Watering the flowers of 2018’s Trade Secrets

SHARON — April showers bring May flowers, but the rain didn’t stop anyone from shopping for blooms and plants on Saturday morning, May 19, the garden-sale day of this year’s two-day Trade Secrets fundraiser for Women’s Support Services in Sharon.

The sale was followed with garden tours on Sunday, May 20.

Garden enthusiasts tore their attention away from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding to don raincoats and rubber boots for the buying at Trade Secrets, which featured vendors of plants and plant-related items from across New England and New York. 

Trade Secrets was an idea of designer (and Falls Village resident) Bunny Williams to raise funds for Women’s Support Services (WSS). In recent years, it has been hosted annually on the scenic grounds of Elaine LaRoche’s Lion Rock Farm in Sharon. The weekend consists of the Rare Plant and Garden Antiques Sale on Saturday and the multi-destination garden tour on Sunday morning.

Ticket sales provide funding for WSS’s continued support for victims of domestic abuse. The nonprofit  provides counseling and medical needs for women across the Northwest Corner. 

Trade Secrets weekend is notorious for having bad weather. The 18th annual event was blessed with a steady shower of rain through the morning. Many of the vendors reported a large wave of 8 a.m. traffic and plenty of early sales, which made up for the thinning crowds by midday as mud started to sink the cars parked at Lion Rock. 

A highlight for many was the signing for “Martha’s Flowers,” a new book by Martha Stewart and Kevin Sharkey. It gave Trade Secrets guests photo opportunities and rare, intimate moments to thank their idol for all her home and garden inspiration. Stewart has long been a supporter of Trade Secrets; some shoppers seem to come simply for the pleasure of following her and watching what she buys.

Sunday brought heat but also calm gray skies. Garden tour visitors had the opportunity to wander Bunny Williams’ and John Rosselli’s Falls Village home, with its bright varied shades of tulips housed in geometric box structures; its woodland garden; its greenhouse; and of course its chicken coop and poolhouse.

In Amenia, more formal gardens could be seen at Wethersfield, the former home of Chauncey Stillman, with a 3-acre Classical Italian-inspired garden; and Middlefield, the Greek Revival-style home built by owner/architect Gil Schafer and framed by tall hedges.

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