From the Blog
Hydrangeas: Newport’s Iconic Summer Flower
July 16, 2026
As of July 4th, summer is in full swing in our City by the Sea, and just like clockwork, an iconic flowering shrub, the hydrangea, comes into bloom. This presents…
July in the Garden
July 9, 2026
July is an important month at Parterre, when all the demanding garden work expended from March through June pays off…none more so than in the Green and White Garden. For…
Revisiting “Newport, A Lively Experiment”
July 2, 2026
I originally posted this blog on September 9, 2015. Eleven years later, I still find Newport, A Lively Experiment one of the most compelling and captivating tomes I’ve ever read, and…
The Newport Flower Show 2026
June 25, 2026
The theme for this year’s Flower Show was “Pearls of Newport.” And can there be a more appropriate pearl than Rosecliff, this architecturally splendid Gilded Age mansion, where many a…
Containers, A Valuable Garden Detail
June 18, 2026
In honor of my dear friend, Margot Shaw, founder of Flower magazine and one of the headliners for the 2026 Newport Flower Show, I’m taking a page from her new…
Flowering Outdoors: Gardens and Parties
June 11, 2026
The Newport Flower Show will have a Star headliner this month, Margot Shaw, founder of Flower magazine, introducing her new book, Flowering Outdoors: Gardens and Parties. Don’t you love the…
Peony Magic
June 4, 2026
I’m so excited that the weather has finally turned and my glorious faves, peonies, are starting to show off! Appreciating how much we are all besotted with peonies, I chose…
A Notable Newport Estate, The Orchard Part 2
May 28, 2026
In a town of many old mansions, most have become house museums or condominiums or have been turned into dormitories and classrooms for a local university. Only a special few,…










