The most beautiful gardens transport their visitors to a kind of wonderland. Here — a column of trees frame a vista; there — an old stone wall draws the attention to cows contentedly grazing; and beyond — a gate beckons toward a hedge that might be hiding something. Cobble Pond Farm has all of that and more and on Saturday, May 12, for just a few hours, from 1 to 4 p.m., patrons of the Garden Conservancy Open Days may tour the bucolic gardens on Jay and Kathy Metz’s estate in Sharon. If the day is slightly overcast and misty it will heighten the lush greens of the rolling farmland. If the day is sunny the gorgeous tulips in full bloom will seem to pop. Everywhere there is a mixture of foliage and white flowers, with tall white birch trees like exclamation points in the landscape. Trees are a big part of the Cobble Pond Farm magic. Kathy Metz says she would love to see it become an arboretum some day. A venerable copper beech stands sentry between the pool and the orchard. A massive gingko, a metasequoia (dawn redwood), a camperdown elm resembling an overgrown bonsai tree, a cluster of European birch; all specimens have withstood the test of time and the brutal storms that have passed over the Northwest Corner. The Metzes bought the property more than 31 years ago. Metz credits a previous owner, Harold Hatch, with “the terrific bones of the garden.” He lived there from 1929 to 1950 and “he contracted with Olmstead’s firm and worked with Percival Gallagher and Edwin Whiting. They developed the concept of the open fields and trees and beds.” Hatch was thrifty. “He harvested all the maples that line the drive from the woods near the house,” Metz said. But by the 1980s the garden had been neglected and the Metzes set about restoring it. Cobble Pond Farm is very much about the landscape. The elements of the garden are designed to take advantage of the expansive views across the wide open pastures, where black Angus graze and a resident fox marches around the field. But there’s more. Metz, working with horticulturist Marsha Kaufman, has created sculpted hedges of English yew, a secret garden, a cutting garden, a vegetable garden, and a wisteria-covered pergola. Some gardens are about a riot of color, and layers of blooms; and while Cobble Pond certainly has its share of those elements, it is more about showcasing the grandeur of the land and nature. For more information on viewing area gardens, call The Garden Conservancy 1-888-842-2442 or go to www.gardenconservancy.org/opendays.The cost of the tour is $5, children 12 and under free.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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