Kippen Hill

Kippen Hill is a twelve-year-old garden that encompasses five smaller gardens situated on 1.5 acres. The variegated garden grows 'Dragon's Eye' pine and Japanese forest grass, variegated hosta and acuba. A formal garden of English-style borders with a central-axis bubbler fountain is the anchor to the site. An Asian garden with an aviary pagoda is home for our Asian-native egg-laying hens. Coltsfoot from the Humes Japanese Stroll Garden and black bamboo are featured here, along with a majestic centenary boulevard cedar that was planted when the house was first built in 1910. A small vegetable garden with heirloom tomatoes hosts a collection of nineteenth-century American garden equipment. The roomy front lawn is planted with ornamental papyrus in paisley-patterned beds, surrounded by English-style borders. A Lord and Burnham greenhouse dating to 1925 was rescued and restored from a famed Gold Coast estate about seven years ago by Dean and Jonathan. This outbuilding doubles as a site for our collection of tropicals, including bananas and orchids, as well as a dining room for guests during all four seasons.