Free Prescott Park Garden Tours Held In Portsmouth On Fridays

PORTSMOUTH, NH — The seasonal gardens of Prescott Park are in their prime, following weeks of planting, weeding, and cultivation.

The city of Portsmouth Parks & Greenery Department is inviting the public to join members of the gardening team for free weekly tours of the formal gardens. The garden tours are offered from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays, now through Aug. 22. No reservations necessary. Join the free, one-hour tour at the Liberty Pole on Marcy Street opposite Strawbery Banke Museum and explore the extensive garden beds of the South Lawn and the formal garden planted around the anchor sculpture. While discussing the plants and the care necessary to maintain the gardens, the Parks & Greenery staff will answer questions and identify plants. Four horticulture interns lead the tours: Evy Douglass, Peyton Emery, Kerri McCann and Mia Smith.

The gardens at Prescott Park were created when sisters Mary and Josie Prescott purchased the waterfront acreage in the 1930s and willed it to the City in 1954 for public enjoyment. In 1975, at the suggestion of then-Park Supervisor Michael Warhurst, the Trustees of the park agreed to invite the University of New Hampshire to move its All-American Selections Program trial gardens from Madbury to Prescott Park and created 40 formal garden beds on the South Lawn.

While the formal association with the All-American Selections Program ended more than ten years ago, the City continues to plant annuals purchased locally by the City and maintained by Parks & Greenery with help from seasonal staff under the direction of City Horticulturist Earle Chase.

“The gardens of Prescott Park serve the purpose of being both beautiful and educational,” Corin Hallowell, parks and greenery foreman for the city of Portsmouth, said. “We are happy to identify the plants and flowers so visitors who might want to choose something similar for their own gardens know what they are and what growing conditions suit them. The Friday tours are an ideal way for residents and visitors to get answers to their questions about the gardens in the Park.”

Submitted by the city of Portsmouth