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June 5, 2007

Brownstone Brooklyn Garden Tour Recap

Gard42SoPort.jpg Gard116Lafayette.jpg
Gard218wash.jpgGard227Wash.jpg
From what we've heard so far, the 2007 Garden Tour included some incredible specimens. Long-time reader Przemyslaw Godycki, who we can thank for the photos, thought it was great but told us it "made me feel very humble about my little backyard." Clockwise from top left, the photos show the gardens of 42 South Portland Avenue, 16 Lafayette Avenue, 218 Washington Avenue, and 227 Washington Avenue. How was the overall turnout? What was your favorite garden on the tour?




Posted by Brownstoner at 11:12 AM | Comments (21)
Categories: Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Gardening

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These backyards all look beautiful. They look like quiet havens mean't for meditation and relaxation. I guess these individuals do not have young children because there's no place for a kid to play.

Posted by: Longtimeresident at June 5, 2007 11:44 AM

227 Washington was my favorite. The double-lot garden across the street was great too, notably the garden house. About half-way through the tour (1:30ish), I saw a gate-keeper had an envelope with about a dozen hash marks on it, giving some indication of the turn-out.

If I acknowledge how hard it must be to convince new people every year to open up their homes and gardens, can I say that several of the stops were distinctly under-whelming?

Having a garden (counted as two) on Dean Street that will be lost to the Atlantic Yards project was poignant, but not particularly interesting as a garden, which is what I paid my fee for. (For the record, I have spent hours responding to the poorly planned development.)

I've been on the tour twice in ten years. Not sure if I would go again, although I wouldn't rule it out either.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 11:47 AM

Didn't make it to this tour. But the PLG house tour was fabulous! Are you posting a thread about that, Mr. B?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 11:57 AM

tomorrow. have had too much stuff to get through!

Posted by: Brownstoner at June 5, 2007 12:05 PM

I thought the garden tour was excellent. We hadn't planned to go, but the PLG house tour was relatively weak this year and so we decided at the last minute to switch to the garden tour. It was great fun and I'm amazed at what other people are able to do with their gardens. My thumb will never be that green, though....

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 12:22 PM

http://flatbushgardener.blogspot.com/
If you want to see more photos of the gardens. Great photos! Thank you Flatbush Gardener.

Posted by: anon at June 5, 2007 12:27 PM

Gorgeous...would love to see more photos.

Posted by: Argyle Road at June 5, 2007 12:29 PM

I wasn't able to go, but heard it was great! Nice pics.

Posted by: lesterhead at June 5, 2007 12:37 PM

"but the PLG house tour was relatively weak this year"

HA! You obviously didn't go on the PLG House Tour! It was DEFINITELY one of the best ever! There was a Victorian restoration that was so historically accurate, it was like a museum. There was also a modern, gut renovation of a burned out brownstone that looked like it belonged in Architectural Digest. And there was everything in between, including some incredible gardens. Definitely one of the best PLG House Tours ever. I couldn't believe how many people attended - even with the afternoon rain.

Didn't see the Brooklyn Brownstone Gardens Tour, but the pictures look pretty fabulous. Why don't the schedule tours on different days so we can go to all of them?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 12:50 PM

Thank you, anon 12:27!
//
Yes, I have hundreds of photos from the tour. I'm still organizing and uploading them. The Fort Greene leg is all up on my blog and Flickr. Clinton Hill is 2/3 up. Prospect Heights will be the last one up.
//
Here's the direct link to the post on my blog with my impressions and links to the other posts and photos:
http://flatbushgardener.blogspot.com/2007/06/10th-annual-brownstone-brooklyn-garden.html

Posted by: Xris (Flatbush Gardener) at June 5, 2007 1:17 PM

PS: The address for the garden whose photo is top right is 116 Lafayette Avenue.

Here's a link to my Flickr photo set from that garden:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/flatbushgardener/sets/72157600314237399

Posted by: Xris (Flatbush Gardener) at June 5, 2007 1:20 PM

"Why don't the schedule tours on different days so we can go to all of them?"

Would that there were enough Sundays in May and early June. Remember that you can't use Mother's Day or Memorial Day weekends (because few people would come--it's been tried). We (PLG) once tried a Saturday--it didn't work for us, although Brooklyn Heights and Bed-Stuy seem to do OK with Saturdays. We've been using the first Sunday in June for many years (except when there's a 5th Sunday in May). It's a shame the Garden Tour was the same weekend, but, to not conflict with another tour or Father's day weekend, they'd have had to wait until the last Sunday in June which is just too late in the season.

Posted by: Bob Marvin at June 5, 2007 1:37 PM

PPS: And the descriptions of the lower two photos are reversed. The lower left photo is of 218, and the lower right is of 227. (The labels are correct if you're going left to right, top to bottom rather than clockwise.)
//
My photo set of 227:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/flatbushgardener/sets/72157600313289405/

Posted by: Xris (Flatbush Gardener) at June 5, 2007 2:51 PM

Unremarkable? What did you think of the contemporary renovation on Lincoln Road? What did you think of the Victorian restoration on Midwood Street? How about the well preserved home on Maple Street? And the renovated English Basement on Midwood Street? None of these renovations were cheesy or unremarkable or bland.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 6:22 PM

I loved the house at 310 Carlton. Beautiful garden!

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 8:04 PM

The garden tour pictures posted here are great. However, the garden on Carlton Avenue was absolutely stunning.

Great attention to detail.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 10:11 PM

\"HA! You obviously didn\'t go on the PLG House Tour!\"

Well, I certainly did go to the PLG house tour and I found it disappointing. The homes were (for the most part) unremarkable and I thought some of the renovations were downright cheesey. My guess is that no one wanted to open their homes up (hard to find blame them) and so the homes they ended up with were pretty bland. It\'s sad. The PLG tour ain\'t what it used to be. I heard plenty of people complaining, too.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 11:36 PM

The tour was great--thanks to all who created it. And bonus: aside from gardens, we saw far more interesting *interiors* than we saw on the CH house walk. The garden at 227 Washington was by farrrrrrr my favorite. Magic.

Posted by: bob999 at June 6, 2007 1:53 AM

Wow...I cannot imagine thinking that the PLG interiors could even hold a candle to the ones we saw in CH. Are you sure you were actually on the PLG tour? The interiors were, if anything, a weak point.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 6, 2007 6:53 AM

What a great wisteria!

Posted by: Anonymous at June 6, 2007 7:10 PM

Does anyone know a good place in Brooklyn (or nearby) to get slate and bluestone at a reasonable price?

Posted by: guest at April 21, 2008 5:22 PM

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