Riverhead: Glorious garden visits galore

The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program was held last weekend, and my dear friend Steve Palmer (he was the parts man at a John Deere dealership in the late 1970s) visited us with his friend Grant Kingswell from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. We toured the Manfred and Roberta Lee garden, just four doors away on Main Road in Cutchogue; the Ellen Coster Isaac and Maurice Isaac garden in Mattituck, an early 1900s farmhouse with two major borders of extensive plantings of bulbs, perennials, shrubs, trees and annuals and a pond that added a beautiful soothing touch; the garden of Dennis Schrader and Bill Smith, also in Mattituck, which contains tropicals, subtropicals, perennials and annuals with hardy palm and banana trees. The house and gardens are encircled by fourteen acres of fields with mowed paths for viewing native plants and wildlife.

We also ventured to Cornell Cooperative Extension’s second annual open days and visited the seven separate gardens known as the bloom garden, herb garden, bulb garden, fragrance garden, evergreen garden, cottage garden and dahlia garden. The staff at Cornell and the volunteers of the Cornell Gardens organized tours, classes, demonstrations and children’s activities, as well as a plant and craft sale for everyone to enjoy.

We enjoyed dinner at Sakura Restaurant with friends Paul and Peggy Sparrow, along with the entertainment performed by the chef. On Sunday we all enjoyed a brunch at Cooperage Inn, then took a nice leisurely ride to Greenport, did some sightseeing and headed back to Meeting House Creek Inn for a little musical enjoyment at their tiki bar.

Helen Berezny celebrated her 92nd birthday on Sunday, July 17, at home, surrounded by her children, grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and longtime neighbors Jeannette and Bob Hallock. Everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to her and indulged in eating the whipped cream birthday cake and a homemade blueberry buckle cake. You couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to celebrate outside in the backyard.

Happy birthday wishes to Joseph Doremus and Bill Bilski on July 21; Brenda Boyd and Landon Spano (who turns two years old) on July 22; Debbie Fischer, twins Matthew and Andrew Vandercreek (who turn 26 ), Kyle Warner and Susan Miles on July 23; Sheila Muller, Bernie Hettrick (who turns a handsome 75) and Gail Yeager on July 24; Roseanne Berezny and Dave Hartmayer on July 26. Be sure to celebrate.