daily overview garden tours are offered Tuesday through Friday at 10:15 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 10:15 a.m. and 1 p.m., when open. The guided tours are free with admission. You can also take a self-guided tour and spend as much time as you want on the property; you will be given a map with a suggested route.
Rose terrace at The Fells. Photo courtesy of thefells.org.
Kirkwood Gardens
Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, 23 Science Center Road, Holderness, 968-7194, nhnature.org
Colorful history: Kirkwood Gardens is about an acre in size and was created on the grounds of the historic Holderness Inn, in the space of a former parking lot. In trying to figure out what should take the place of the parking lot, a plan put together by internationally known landscape designer — and six-year Science Center trustee — “Sunny” Grace Kirkwood won out. It used plants that are adapted to grow well in New Hampshire and that are attractive to birds, bees and other pollinators, according to resident garden expert Brenda Erler. Erler said Kirkwood was very elderly when she was designing the garden. “Her nurse would actually bring her to the gardens, complete with her oxygen tank, and she would just sit for hours and watch the shadows to see how [the sun would hit the plants],” Erler said. The entire community pitched in to make the design happen, from an anonymous gift to amend the soil to area garden centers and local residents donating plants, garden features and labor. Kirkwood only survived long enough to see the upper garden planted, Erler said; that was completed in August 1996, and Kirkwood died in September. “It was the last garden that she ever donated in the United States,” Erler said.
The brains behind the beauty: According to Marketing Manager Amanda Gillen, Brenda Erler is the “expert on all things Kirkwood Gardens.” Erler has been at the Science Center since before the gardens were designed, and she leads a group of volunteers in maintaining the gardens.
Standout features: A 25- by 60-foot bluestone patio offers scenic views and a place to sit in the summer shade. The upper garden has a variety of ferns, hostas, azaleas, rhododendrons and other shade-loving plants, while the lower garden features sun-loving shrubs, trees and perennials, a sundial and a millstone fountain that attracts birds and butterflies.
Growing season: Erler said that each season she and a group of volunteers do the pruning and cleanup of winter debris as well as improvements and enhancements. “We keep kind of adding things to the fringes and [consider the] things we want to improve the looks of, [like] the exits, the entrances.” She said at the start of the season the volunteers do a walkaround to see how the plants are doing and whether any need to be replaced or moved, and they figure out which annuals to plant.
Your garden experience: “People will see plants that will work well in their yard,” Erler said, noting that the plants have been labeled and a kiosk has information for every plant, including their growing conditions, to help anyone who might want to bring something home for their own garden. “You can spend time learning about the plants or just sitting on one of the benches and enjoying it,” Erler said. “People use the garden in all different ways.” There’s also a list of birds and butterflies to help people ID them.
Erler said that while the bulbs are “going like mad right now,” the gardens always have something to offer.
“Sunny was just a master at designing things, and there’s always something in bloom,” she said. “It changes radically through the seasons.”
One of Erler’s favorites is Joe Pye weed, a native plant that grows in wetlands.
“Most of the year people just ignore it, but when it goes into bloom the butterflies absolutely lose their minds over it,” she said. “There are so many monarchs hanging on it.”
Details: Kirkwood Gardens is open to the public daily, and there is no cost to get in and no need for reservations. However, if you want to spend a day at the Squam Lakes Science Center, admission is $18 for adults and seniors and $13 for ages 3 to 15, and it includes the live animal exhibit trail and all hiking trails. Trail passes must be pre-purchased online before arriving at the Science Center. The live animal exhibit trail and hiking trails are open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last trail admission is 3:30 p.m.).
More public gardens Here are a few other public gardens to check out. If you know of any more beautiful public spaces like these, let us know at [email protected].
Maple Hill Gardens Beaver Brook Association, 117 Ridge Road, 465-7787, beaverbrook.org The 13 theme gardens, wildflower trail and natural play area are open to the public daily. The gardens are maintained by volunteers, and garden tours and presentations are available.
Prescott Park Marcy Street, Portsmouth, 610-7208, cityofportsmouth.com/prescottpark The gardens at Prescott Park are free and open to the public. In 1975, 40 formal garden beds were created on the South Lawn of Prescott Park, designed to study which varieties of ornamental plants performed best in the seacoast environment. Now, the gardens continue to be planted and maintained by the city’s Parks & Greenery department, which IDs the plants and flowers for visitors.
Tarbin Gardens 321 Salisbury Road, Franklin, 934-3518, tarbingardens.com Opening in June, Tarbin Gardens is a hand-built English landscape garden covering five acres, with all kinds of plants, plus greenhouses, ponds and wildlife. The cost of admission (cash only) is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students, and $30 for families of two parents and two or more children. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Featured photo: Pollinator on Cosmos. Photo courtesy of Squam Lakes Natural Science Center.
