April 2026
Through the Garden Gate
The Beatrix Farrand Garden at Bellefield
Upcoming Talks in the Garden
Saturday, April 25 — Celebrate Earth Day at BFG
8:30 a.m.
Guided Bird Walk
Join Bill Peterson of the Ralph Waterman Bird Club for an early morning walk exploring native and migratory birds across the historic site. A great opportunity for both seasoned birders and beginners.
10:30 a.m.
What to Plant in 2026: Beauty and Biodiversity for the Garden
BFG Horticulturist Ashley Gamell shares exciting plant selections that combine strong design with ecological value, highlighting varieties that support biodiversity while creating a vibrant, low-input garden.
Saturday, May 16 at 1:00 p.m.
Welcome Spring! Plant Walk
Enjoy a narrated walk through the Wild Garden with BFG Horticulturist Ashley Gamell. Discover seasonal highlights, emerging plantings, and the evolving beauty of the landscape as spring unfolds.
Be sure to reserve your spot online.
The Bellefield Garden Talk Series is generously sponsored by Page's Lumber & Building Supply and Hyde Park Vintage Emporium.
Hands-on Workshops to Bring Art to Your Garden
Saturday, April 18 from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.
Ikebana with Lin
Experience a hands-on introduction to Ikebana with instructor Meei-Huey Lin, featuring demonstrations of two styles followed by guided creation of your own arrangement to take home.
Sunday, May 17 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Drawing from the Garden
Observe and draw natural forms in the garden, working slowly and mindfully to capture their unique contours with guidance from professional artist Mira Fink. All experience levels are welcome.
Sunday, May 17 from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.
Twiggy Pollinator Tower
Create a beautiful and functional pollinator habitat with garden artist Jessica Williams using natural materials, supporting beneficial insects while adding a striking feature to your garden.
Workshop space is limited. Reserve your spot through the BFGA website.
Featured Event: Bellefield Design Lecture
Strategies for Expanding Bellefield's Historic Significance and Stewarding its Landscape Architectural Legacy
Presented by:
Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR
Founding President and CEO of The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The public and critical recognition of landscape architecture and landscape architects in shaping our shared public realm continues to grow. Yet, the cultural value of our shared landscape legacy, including Beatrix Jones Farrand's significant contributions to Bellefield, is often little known or fully understood. Many who shape public perception, from architectural historians to critics, are not always equipped to assess and contextualize these landscapes, especially when they face threats.
Drawing on the work of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, this lecture explores the challenges created by the profession's emphasis on natural systems over cultural systems, as well as the divide between historic preservation and contemporary design.
Notes from our Horticulturist
We've welcomed our first blooms of 2026, with fragrant witch hazel and delicate snowdrops, lenten roses, and dwarf irises ushering in the season, and droves of colorful bulbs on their heels!
You may notice that we've left last year's stems and stalks standing in the Wild Garden. This helps provide food for birds through the winter, and habitat for overwintering insects until they emerge with warmer weather. It also provides beautiful interest and texture over winter. We'll delay spring cleanup until the apple trees finish blooming in late April. I do like to tidy up any broken or unsightly stems before then, using the "chop and drop" technique — cutting stalks down to 6" above the soil, chopping them into smaller sections, and nestling them right around the mother plant as mulch.
Volunteer Spotlight
Ariana (pictured on the right)
Years volunteering: 1
Ariana had volunteered at a NYC community garden and was looking for an opportunity in the Hudson Valley when she found us. Her favorite garden tasks are thinning out the phlox beds so that each bed reflects its intentional color — "very satisfying" — and deadheading the balloon plant.
"The Beatrix Farrand Garden drew me in with its design history, beatific colors, and great walks. What's made me stay is how much I receive in return for lending my free time. I've been introduced to many new plants and picked up knowledge on the insects that also enjoy the garden, while chatting with great people and getting a tan. But really, helping to advance Beatrix Farrand's work is the biggest honor."
Thank you Ariana!
Weekly volunteer gardening begins on April 14th — join us!
Submit a Volunteer Interest Form here — we'd love to connect.
Home Gardeners Tip
A deep layer of fallen leaves, particularly oak leaves, can smother perennials. To thin them without killing overwintering wildlife, rake them onto a tarp and deposit them in a wilder spot nearby, perhaps under a tree, where you don't have perennials growing.
We've been working with NPS to work this management technique into our Wild Garden maintenance. To distract yourself from the urge to "clean up," this is a great time to go after the cool-season weeds, like hairy bittersweet and ground ivy.
Rejuvenation Update
The rejuvenation team is in research mode, studying the original trellis work renderings for the Newbold's garden at Bellefield, as well as for Farrand's other gardens. We've also been looking at her restrained, painterly color schemes, to determine how we can best bring summer interest into the Walled Garden.
The Newbolds were only in residence during spring and fall, so the garden was designed to bloom during those seasons only. As we celebrate Farrand's design values, we believe she'd have wanted the garden to be in bloom during the times it is most enjoyed — which now includes summer in this well-loved public garden.
"It is work, it is hard work, but at the same time it is perpetual pleasure... it seems to me all the arts are combined in this."
— Beatrix Farrand, speaking of her career
This living jewel of Arts and Crafts design was created in 1912 by Beatrix Jones Farrand. One of this nation's most important landscape designers, Farrand was a pioneer in her approach to design, education, and horticulture; professionalizing her discipline as a founding member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (1899); and paving the way for more women to become professional landscape architects and designers.
Farrand's Hyde Park garden is open free of charge every day from dawn to dusk. It is located at the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site. Park at the Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center (see site map).