Sycamore Hill Gardens

Schedule a 2016 Weekday Garden Ramble for your group of 20-36

Last summer we developed a very successful small event format at Sycamore Hill Gardens, our Weekday Garden Rambles. These garden tours receive excellent reviews and and make a nice midmorning to mid afternoon outing. They include a Daniel’s Grill catered box lunch with artisan sandwich, salad, house made chips, cookies, brownies as well and beverages-ice tea, water and lemonade.

During the event we make good use of the garden’s six-passenger golf cart giving tours to anyone who has difficulty walking or just prefers riding to rambling. We make frequent stops to answer your questions as well as those from ramblers we meet along the way. At noon, we meet on the patio for lunch where everyone has time for additional questions during the meal. After lunch we resume the golf cart tours and personal meanderings for an hour or so before the ramble ends. This makes for a nice, low-key day with plenty of personal interaction for you and the people you want to bring together. Perfect for family and friends, clubs, small reunions or meet-up groups.

These events are tailored for 30 to 36 guests with close parking, golf cart pick up as needed, and are held on a rain or shine basis. They offer a great opportunity for a quiet visit to the gardens during the summer months in between our spring and fall large charity fundraisers.

Come see what’s in bloom, enjoy lunch on the patio, and have plenty of time for questions, garden history, plant lore, and anecdotes.

For further details, lunch choices, pricing, etc. contact us through this website, or from our Facebook page, and we’ll help you organize your own private Sycamore Hill Gardens Weekday Ramble!

We look forward to hearing from you,

Karen & George Hanford/owners Sycamore Hill Gardens

This summer we’ve tried a new tour format at Sycamore Hill Gardens that we’re calling Weekday Garden Rambles. To date, we’ve hosted two four-hour rambles held from 9am to 1pm and a third from 4:30pm to dusk. All three have included a catered box meal on the patio with sandwich and salad choices, cookies and fresh fruit salad, chips and a choice of ice tea or lemonade.  During the event my time is spent using the garden’s six-passenger golf cart to give tours to anyone with difficulty walking, making frequent stops along the way to answer questions from other ramblers followed by doing my best at the group question and answer session on the patio during the meal.

I readily admit to being “brighter” in the mornings but sometimes that’s much too obvious, and Wednesday night’s ramble was one of those times. I suppose a day spent tarting up the patio and driveway using a pint-sized, flat-bottomed shovel to remove the coating of mud from the previous night’s downpour might be considered a mitigating factor, but by 6:30, as I stood on the patio for the Q & A session, I was feeling distinctly less than brilliant.

My answer to the first question was along the lines of “Gee wiz, I’ll have to go out to the Bell Garden and take a look.” The correct answer to the first question was Liatris spicata Blazing Star and there are times of day when I actually do know this!

I quickly moved on to the second question figuring it had to be uphill from here. Silly me! “What is that beautiful purple flowering plant we can see from the patio?” To which I responded, “We got that from Marcellus Nursery. Um, does Lamb’s Quarter sound right?” A few quietly murmured “noes” from here there on the patio was the polite response, and here I have to thank our generous spirited guests for restraining their laughter. “Thank YOU!” My rapid rejoinder was to launch into a totally unrelated garden anecdote.

The correct answer is Hummelo Betony, a plant with a vague resemblance to Lamb’s Ear but with much more distinctive blooms and lovely green foliage. Lamb’s Quarter? Lamb’s Ear? Well, maybe ordering a box meal and actually eating would have helped. I live in hope.

For those of you who missed these rambles, we will be having several more this season using the same format self-hosted by Sycamore Hill Gardens.

Special thanks the 94 people who each attended one of our three Garden Rambles to support CNY Reads One Book, a program of the Onondaga County Public Library System. Your $30 donations included a $10 catered box lunch. Sycamore Hill Gardens will continue that format with it’s own self-hosted Day Time Garden Rambles. Look for dates, details, and menu choices in next week’s blog.

These Sycamore Hill Garden events will all be held weekdays between 10am and 2pm with time to ramble both before and after lunch. They are tailored for 30 to 36 guests with close parking, golf cart pick up as needed, and are held on a rain or shine basis. They offer a great opportunity for a quiet visit to the gardens during the summer months in between spring and fall large charity fundraisers.

Come see what’s in bloom, enjoy lunch on the patio, and have plenty of time for questions, garden history, and interesting anecdotes. Put together a group of family and friends or club members and enjoy your own private Garden Ramble!