Gardeners’ Glory

A star of the Garden Conservancy Open Days Tour, this gem with nods to Monet’s Giverny features abundant perennials, unique trees, vegetables and much more set amid meandering paths that lead to a pond and a cozy teahouse.

April 19, 2024

Robin Sweetser, John W. Hession, Photographer,

Last year Ellen and Bruce Clement of Westmoreland celebrated half a century on their hillside farm. “We bought this property in 1973 as a ‘stepping stone’ sheep farm. Little did we know we’d still be here 50 years later!” says Bruce, who started raising sheep as a 4-H project when he was 10 years old.

As soon as they moved to the property — little more than a small house and a one-car garage at the time — they took on several challenges: clearing and fencing the fields, tripling the size of the house, building a big pole barn, moving the driveway and replacing the garage with a charming lattice-walled gazebo.

Fifteen of their 20 acres were devoted to pastureland for their flock of 50 ewes and replacement lambs. Along with breeding stock and meat lambs, they sold value-added products including sheepskins, woolen blankets and prize-winning Pyrenees-style sheep milk cheese. All this while raising three children and working full time, Ellen as a registered nurse and Bruce as an agricultural educator for UNH Cooperative Extension.

Once the kids were grown, sheep were gone and both had retired, they focused their energy on their landscape, creating many gorgeous gardens. Now abundant flowering perennials, interesting annuals and collections of unique trees and shrubs flow from one garden to the next, drawing you deeper into the property.

A wisteria vine drapes over the locust pergola leading down a set of steps to their substantial vegetable garden. “It used to be even larger than it is now,” says Ellen. Composed of many raised beds and enclosed with a fence, the garden is home to a wide variety of vegetables and fruits including blueberries, and 150 feet of raspberries. A popular rail trail runs nearby and hikers often stop to chat and admire the gardens.

Along one side of the vegetable garden, three sections of curved rebar and wire make up a long arbor covered with climbing vines including clematis and ‘Kintzley’s Ghost’ honeysuckle. On the other side of the arbor is the shade garden. A stone-covered path winds through plantings of hosta, astilbe, epimediums, ginger, lungwort, and sweet woodruff growing in the shade of river birches, broad maples, stewartia, azaleas, PJM rhododendrons, and dogwoods. “Much to Ellen’s chagrin, I’ve changed the path location three times,” Bruce admits.

A spacious deck at the front of the house is where part of Ellen’s extensive collection of house plants spends the summer months, along with pots of flowering annuals. “I simply love plants and find such joy in being outside with my hands in the soil,” she says. “My collection of houseplants allows me to experience the joys of gardening all year round.”

Behind the house, the Clements have transformed the backyard into a Provence-style terrace with pea stone replacing the grass. Large stones unearthed while building the home’s addition are stacked around the perimeter to create rustic retaining walls, supporting flower beds that ring the terrace. There is a weeping larch, “Sun King” aralia, lilacs and a lacy Japanese maple planted with hosta, Japanese painted fern, astilbe and daylilies. Stephanandra and snow-in-summer blanket the terraced slope, where deutzia is planted at the top. Around the side of the house there is a weeping crabapple, purple Culver’s root, a 20-year-old “Bloodgood” Japanese maple, smokebushes, bleeding hearts and a climbing hydrangea that reaches a second-floor deck. Nestled into the side of the hill, it all fits the landscape.

Meandering paths lead away from the house, through a field of ferns under towering trees. Bruce calls it “gardening by subtraction” since he had to remove a lot of brush and smaller trees to allow the ferns to take over. As in the rest of the landscape, there are strategically placed benches along the way. “I like to put seats in different areas,” says Bruce. “People get a whole different perspective on the garden when they’re sitting.”

Heading toward the pond, the garden takes on an Asian feel. There is a red, Japanese-style, arched footbridge over the outlet for the pond and a zig-zag boardwalk covers a wet, marshy spot. Bruce explains that its shape, inspired by classic Japanese garden design, is said to deter evil spirits that can only travel in a straight line. As the path winds toward the hill on the opposite side of the pond, it leads to a Monet-style green bridge over the pond’s inlet stream. “He loves to build things,” Ellen says about her husband, who laughs, saying that it took longer to paint the red bridge than to build it. Atop the hill overlooking the pond is another of Bruce’s construction projects — a cozy tea house built with the help of two friends. Looking out from inside, the pond is perfectly centered in the circular moon window.

“I don’t think there is any completely original garden,” Bruce says. “We have traveled far and wide to visit gardens, greenhouses and nurseries where we have gotten many ideas and much inspiration.” He sees participating in the Garden Conservancy Open Days as a way of thanking and giving back to the many gardeners who were kind enough to share their gardens with them.

Make plans to visit the Clement garden along with two others in Cheshire County this summer. They will be open to the public on Sunday, June 30, during the Garden Conservancy Open Days Tour. Get your tickets soon!