WESTPORT – Prospect Gardens will hold a September open house on Saturday, Sept. 19, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the public able to explore the 8.5 acres of arboretum trees, three perennial gardens, berry houses and more.

The day will kick off on Prospect Road with the Staples High School Jazz Ensemble playing at 10:30 a.m. at the garden’s amphitheater.  A new addition will be some “en pleine aire” painters sitting throughout the gardens with their paints and easels.

Those who attended the open day in the spring may notice some changes, with the fall gardens featuring maturity and abundance. 

The meadow flowers are now over your head. Those who attend can see the tall, yellow Helenium sunflowers and white Queen Anne’s Lace fading to make way for the purple asters just coming into bloom. 

The vegetable garden is colorful and still full, showing an impending harvest of hundreds of pounds of produce. Summer hydrangeas are heavy with flowering heads. The frog pond is full of water lilies and lotus pods. Apples, quince and grapes are ripening in the orchards. Evergreens are producing cones for seed production, which is important for winter bird feeding.

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