Sue B. Hart Perennial Garden

History of the Perennial Garden

The original Perennial Garden was created between 1911 and 1914 under the direction of Park Superintendent George Parker. This area had originally been the nursery section of the Farmstead. The original Perennial Garden design can only be seen in old photographs and postcards. The garden was similar in formality to the rose garden with its European influence. It is about one-half acre and is bordered by hedges and a rock garden on the west side. It formerly contained 59 smaller beds of hardy and semi-hardy perennials and biannuals, as well as spring flowering plants.

By 1980, the Perennial Garden was in quite disrepair, with sparse plantings surviving in only about five beds. In 1983, with a grant from the Larus Foundation and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the Conservancy oversaw the building of a center wooden Pavilion. In 1987, the Conservancy hired Frederick McGourty, a nationally-known perennial expert from Norfolk CT to design a plan.

Mr. McGourty widened the paths of grass and added over 1,600 new perennials. He enclosed the garden in a dwarf Japanese yew hedge, which created a special garden space apart from the rest of the park. The hedge has four openings to the road – Shade Garden, Lilac Hedge, and the Annual garden – creating the feel of a garden room.

The number of original beds was reduced to eight, but each was made larger. The beds are arranged in a diagonal pattern around the Pavilion, with two sets directly opposite each other, emphasizing blue, pink, and lavender flowers, the “cool” colors. The other sets are the “warm” colors of yellow, orange, or red. The beds accented by silver grey were at the heart of Mr. McGourty’s design. The Clematis Jackmanii vines adorning the eight posts of the pavilion have become a favorite subject for photographers.

The Conservancy, along with a core group of volunteers,  maintains the Perennial Garden, now named  the Sue B. Hart Perennial Garden.

The Sue B. Hart Perennial Garden

In 2024, Sue B. Hart generously donated to the improvement of the Perennial Garden and to its future care. With the guidance of her trusted advisors, Walter Woodward and Attorney Jay Kearns, Sue was introduced to the Elizabeth Park Conservancy, helping to make her generous gift a reality.

Sue was interested in undertaking an important project and giving back to the Park because of her fond early memories of Elizabeth Park. She grew up on Bainbridge Road and, as a child, spent many hours in the playground in the Western Loop (no longer in existence). A photograph featured on garden signage shows a very young Sue and her older sister, Betsy, with some of the chickens they raised at their Bainbridge Road home.

Thanks to Sue’s gift, the Conservancy arranged for the rebuilding of the center pavilion and benches, along with a paved walkway running from the road to an expanded, paved circular area beneath the pavilion. A column near the start of the path holds a plaque identifying the garden as the Sue B. Hart Perennial Garden, while descriptive garden signage is located on the opposite side of the path. The work was completed by a talented group of contractors: Alca Construction, The Barnyard, and Stonehedge Landscaping.

As striking as the pavilion and paving are, the gardens themselves have been expanded and transformed. For this crucial phase of the project, the Conservancy engaged the Homestead Garden & Design Collaborative of Shelter Island, NY: the mother-daughter team of Lisa Stamm-Booher and Vanessa Booher Parsons. The designers expanded existing beds and introduced many new plants, with a strong emphasis on species native to the Northeast. Almost immediately after planting, pollinators (including bees and hummingbirds) were drawn to the garden, making the newly designed Perennial Garden both a native and pollinator-friendly garden.

In the spring of 2025, new plant labels were installed throughout the garden, and a brochure was introduced to help visitors identify many of the newly planted varieties. A ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony was held in the summer of 2025, with Sue B. Hart in attendance. Sue’s gift will also ensure the future care of one of the Park’s most significant gardens.