Portsmouth's Green Animals Topiary Garden Reopens April 15

PORTSMOUTH, RI — Green Animals Topiary Garden will open for the season this week, the Preservation Society of Newport County announced Tuesday. The popular outdoor space will welcome visitors starting Friday.

The opening comes just in time for the full bloom of 6,000 tulips and 58 variety of daffodils, totaling 19,000 bulbs. The historic garden also features 80 animal-shaped and geometric topiaries along with a wide range of blooms.

"Spring is always a great time to visit Green Animals, and every year we plant more bulbs in new varieties to make it even more spectacular," said Trudy Coxe, the orgnaization's CEO and executive director. "We hope to build on the incredible success of last year, when Green Animals was visited by far more people than ever before."

The preservation society owns and maintains the Portsmouth property, as well as 10 historic sites in Newport.

New this season, the garden features updated labeling to explain what is growing, new boxwoods in the Formal Garden and new paths to increase accessibility.

Green Animals is the oldest and furthest north topiary garden in the country. The iconic topiary hedges shaped like a bear, giraffe, elephant, ostrich and other animals were first created in the early 1900s. The property sprawls seven acres, featuring a wide array of flowers that bloom throughout the spring, summer and fall. In 2019, the American Daffodil Society recognized it as one of 28 official "Daffodil Display Gardens" in the country, and one of just three in the region.