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Trade Secrets Garden Show 2025, Connecticut

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by Sandra Hutchinson

Martha Stewart has been quoted as saying “There are a few events that go on my calendar each year that I consider sacrosanct: my family’s birthdays, my summer vacation in Maine, my Christmas party, my Easter egg hunt and Trade Secrets.”

Having attended the the Trade Secrets Rare Plants and Garden Antique Sale this year, on May 18, 2025, in Salisbury, Connecticut, I can confirm that Martha did make an appearance, although she was just leaving as we arrived. But we did have a nice chat with famed interior designer Bunny Williams, who had taken Martha’s spot in the book sale and signing tent.

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Early spring visit to P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain Farm; stayed in his “Garden Home”

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by Sandra Hutchinson

I’ve long been a fan of native Arkansan P. Allen Smith, who first achieved widespread fame with his PBS television shows P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home and P. Allen Smith’s Garden to Table. He’s a garden designer, horticulturalist, conservationist, lifestyle influencer and book author, and as I recently discovered, a really down-to-earth and friendly guy. (Full credit: this photo is from P. Allen Smith’s website.) By the way, he goes simply by “Allen.”

This March, I met up with my midwest-based sister, niece and grand-niece, for a mini-family reunion in Little Rock. The centerpiece event of the long weekend was visiting Allen’s Moss Mountain Farm, about 45 minutes outside of Little Rock, where we helped celebrate Allen’s 65th birthday (along with many other people who had bought tickets) with a lunch, and a tour of Allen’s home and the farm. As if visiting the farm and meeting Allen wasn’t enough, we actually stayed in his former home in Little Rock where he filmed his Garden Home TV show, which is now rented out by its current owners as an Airbnb.

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Highlights from the Shelburne Museum — a few of my favorite things

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by Sandra Hutchinson

Every few years I make it a point to visit the Shelburne Museum, in Shelburne, Vermont. Spread over 45 acres on the eastern side of Lake Champlain, several miles south of Burlington, the museum primarily houses the eclectic collection of its founder, Electra Havemeyer Webb (1888-1960). The property is close to Shelburne Farms, the estate and large farm developed by the Webb family.

The Shelburne Museum has one of the best collections known of late 18th and 19th century Mochaware.
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Open Day at Christopher Spitzmiller’s Clove Brook Farm

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by Sandra Hutchinson

I’ve long been a fan of the The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program, which arranges for public visits to some of our country’s most inspired and beautiful private gardens. There are usually a number of great options in New York’s Hudson Valley each spring and summer, as well as in neighboring northwest Connecticut.

Earlier this summer, through the Open Days program, I visited a stunning property near Millbrook, NY, in Dutchess County, that has been transformed by Christopher Spitzmiller and Anthony Bellomo. Called Clove Brook Farm, the current 5.5 acre property was originally part of a 200 acre working farm. The name comes from the stream that runs along the edge of the property, called Clove Brook.

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Bunny and Paul Mellon’s Little Oak Spring

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by Sandra Hutchinson

We recently had a rare opportunity to visit the Upperville, Virginia home of Paul Mellon (1907-1999) and Rachel “Bunny” Lambert Mellon (1910-2014), two of the most prominent American art collectors and philanthropists of the 20th century. The property, called Little Oak Spring, is part of what was the much larger Rokeby Farm, where Paul Mellon raised many famous thoroughbreds, including Sea Hero, who won the 1993 Kentucky Derby.

The main Mellon residence, Upperville, Va.
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Old-fashioned Mother’s Day

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by Sandra Hutchinson

Note: this piece was originally written when my two now-adult sons were youngsters.

What I remember most about Mother’s Day as I was growing up, are the various flowers and plants I would give my mom as gifts. I don’t know whether this was something I learned from my teachers, my Girl Scout leaders or my father, who was an avid gardener. What I do know is that May meant lilacs and lilies of the valley and apple blossoms, all of which I would collect and arrange in glass jars with ribbons tied around their necks, to be given to my mother on that Sunday in May.

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2023 spring garden and home tours to consider

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by Sandra Hutchinson

Now that it’s officially spring, I’d like to suggest several upcoming home and garden tours to consider attending. These are my favorites! Please remember that popular tours sell out early so it is always best to try and secure tickets early.

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Visiting Edgewater, a Classical American Homes Preservation Trust property in New York’s Hudson Valley

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by Sandra Hutchinson

The Classical American Homes Preservation Trust owns four historically significant 19th century homes — two in South Carolina, one in North Carolina, and one in New York’s Dutchess County. The trust was founded by the late Wall Street investment banker Richard Hampton Jenrette, who had a passion for 18th and 19th century American architecture, and who had purchased all the properties as homes. They are notable not only for their architecture, but for their impressive collections of fine and decorative arts. Three of the homes are open on a limited basis for public tours. This past fall, I secured tickets to Edgewater, near Barrytown, in New York’s Dutchess County, and toured the property.

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Thanksgiving dinner, again!

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by Sandra Hutchinson

It’s that time of year when I feel compelled to repost my article about our family’s traditional Thanksgiving dinner menu. So with your forbearance, dear readers, I post it below, complete with my mother’s recipe for her beloved cranberry/pineapple/jello “salad.”

Thanksgiving dinner: the mother of all menus

I’d bet that nearly everyone reading this can recite, item by item, every single dish served at their family’s Thanksgiving table while growing up. The Thanksgiving menu is pretty much inviolate. Even the slightest change is noticed by all. I think I still remember the year my mother started adding apples to her stuffing.

Getting the place cards ready—Pilgrims ready to be labeled, along with their flock! The turkey cards are from Caspari. (See my post from 8/16/16 about Caspari.)
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Kelmscott Manor: William Morris’s Cotswold retreat

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by Sandra Hutchinson

After being closed for three years, not necessarily because of Covid, but for a planned renovation, Kelmscott Manor, in the Cotswold region of England, reopened in the spring of 2022. I was thrilled to be able to visit the property in May. It is operated by the Society of Antiquaries of London.

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