What is the Open Days Program?
The Open Days Program is essentially a series of private garden tours around the country that begins in early spring and continues through the fall of each year. Each summer, gardeners are invited by local Regional Representatives to become Garden Hosts and agree to open their garden during a scheduled Open Day (or several days) in their area. The Open Days are self-guided tours. Visitors decide which garden they want to visit and in what order. Our first gardens opened in 1995 when Garden Conservancy members and extraordinary gardeners Page Dickey and Penelope Maynard were inspired by Englands National Gardens Scheme and its guidebook, Gardens of England and Wales Open for Charity, informally known as the Yellow Book. They came to the Garden Conservancy with 110 private gardens in hand, including theirs, that would open that first year. The program was a resounding success. Since then, with the help of a network of volunteer regional representatives, the Garden Conservancy has expande
