66 Navarro’s Mixed Nursery
September 16, 2022
68 Thompson Materials & Nursery
October 14, 2022
Heritage Museums & Gardens
67 Grove St, Sandwich, MA 02563 • (508) 888-3300
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From the website: “Heritage Museums & Gardens is located on 100 acres of magnificent grounds and trails on the banks of Shawme Pond in Historic Sandwich. The gardens feature internationally important collections of rhododendrons, including those created by Charles Dexter, who did his ground-breaking plant hybridizing work here. Additional horticultural areas of interest include a comprehensive collection of hydrangeas, a collection of over 1,000 varieties of daylilies, hostas, herb, heather gardens, and more than a thousand varieties of trees, shrubs and flowers along beautiful and easily walked paths.”
W e visited this lovely public garden during a recent vacation on Cape Cod with Mike, Evelyn and Chas. A couple months earlier, “CBS Sunday This Morning”—my all-time favorite TV show—featured the Heritage. And since our Cape Cod trip was already booked, of course I decided I must see the gardens while I’m there. Which meant dragging 3 other people along with me.
We had a great time, but I do need to write a letter that begins: “To Whoever Designed And Built The Freeways In Boston: WTF were you all thinking!!!” One wrong turn and you are screwed. You have to navigate a maze—at freeway speeds—to get back on track before you end up in a neighboring state.
Mike was driving, and we got to know those freeways pretty well. All the while, Evelyn and I sat in the back trying to stay quiet. Eventually we did get to our destination, with Mike and me still married, and Evelyn still my BFF.
We all stayed at AutoCamp in Falmouth which offers “glamping.” My days sleeping on the ground are over!
Mike and I had an itty bitty suite (think, shipping container) but every “room” including the bathroom had an AC unit. I was in Heaven because (as you know) I sweat in snow. Mike was in Hell though, because (as you don’t know) he gets cold below 90-degrees. Honestly! He goes into hibernation!
Mike has other things—”issues” let’s say—that you might notice if you were travelling with us, such as allergies and clearing his throat a lot. Then there’s his coffee which he must have EVERY SINGLE morning (if you get my drift, and no pun intended) and the fact that he DOES NOT like to be rushed.
Hmmm. I could go on, but let’s get to the gardens.
Here’s a look at part of what they call the Parking Garden. Gotta’ love these colors.
Here’s the main entrance.
Just ignore those people walking there. I waited forever to get a shot with nobody in it. Strangers can be so uncooperative…
The first garden we came to had me snapping photos of all the beautiful plants.
I said to Mike, “OMG, I have these plants.” Snap.
A minute later, “OMG, Mike! I have these.” Snap.
A few steps more and, “OMG, I’ve got these, too.” Snap.
Mike says, “We spent a ton of money and flew three-thousand miles when you could have just stayed home and got pictures of your own garden!”
Men!
In front of the windmill. Happy us!
See Evelyn’s foot boot? One day a few weeks before our trip she stood up to leave her desk but that foot decided to stay. She hobbled through our trip quite beautifully except in Nantucket where she failed to make friends with the cobblestone streets and uneven sidewalks. But she and I agreed that the beautiful Nantucket homes made up for her trouble!
Check out this old millstone used as a step for the windmill door.
Love that!
People…(yes, you) do not just pour boring concrete with a broom finish for your outdoor steps. Add unexpected pizzazz!
I walked behind the windmill and came upon this…thing…
I had to ask Mike what it was. Basically, it’s a Roomba for the lawn.
Apparently the gardens have several because later, I saw another one actually working.
What has this world come to? Now they’re setting robots loose in our gardens! (Save the plants!!)
Thankfully I bumped into this very charming butterfly garden with no robots in sight…
I would never have come across the Butterfly Garden had I not needed to use the damn Porta Potty.
I saw the below and thanked gawd the Heritage has gardeners as smart as me…
…gardeners who know to install the only inline drip irrigation system worth installing: Netafim.
(But where is the damn mulch?!)
I love benches and chairs set here and there in a garden.
These white Adirondacks are located perfectly…
…and positioned so you can view the Flume Fountain in the distance (there behind the trees).
And THIS, I especially love and gotta’ have.
I mean that curvy bench. The people, I already have.
So I was putting this post together and asked Mike if he remembered these…
Of course he remembered them. And WHAT ARE THEY? We both came to the same conclusion, but do I dare say it here? No! You figure it out.
Meanwhile we now come to the main reason to visit these gardens.
The hydrangeas!
OMFG. Fabulous, gorgeous, amazing! And so sad that mine will never look like these. Too damn hot and no humidity.
I swear there are no gnomes hiding in the hydrageas.
Heritage has walkways and nature trails criss-crossing every which way throughout its 100 acres. At each split in the path it’s like—squirrel!—which way do we go?
Well here’s a tip for you: the map they provide is far less confusing when you just ignore it and follow your nose…or your eyes, because you’ll see beautiful and delightful sights wherever you look.
As we neared the finish line (aka the entrance), we read a sign telling about a display nearby of old cars.
You know how I rate visits to some nurseries as “better than sex?” Well Mike feels that way about tools and old cars. Need I say more? So we found our way to the J.K. Lilly III Automobile Gallery located in this gorgeous building—a replica of an old barn.
There are currently 23 cars on display like this beauty.
FYI—J.K. Lilly is the grandson of Eli Lilly, you know the pharmaceutical company? No wonder he can afford this world-class collection of cars. As we walked out, we all felt lucky to have seen them.
Now it was time to leave Heritage Museum & Gardens. As these people were walking out, I overheard them talking to each other.
They were saying, “Wow, that Sheri is so caring and thoughtful for dragging us to this beautiful garden and for being a wonderful, amazing, fabulous and well-educated private tour guide. We love love love Sheri!”
You’re welcome.
On the last day of our Cape Cod vacation—three of us having silently survived the fourth one’s little “ways” for 5 days (OMG, I am peeing my pants reliving the memories…!), Evelyn finally breaks the silence and says to Mike: “Mike, you are a very delicate man.”
Mike replies, “Yes, I know I have issues!”
Readers, do you feel my pain? Thank gawd Evelyn has known Mike and me for 36 years and we can travel all the way to the other coast together and come back still be friends.
And what are MY feelings about my husband? I’ll let this photo from our trip clue you in.
By the way, don’t miss the Fall Into Gardening Event hosted by the El Dorado County Master Gardeners this Saturday.
