Richard Galef's garden

Richard Galef

Earlier in the week, I posted about industrial designer Richard "Dick" Galef's 1953 trashcan. While researching Galef, I found out about something equally interesting...his passion for gardening.

Thirty years ago, urbanites Susan Anthony and Richard Galef bought a tiny farmhouse nestled in the hills of Craryville, New York. They set about clearing trees and scrub brush, enlarging the house and creating a garden that now covers 57 acres, which includes a large planned woodland grove with stone paths, a pond surrounded by trees, grasses and exotic bog plants, an expanse of wild white roses, perennial beds, moss beds, a cut stone sculpture, wild woods, meadows and a 5-acre lake built by Galef to recover a swamp filled with dead trees. From their terrace, they can see a ledge of white rock shaped like a whale, which they call Moby Dick.

Anthony once painted landscape-inspired abstract paintings, so she uses her knowledge of color and is in charge of flowers and plants. Galef, with the eye of an industrial designer, has designed hardscapes and tends the maple trees he loves.

Their garden was open to the public in June as part of the Garden Conservancy Open Days Program, which includes garden tours in eleven states. I'm eager to find out if Galef and Anthony participate in the program annually.

From gardenconservancy.org and catskillmtn.org

Rock path in the planned woods
catskillmtn.org

Tree peony in the Galef-Anthony garden
catskillmtn.org

Lake on the Galef-Anthony property
gardenconservancy.org