Best Container Garden |
Saratoga Springs, NY (August 17, 2007) - "Saratoga Springs in Bloom," a new City of Saratoga Springs Department of Public Works program to recognize gardens that beautify the community, named The Yaddo Gardens this year’s winner of the Best Container Garden in the commercial category. The award is for large flower-filled decorative pots adorning stairways and spread throughout the 10-acre site.
The Yaddo Gardens, the only portion of the Yaddo estate open to the public, were a gift in 1899 from Spencer Trask to his wife, Katrina. In 1900, when the Trasks determined that their home should become a residence for creative artists following their deaths, they stipulated that the gardens – always open to visitors during their lifetime – should remain open to the public even after the bulk of the 400-acre estate was converted to an artists’ working community in 1926. Their wish has been honored, and the gardens now attract some 40,000 visitors each year.
Contest judges viewed 45 residential and commercial gardens in Saratoga Springs on August 10 and announced the winners August 16.
A volunteer group, the Yaddo Garden Association, is responsible for most of the maintenance of The Yaddo Gardens. This skillful and determined group of volunteers was organized in 1991 by Jane A. Wait, a Member of The Corporation of Yaddo. Volunteers work in the gardens three mornings a week from late April through early fall. Click here to sign up to volunteer.
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