Summer’s here, and it’s the height of the growing season: prime time to steal away to the Inn at Hastings Park and do some garden-hopping in and around Lexington, Massachusetts!
What better way to embrace the spirit and splendor of midsummer New England than spending some quality time among blooms and blossoms, all while enjoying the finest in boutique luxury hospitality at our historic Inn just 15 miles outside of Boston?
Summertime Garden Explorations Out of Lexington, MA
The oldest formally designated organization of its kind in the United States, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, founded way back in 1829, calls as its home base the marvelous 36-acre Garden at Elm Bank (900 Washington St., Wellesley, MA), located in the Town of Dover and accessed via Wellesley but a short drive from the Inn at Hastings Park.
Its many varied and ravishing displays include the Dahlia Garden, Shade Garden, Alan Peyton Memorial Rhododendron Garden, Historical Daffodil & Native Plant Garden, Daylily Garden, and Goddess Garden, among others—plus the Hartley Botanic Greenhouse. Needless to say, strolling the Garden at Elm Bank is a fantastic way to spend a summer day on a Lexington, MA getaway.
The same goes for the unique Garden in the Woods (180 Hemenway Rd, Framingham, MA), operated by the Native Plant Trust on 45 acres of glacially sculpted terrain. This naturalized botanical garden, threaded through by a milelong gravel path and incorporating a pond, brook, and several wetlands, supports better than 1,000 kinds of native Massachusetts plants, from great rosebay and woodland pinkroot to harebell and the purple pitcher plant. On the first and third Saturdays of the month this summer, the Garden in the Woods also features the Ask a Horticulturist program: a great opportunity to get answers to your gardening questions!
Nearby Boston, of course, has its fair share of wonderful gardens, not least the famous Public Garden (4 Charles St., Boston, MA), the most venerable public botanical garden in the country. Then there’s the leafy summer paradise of Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum (125 Arborway, Boston, MA), which covers close to 300 acres, and the sumptuous beds of the long-standing Kelleher Rose Garden (73 Park Drive, Boston, MA).
A bit farther afield but well worth the daytrip, meanwhile, the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill (11 French Dr, Boylston, MA) covers nearly 200 acres and offers extended hours on Wednesday and Thursday evenings during the summer. There are also plenty of garden concerts, plant shows, and other events on tap for the season.
Get Your Summer Blooms On During a Stay at the Inn at Hastings Park
Call one of our elegant and well-appointed guestrooms or suites your home away from home on a garden-filled Lexington, MA getaway this summer! And speaking of gardens, don’t forget about our very own Culinary Garden here at the Inn, associated with our lauded New England eatery Town Meeting Bistro: The summertime al fresco vibes (and flavors) are unbeatable here!
