Hoosick
Blooms
Garden & Farm Tour
a self guided driving tour of private gardens
in beautiful Upstate New York
WHAT
driving tour of private gardens and farms in historic Hoosick Falls and surrounding rolling hills of Upstate NY
WHERE
Wood Block building at 1-5 Main Street in historic Hoosick Falls and surrounding rolling hills of Upstate New York
WHEN
July 11 & 12, 2026
PURPOSE
The Hoosick Blooms Garden Tour is held every two years in support of the Civic & Cultural Restoration Corporation’s (CiviCure) restoration of the Wood Block Opera House. Learn more here or follow CiviCure on social media.
2026 Hoosick Blooms
TEAK AND THYME FARM
Crystal and Brett Walters
teakandthymefarm.com
A stately brick colonial home anchors 11 (!) historic agricultural outbuildings, along with fields, sheep pastures, formal gardens, a small orchard, and an apiary. This talented couple purchased the farm in 2020 and has spent the intervening years painting and restoring the 200+- year old farmstead, proudly listed on the NYS Historic Registry. The renovation of a traditional English cutting garden adjoining the house serves as a showpiece for the tour. It yields many bouquets in July and August, often available for purchase in the milk house. Their dream is to offer the space to the public as a venue for special gatherings and for traditional craft education and events.
Because it is located on the busy State highway just north of the village of Hoosick Falls, carefully approach the narrow turn-in, watch for cars exiting, and follow the signs for parking. Volunteers will be directing traffic.
NORTH SLOPE FARM
Diana and Ari Gradus
This couple purchased the historic property more than 20 years ago and has devoted that time to caring for the historic house (1821) and barns, as well as tending an assortment of animals and agricultural infrastructure.
A graceful gazebo abuts the lower pond, the home for a number of domestic ducks. Clever plant placement obscures the mechanicals for the pond. A cultivated thicket of raspberry canes is tucked out of the way behind the house. The barns and coops house waterfowl and chickens, as well as a few entertaining goats. A flagstone path lined with flower-filled containers and bird feeders adorns the dooryard, attracting many species year round. The gracious bluestone terrace recalls another era as it commands sweeping views across the Hoosick Valley. Beds of astilbe and phlox lend both color and movement to the space. Urns and pots along the patio edge feature grasses and colorful annual plantings. On the shady side of the drive, a graceful rock garden hosts ferns and hostas and memorials to beloved pets.
Ari Gradus, a noted artist, will host interested visitors in his rustic studio. Some of his paintings will be available for sale to benefit CiviCure.
FARM ZONDER NAAM (No Name in Dutch)
Annette Van Rooy
Honoring her Dutch heritage, Annette has called her farm Zonder Naam, or No Name in her native tongue. This peaceful property is tucked away in what was more than a century ago, the truly rural dirt road community of East Pittstown - a church, a one-room schoolhouse, and a tiny cemetery at a crossroads. A charming farmhouse with two original barns still surveys the quiet scene. The stone foundation for a third, now vanished barn provides a 3-sided shelter for an in-ground pool and a major garden space. Hollyhocks line the poolside next to the warm stone foundation. A riot of coneflowers, liatris, yucca, and willow dance with lilies and lavender. A pergola on the side of the farmhouse is the perfect climbing spot for productive grapevine and is a calm refuge for viewing the expansive pond and field. A nearby guesthouse, a salvaged early carriage house, hosts its own terrace garden with azaleas and day lilies.
STUDIO AND SCULPTURE GARDEN
Mia Westerlund-Roosen
miawesterlundroosen.com
Gardening is always a creative activity but gardeners are creative in many different ways. Mia has lived in her converted barn/house/studio for more than three decades even though she also has a home in NYC and has traveled the world with her notable art. Her “garden” reflects her creativity, some pieces on a grand scale.
Follow the signs for parking (three spaces by the dooryard are reserved for mobility challenged visitors) and begin a walkabout that reveals sweeping views of the Rensselaer Plateau and the Taconics. This stunning backdrop is suitable for several major artworks from Mia’s long career as an abstract sculptor. Yes, there are trees and flowers and breathtaking rural landscape. But here too are works spanning a lifetime, made by hand in interesting materials, concrete and lead, fabric and resin, iron and soil, expressing vulnerability, a reverence for the earth, intimate and organic shapes. Visitors are welcome to visit the studio at the back entrance to the barn to see works in progress.
ABBOTT FARM
Cindy and Jack Parillo
Abbott Farm is named for Pittstown’s famous son, Colonel Royal Abbott who grew up here, “the Old Manse,” in the early 19th century, was commissioned by William Seward, and went on to found the Republican Party in Rensselaer County in time to help nominate Abraham Lincoln.
The Parillos came in 2005 with more modest goals. They planted 200 blueberry bushes, set up the required fencing and hoped to sell at farmers’ markets along with sunflowers and other cut bouquets. They experimented with growing both hops and barley, both traditional crops in this area for beer making. Everything cost more than they made but they loved the work and the neighborhood. They continued renovating old stone foundations to create a restful perennial garden behind the house. They picked a sunny spot in the meadow for a vegetable and dahlia garden of raised beds. A small orchard of apple, peach, and cherry trees added to the harvests. And they rehabilitated the old pond, now being beset by beavers.
The blueberry patch across the road will be open for sampling. Feel free to use the grounds for picnicking. Please avoid the beavers.
HISTORIC BARNS OF NIPMOOSE
NOTE: OPEN SUNDAY ONLY
The Persistence Foundation: Connie Kheel, President; Howard Smith, Gardener
nipmoosebarns.org
Follow parking signs. Do not park along the entry road. A golf cart is available for the mobility challenged.
The property is home to four classic informal gardens, sweeping views of working agricultural landscape, and a cluster of historic buildings. The country-style gardens include common perennial varieties such as phlox, bee balm, day lilies, aster, Columbine and cranesbill. The German Barn garden sits atop a notable 12-foot high dry laid stone wall where the earth tones of the stone and the old barns complement the plantings. All of the gardens at the Barns were designed by Howard Smith who holds a degree in Organic Ornamental Landscaping from the University of Vermont.
The buildings on the farm include three historic barns with timber framed construction dating from the late 1700s to the mid-1800s. Fully restored, these beautiful structures provide an insight into a bygone era of craftsmanship.
The mission of the Persistence Foundation (a non-profit organization) is to promote awareness of the need for land conservation and preservation of agricultural heritage. The site serves as a venue for weddings and special events.
HOOSICK COMMUNITY GARDEN
NOTE: OPEN SATURDAY ONLY
Kaila Schmigel, Chair
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The community garden started as an idea in 2019 when its founders wanted to inspire people to eliminate lawn and grow something good to eat. As the pandemic set in, it became apparent that growing and gathering food as a community could safely address many issues. The Village of Hoosick Falls made the land available and local businesses and generous donors pitched in for developing the infrastructure. Tools appeared, fencing, then milled lumber for the raised beds. An irrigation system helped keep things growing. Now all 20 beds are claimed in the “Rent-A-Plot” on a tiered system depending on membership and volunteerism.
The beds are planted, maintained, and harvested by volunteers and distributed throughout the community. There are 11 trees in the orchard, including two new pear trees. There is an elderberry patch, an asparagus patch, and a strawberry patch, all new this year. A tall brick spiral herb garden is another special feature. But the real special feature is the number of people who have come together to help feed and build the community.
HAYBERRY FARM
Shannon and Jared Woodcock
hayberryfarm.com
Hayberry Farm is a 160 acre, biodiverse U-pick blueberry farm interspersed with meadow, forest, and wetland. With a long history as farmland, this beautiful property was originally cleared for sheep grazing. From the 1940s to the turn of the century it operated as a family dairy farm with the first blueberries arriving in 2008. The U-pick now hosts 11 season-spanning varieties of blueberries, 14 varieties of lavender, as well as acres of raspberries, hazelnut, and chestnuts. During the garden tour you will be able to swing in and purchase cold drinks or treats from the farm store, pick berries, or, if stopping by on Saturday between 11 am and 3 pm, you can purchase a bite from Cut the Pie Pizza Co, who will be set up with their wood-fired pizza oven.
2024 Hoosick Blooms
Hoosick Community Garden
Sarah Lyn Gorgas, founder
Kaila Schmigel, local contact
Sarah Lyn Gorgas had a garden on the 2019 Hoosick Blooms Tour where she said, “This is my flag to the world that you can grow good food in a limited space. I want to inspire others to eliminate lawn and grow something good to eat.”
In 2024 that vision has found a new expression in a community garden and a shared collective knowledge on how to grow food and build without waste. Inspired by that enthusiasm the Village of Hoosick Falls made this land available. Then local business people and generous donors pitched in with tools, an irrigation system, milled lumber for raised bed construction, and an array of plant material. Locust poles were sourced locally for sturdy fencing, a farmer helped set the posts, and a team of high-schoolers came to install dozens of rolls of metal mesh for the impressive protective enclosure. Multiple raised beds are available for community members to help realize the mission. There is a small orchard; also, a tilled strip for a berry patch and an asparagus bed. The school in Hoosick Falls is involved, bringing in the agriculture education students and the Future Farmers of America Club to use the garden as a laboratory for learning and experimentation. There are also plans for visits from the Head Start kids next door. To watch all of them grow check out their Facebook page at hoosickcommunitygarden.
North Slope Farm
Diana and Ari Gradus
Diana and Ari Gradus purchased North Slope Farm nearly two decades ago as a getaway from their hectic lives in Brooklyn. The historic house (1821), in its very special setting overlooking the Hoosick Valley has been an ongoing project in restoration, garden development and animal husbandry ever since, each facet contributing to the others.
The lower pond at the front of the house is home to several varieties of domestic duck as well as a gazebo surrounded by plantings.
A colorful selection of perennials along a flagstone path marks the front entry-way garden which includes containers of eye-catching annuals and a bird feeder combo that attracts many species throughout the seasons. A bluestone terrace on the north side of the house takes advantage of breathtaking views and gives plenty of space for beds of astilbe and phlox, as well as urns and pots adorned with grasses and blooming annuals. A cultivated thicket of raspberry canes is tucked out of the way behind the house.
Alongside the drive, a graceful, shady rock garden features hostas and ferns and sweet memorials to beloved pets. A line of bluebird houses crosses a meadow next to a hedgerow, designed to offer protection for them and also the sparrows that are their rivals, every other post. The barns and coops and specialized enclosures house waterfowl and chickens, as well as a few entertaining and rambunctious goats. There is so much activity in a beautiful pastoral setting, every garden at risk of being dug, or plundered or littered, and every being at risk of becoming someone’s dinner.
Ari Gradus, a noted artist, welcomes visitors to his rustic studio. Some of his pieces will be available for sale to benefit CiviCure’s Wood Block opera house restoration.
The Vallone Garden
Tom and JoAnn Vallone
Please park at the top of the single lane drive and only on the marked areas of the lawn.
One of Hoosick Blooms’ first gardens, on the tour in 2018, Tom and JoAnn Vallone’s historic farmstead offers several new points of interest for visitors.
The house is one of the oldest in the Hoosick Valley, dating to the Revolutionary War period. Although many of the outbuildings are now gone, an early corn crib still serves as a tool shed. JoAnn’s perennial garden lines the upper drive. Flowering foundation plantings around the house lend graceful beauty, including a mature clematis climber, Duchesse of Albany. More clematis climb on the corn crib in a bed also featuring daylilies and dahlias.
Behind the house a kitchen garden of raised beds is a home for herbs, beans, and cherry tomatoes and is the summer vacation spot for houseplants in pots. Up the hill an electric fence protects a group of berry plantings, also guarded by an innovative netting system to fend off pesky birds.
The main vegetable garden provides ample space for corn, squash, onions and garlic, peppers, tomatoes and broccoli. A new feature is a tidy greenhouse for seed-starting and hardening-off of young plants. This first year the greenhouse rewarded Tom and JoAnn with a harvest of cherry tomatoes in April!
Groveside Garden
ONLY OPEN ON SATURDAY
Tom Riley and Kristee Iacobucci
Follow parking signs carefully for exiting.
Over thirty years Tom (a certified master gardener) and Kristee have transformed a hay field into a productive patchwork of vegetable, fruit and flower gardens
Several garden rooms surround the main house containing a variety of edible and ornamental plantings. The east-facing dooryard garden features perennial flowers and shrubs such as hosta, lilies, false indigo, bee balm and crocosmia. A rustic cedar arbor leads to a stone-walled perennial garden with espaliered apple trees, boxwood and culinary lavender lined beds, heirloom hydrangeas and fig and other ornamental trees.
Beyond a vintage garden gate, raised beds produce vegetables and dozens of herbs within steps of the kitchen. A large multi-garden complex is centered on a seed-starting greenhouse built by the owner from recycled windows. Nearby, a whimsical garden shed provides a bright workspace and houses the owner’s collection of garden tools and objects. A more formal, stone terraced raised-bed garden with a cedar gate and symmetrical design is the main production garden for a three-season rotation of vegetables and includes a specimen 10-year-old 4 o’clock plant the owners grew from seed. A collection of fruits and vegetables including asparagus, raspberries and blueberries in the lower field surround a post and beam writing studio built by the owner. In peak season Kristee and Tom harvest two pounds of asparagus per day!
Historic Barns of Nipmoose
ONLY OPEN ON SUNDAY
The Persistence Foundation: Connie Kheel, President; Howard Smith, Gardener
Follow parking signs. Do not park along the entry road. A golf cart is available for the mobility challenged.
This property is home to four classic informal gardens, stunning panoramic views of a working agricultural landscape, and a cluster of historic buildings
The country-style Nipmoose gardens include common perennial varieties such as phlox, bee balm, day lilies, aster, columbine and cranesbill. While all the gardens share a common theme, each has a distinctive style. The German Barn garden (the largest of the gardens) sits atop a notable 12-foot high dry laid stone wall. The earth tones of the stones, the wood barns and the farm fields are complemented by the varied colors of the bed plantings.
All four gardens were created by horticulturist Howard Smith who has been gardening for more than three decades. He holds a degree in Organic Ornamental Landscaping from the University of Vermont.
The unique wooden buildings on the farm include three historic barns with timber frame construction dating from the late 1700s to the mid-1800s. Fully restored, these beautiful barns provide an insight into a bygone era of craftsmanship.
The mission of The Persistence Foundation (a non-profit organization) is to promote awareness of the need for land conservation and preservation of agricultural heritage. The site is used for weddings and special events.
Garden at Craven House
Myra and David Craven, both originally Canadians, moved to New York City for their careers, David in the arts and Myra in the sciences. Their retreat in the hills of the Hoosick Valley eventually became the centerpiece of their creative expression and their shared love of the landscape. Although the farmhouse dates to the early 19th century, the spacious Victorian barn provided studio space for David’s large-scale works. Around both buildings the curvy hillside provided the contours for another canvas – broad sweeps of perennials in a changing colorscape throughout the seasons.
A terrace at the front of the house boasts long views to the south, across the Hoosick Valley. The foundation plantings of mature hydrangeas provide a sense of enclosure and container plantings give bursts of color. Monarda, Queen of the Prairie, ligularia, and rudbekia fill open beds to support pollinators and delight the human eye, as well as the birds and bees.
A shadier spot on the east side of the house features hostas and ferns, with soaring goat’s beard for a punch of vertical interest. An old climbing hydrangea softens the edges of the garage. Shade continues in the dramatic back hillside where a large water feature allows interesting grasses and boggy plants. The water tumbles down between hillocks and rocks, drawing attention to the various textures, as well as the cheerful blooms of the flowering varieties. Specimen trees, including a decorative sumac anchor broad beds of phlox, lilies, echinacea, and black-eyed Susans.
Bump Kelleher Garden
Richard Bump and Bud Kelleher
Parking entrance is marked at the corner of Rt 59 and Wright Road. There is a small reserved parking area up the hill for the mobility-challenged.
When these hosts first started looking for property in the area back in 2000, this particular farmstead was daunting for its proximity to the busy county road. The front entrance to the mid-nineteenth century house was only a few feet to the pavement. But the views! To the south, a sweeping hay field foregrounded curving farm fields beyond and an open view all the way to the Helderberg Mountains. Sinuous lines of hedgerow curved in parallel with country roads. The field was a blank canvas for the artistic pair to imagine and create a garden running down the slope to a perfect pond, with stone terraces and staircases framing colorful beds of perennials and the occasional grouping of flowering trees.
Hostas (of many varieties), bluebells and forget-me-nots dance in the shady spots. Paths of crushed stone between granite cobbles give an effect of having been there for generations. Sculptural orbs and antique planters attest to the owners’ eye for the quirky but beautiful detail. A custom iron gate has a witty crow atop the stone post.
A complete renovation changed the orientation of the house so that the front of the house became a sunny kitchen and dining area, next to a wide sunporch that helps tender flowering plants overwinter and bring beauty year-round in our changing climate. The challenging topography of the sunny, southerly slope influences plant selection – drought resistant, deer resistant, and erosion-preventing plantings are required. A huge remaining stump of a once-grand maple tree centers a stone patio outside the “garden house,” a studio barn for a seasonal get-away.
Visitors are invited to bring a sandwich to enjoy at one of several “resting places” throughout the garden.
Beloved Farm
Bill Badgley’s Beloved Farm has undergone a remarkable transformation over the years, evolving into an enchanting landscape of timber-framed buildings and stone walls, and a showcase of beautiful plantings in bloom from spring to fall. A large blueberry patch adjoins the clearly marked parking area across the road from the house and barn.
While Bill has owned the property since 1981, it wasn’t until he married Christa Caron, a landscape artist in 2008 that the masterful vision for the garden began to take shape. Bill himself created the garden’s signature stone walls, more than 1500 feet of reclaimed and rebuilt wall serving as a foundation backdrop to over 5,000 square feet of perennial gardens, complementing six acres of lush lawn and a picturesque gazebo, often the site of wedding vows. The featured plantings include daylilies and hydrangeas, but also hostas and other shade lovers.
The property also includes a timber-framed barn with bell tower constructed with lumber milled on site. It is available for private gatherings and performances.
Can't make CiviCure's Hoosick Blooms Garden Tour but want to support our mission of restoring the Wood Block Opera House? Donations are welcome!