Looking for a Mother’s Day gift or locally grown plants to enliven your own home and garden? The annual Plant Sale at Green Animals Topiary Garden will offer a variety of flowers, vegetables, herbs and specialty plants on three successive mornings, Friday, May 10, through Sunday, May 12, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. each day.
Annuals, perennials, lilies, dahlia tubers, geranium standards, hanging flower baskets and others will be available while supplies last. Many are grown in the greenhouses of The Preservation Society of Newport County, which has owned and maintained Green Animals and the historic Brayton House on the 7-acre property since 1972.
Starting May 11, Green Animals will be open daily for tours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets or Preservation Society membership will be required for anyone wishing to tour Green Animals after each morning’s plant sale.
In addition to more than 80 topiaries in the shape of animals and geometric designs, many dating back several decades, this historic garden will be blooming with thousands of tulips and other flowering bulbs in a rainbow of colors.
“The opening of Green Animals for the season is a sign that spring is finally in full stretch,” said Trudy Coxe, CEO of the Preservation Society. “Each year, the Plant Sale is hugely popular and it’s a great way to support the maintenance of this amazing garden.”
Situated alongside Narragansett Bay, Green Animals is the oldest and most northern topiary garden in the United States. The boxwood, privet and yew topiaries – including a giraffe, elephant, ostrich, bears and much more – were begun in the early 20th century by Joseph Carreiro, an immigrant gardener from the Azores. The garden also includes an array of perennials, annuals and shrubs that bloom colorfully throughout the spring, summer and fall.
Green Animals is located at 380 Corys Lane in Portsmouth. It will remain open daily through September 30.
For information about the Plant Sale, see www.newportmansions.org/events/annual-plant-sale-at-green-animals-topiary-garden.
The Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island, is a nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the area’s historic architecture, landscapes, decorative arts and social history. Its 11 historic properties – seven of them National Historic Landmarks – span more than 250 years of American architectural and social development.
For more information, please visit www.NewportMansions.org.
Credit: The Preservation Society of Newport County