Belfast Garden Club Open Garden Day: Mixed-Media Artist Opens Her Garden and Studio

On Saturday, July 25 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., the Belfast Garden Club will host an Open Garden Day at 64 Appleton Ridge Road in Appleton, the home of prominent mixed-media artist Abbie Read.

Sitting atop the ridge of Appleton Ridge Road and among open blueberry barrens, the garden is chock full of perennials artistically woven together for beauty and function. Abbie Readstudied landscape design after earning her MFA in art. Her diverse knowledge shows in the compilation and utility of the plants in both the house and studio gardens, as well as in the long border garden that links them. Abbie says that “as a passionate gardener, I find that the natural world has always in some way informed my art,” and the art informs her garden as well. Her studio garden provides a place to bask in the sun as well as shelter from it, planted as it is with simple plants chosen to deter deer. The fenced house gardens are full of veggies, flowers and art. In addition to the gardens, Abbie Read’s book arts studio will also be open to visitors. 

The $5.00 admission to the garden helps to support the Belfast Garden Club’s many civic and educational projects, including the design and maintenance of 13 in-town public gardens.