That's fabulous! But this is one secret that I don't want you to keep! This is  Trade Secrets. Trade Secrets is a local tradition that was founded by Bunny Williams 14 years ago as a Fundraiser for Women's Support Service. This enormously popular two-day event includes the rare plant and garden antiques sale on Saturday, May 17th followed by a day of garden tours on Sunday, May 18th.

The event grew from a fledgling garden sale in Bunny Williams' backyard into an event that includes some of the rarest and finest plant and antique dealers. Many celebrity and non-celebrity garden enthusiasts make the trip to beautiful and bucolic Sharon, Connecticut, up in the state's northwest corner. Martha Stewart is a regular and attends every year.

Saturday's sale features approximately 60 vendors with their rare plants and unusual accessories - those kind of unique treasures that you might search a lifetime for. Garden enthusiasts will find rare plant specimens from specialized growers and some of the nation's best-known small nurseries, as well as furniture, antiques, cloches, wrought iron fencing, garden statuary and so much more from the choicest purveyors of garden antiques.

On Sunday, May 18th, Bunny Williams' garden and three unique and intimate gardens in Cornwall, CT will be on the Trade Secrets' garden tour. Williams' garden is back for the 14th year! The Cornwall gardens are steeped in history and include a renovated 18th century gristmill, a beautiful rugged hillside home, and the most elegant 1836 Greek Revival-style home that was once owned by prominent long-time Cornwall resident Colonel Dwight Wellington Pierce.

These gardens had some wonderfully famous gardeners who influenced their design including architect and preservationist, Tiziana Hardy; Linc & Laura "Timmy" Foster, best known for their classic work Rock Gardening; Ruth Gannett; Hattie Root; northwest Connecticut garden designer Mary Daalhuyzen; American industrial designer and sculptor, Tim Prentice; and Peter Del Tredici, an American botanist and author, senior research scientist at Arnold Arboretum, and lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Tickets go on sale April 1, 2014. Regular buying tickets for May 17 are $40 from 10am to 3pm and $125 for early-birds who want to arrive at 8 am. On May 18 the gardens are open from 10am - 4pm and tickets are $70 ($60 in advance). For more information or to purchase tickets call (860) 364-1080 or click here for more information.

via Trade Secrets

via Timeless Cool

via Timeless Cool

via Google Images, original source unknown

via Trade Secrets

via Trade Secrets