Garden Holiday
August 25 – 30, 2019
Join us in celebrating 85 Years of Garden Holiday—featured in Flower Magazine. Delight in hands-on workshops and demonstrations with the area’s finest horticultural experts. Mohonk’s show gardens highlight a diverse array of flora both native and exotic. Be sure to join us at our annual Victorian Garden Party!
Availability is limited. For reservations, please call .
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
SUNDAY, AUGUST 25
Welcome and Garden Tour
4pm
Meet our Garden Holiday team, pick up your welcome packet and annual themed pin, and have a cup of tea. Join Mohonk’s Garden Supervisor, Andrew Sinno for a guided stroll into the gardens to begin your stay.
Chanticleer Gardens
9pm
Join Victoria Coyne in a fascinating discussion of Pennsylvania’s historical Chanticleer Gardens. Within 30 minutes of Philadelphia, Chanticleer is one of the great gardens of the region. Once the Rosengarten estate, today’s Chanticleer is a colorful, contemporary garden within an historic setting; much like our own show gardens here at Mohonk!
MONDAY, AUGUST 26
Tropical Gardening in a Non-Tropical Setting
10am
Tropical plants evoke that feeling of an oasis. Join Mohonk’s Garden Supervisor, Andrew Sinno and learn how to successfully fit them into our north-east gardens.
Miniature Marvels: Terrarium Workshop
3pm
Terrariums were very chic during the Victorian era. Join a member of Mohonk’s own Greenhouse staff and take the opportunity to re-create your own moss-terrarium to enjoy for years to come. This event is for guests attending Garden Holiday. Supplies are limited.
Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens
9pm
Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano will be discussing their local non-profit organization, whose mission is to sustain the native, unusual, and historic plant life of this area and to serve as a vital educational resource for the public. Their goal is to create a ‘Living Textbook’ of plants that can be grown in the Hudson Valley. Join us for an interesting visual presentation on Unusual Fruiting Plants!
TUESDAY, AUGUST 27
The Victorian’s Flowers
10am
Experience an era when flowers filled the household. Join Mohonk Florist Jacqueline Schwab, for a discussion and demonstration arranging fresh flowers from our property to transport us back in time.
Gardens in the British Empire: An Anecdotal History
2pm
With the might of the British Empire, horticulture would be radically changed for the rest of history. Join Clinton Claussen, Head Gardener, as he explores how the British expansion led to new botanical discoveries for the western world.
Victorian Garden Party
4pm
Members of the Smiley family and Garden Holiday leaders will host afternoon tea in our award-winning show garden for our overnight guests. Listen to the melodic sounds of flute and harp, and please be sure to wear your favorite garden party hat!
The Victorian Garden Party is open to overnight resort guests only.
Bernstein Bard Quartet
9pm
The Bernstein Bard Quartet has become an acoustic music phenomenon in the Hudson Valley over the last 12 years. They are known for their imaginative arrangements, eclectic repertoire, and infectious grooves!
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28
Dahlias, the Royalty of the Garden with Sally Spillane
2pm
Join Sally Spillane, host of the Garden Show and Home on WKZE 98.1 FM, as she covers the history of one of nature’s most incredible flowers, dahlias. She will discuss classification, finding the best tubers, where to plant, how to plant, when to plant, care during growing and flowering, digging and dividing and storing tubers, and her list of favorites.
Wine Tasting with Whitecliff Vineyards
5pm
Join local winery Whitecliff Vineyards from Gardiner, NY for a tasting and discussion of wines.
*Note: Pre-registration is required. $30 per person program fee for admittance to the tasting. Space is limited. Participants must be age 21 or over to attend.
Bryson Lang
8:30pm
Bryson has entertained thousands around the world with his creative, high-energy, family-friendly act. You will see a likable, energetic personality performing captivating routines that mix audience participation, comedy, ball bouncing and spinning, juggling, giant beach balls, improv, glo-in-the-dark objects, and always a few surprises!
THURSDAY, AUGUST 29
Garden Tour
9:45am
Take a morning stroll with Andrew Sinno for an official tour around this season’s show garden, Garden Jubilation. Andrew will tour this year’s colorful version of the garden and talk about the techniques required to complete this complicated endeavor year after year.
Humans in the Landscape
3pm
With Victoria Coyne. More details to come.
Garden Holiday Reception
5pm
Join us for wine and light fare as we wrap up this year’s Garden Holiday program.
An Evening of Music with Tom Stewart and Maureen Kelley Stewart
9pm
Featuring music from a time gone-by, the Stewarts are a favorite of Mountain House guests and have been a long-time part of the Garden Holiday program.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 30
Behind the scenes with Mohonk’s Rustic Carpenters
10am
We are going on a little trip to see the latest projects undertaken by this very talented crew. Prepare to be amazed!
Availability is limited. For reservations, please call .
MEET OUR PROGRAM LEADERS
Andrew Sinno
Andrew Sinno, Mohonk’s Head Gardener, has worked in our gardens for over two years. He has a Bachelors in Plant Science from SUNY Cobleskill and has been in the industry his entire working life. He specializes in ornamental horticulture.
Jacqueline Schwab
Jacqueline Schwab joined Mohonk as a florist in 2017. Prior to coming to Mohonk she worked at Windfall Farms, an organic farm in Montgomery, NY and shows her paintings locally.
Clinton Claussen
Clinton Claussen is the head gardener at the Mohonk Mountain House. In 2017 he started with the Rustic carpenters and transitioned to the garden staff that winter. He is an avid outdoorsman who has an enormous wealth of knowledge on the region’s flora and fauna. He majored in Philosophy and Literature at the University of Iowa.
Whitecliff Vineyards
Whitecliff Vineyards is an artisanal family run winery created from the ground up by owners and founders, Michael Migliore and Yancey Stanforth-Migliore. Establishing the vineyard has been an ongoing process since 1979, involving years of trial and error and a rigorous approach of science and engineering, to provide the knowledge and the strong base necessary to create a successful vineyard and winery. It is one of the largest vineyards in the Hudson Valley, with over 20 varieties of grapes planted.
Victoria Coyne
Victoria Coyne started gardening as a child with her mother and her grandmother, the original Victoria. She attended Ulster County Community College in a horticulture program offered in the early to mid-80s. In 1987, she started Victoria Gardens-a design, installation, and maintenance landscape company. In 2003, she and her husband Wayne Waddell bought a neglected piece of property on the corner of Cottekill Road and Route 213 in the town of Rosendale and renovated the building into a retail shop as well as the center for the landscape company. After Wayne’s death in 2012, Victoria continues running her landscape gardening company alongside her stepdaughter Donna Waddell and her fantastic staff. The shop is a remarkable space laid out on top of a piece of New Scotland limestone, that’s over 375 million years old. It’s worth a trip down the mountain!
Sally Spillane
Sally Spillane has been the host of the Garden Show and Home on WKZE 98.1 FM, based in Red Hook New York for over 25 years. It is an interview show with local garden pros and she feels very lucky to have learned from the best in the gardening world.
Cheryl Alloway
Cheryl Alloway is a long time Ulster County Master Gardener Volunteer and the owner of Alloway Garden Design. She specializes in xeric and deer resistant garden designs as well as garden coaching. In between garden assignments, she can often be found creating hypertufa troughs and garden ornaments in her Tillson Garden.
Marge Bonner
Marge Bonner, an Ulster County Master Gardener Volunteer for more than 15 years, knows there is so much more to learn. Having gardened in the tropics (Indonesia, Ethiopia and East Africa), she now tends 17 acres of woodlands, veggies and pretty things on the outskirts of the Catskills.
When you visit during Garden Holiday, your overnight package includes:
- Three meals daily featuring fresh, locally sourced cuisine from our farm-to-table partners
- Access to more than 85 miles of the Hudson Valley’s best hiking trails
- Boating, fishing, and swimming on Lake Mohonk
- Daily Guided “House History” Tours of our National Historic Landmark resort
- Guided Nature Hikes with stunning views of the Catskill Mountains
- Yoga, Meditation, and Fitness Classes
- Indoor Heated Pool with underwater music
- Afternoon tea and cookies in our historic Lake Lounge
- Complimentary greens fees on our Scottish-inspired golf course
- Nightly Evening Entertainment
- Special Events and more! See schedule of activities >
A la carte experiences available to overnight guests:
- A full menu of nature-inspired treatments at our award-winning spa
- The Carriage Lounge, featuring a full bar and handcrafted cocktails as well as hyperlocal draft beer and hard cider
- An award-winning wine list in our Main Dining Room
- Horseback riding, carriage rides, and pony rides