Under the arching branches of large crabapple trees, the garden at Frog Pond Farm hums with the sound of pollinators and the quiet rhythm of a life transformed.
Laura Kirkpatrick moved to Stanfordville in 2016, after retiring from corporate life. The decision to settle here was sparked by a serendipitous drive past the ruins of Bennett College in Millbrook — a sight that stirred something deep in her. “That’s the sign,” she recalled telling her partner Beth Ann. “We’re meant to be in this area.”
They closed on their farmhouse that June. The barn was overrun with bats, the walls filled with honeybees. “We were told we could either tear it down or restore it,” Kirkpatrick said. They chose restoration.
Over the years, she has expanded the property with additions like a screened-in porch and a mudroom, but the soul of the place lies outside — in the gardens she designed and maintains herself.
Frog Pond Farm is not manicured. It sprawls, intentionally. Beds stretch from the house to the tree line, through borders filled with lilies, peonies, dahlias, and cosmos. “Sometimes I like to think that perfection is in the imperfection,” she said. “People who want things to be so fine — they lose the true being of the garden.”
Kirkpatrick didn’t know anything about gardening when she started. But the desire to create something full and blooming drove her to learn. A friend eventually gave her advice on training wisteria to grow along guide wires, and what once seemed like a chaotic tangle now climbs gracefully, forming a living canopy. “The first year it bloomed, I had six flowers. You’d have thought I won the lottery,” she said, laughing. “Now it blooms in two colors.”
The garden is personal. “Everything I plant has to make me smile,” Kirkpatrick said.
Pollinators are welcome here. Bees swarm the catalpas in spring. Cardinals nest just outside her kitchen window. Frogs, who inspired the farm’s name, have taken up residence in a shallow pond.
One of Kirkpatrick’s proudest additions is her fig tree — a hand-me-down from a friend, rescued from a neglected property. “It looked like it had been dropped from the top of the Empire State Building,” she said. But now, planted in a carefully prepared pot and wheeled into the garage each winter, it fruits each year. “It’s one of my five most prized possessions.”
Kirkpatrick, who grew up in New Vernon, New Jersey, now spends hours most days in the garden — depending on the weather. “I always have to have a project,” she said. During COVID, it was building stairs that lead down to the creek.
Despite her devotion, Kirkpatrick is skeptical of rigid trends in gardening. “People get so wrapped up in native plants and pollinators. And by the way, I’m the vice chair of the Pollinator Garden at the Audubon — so I care,” she said. “But you have to do something for yourself too. There has to be something personal about it. You should look out the window and feel joy.”
Laura’s Top 3 Garden Tips
- Love your gardens and let your imagination run wild!
- Know that perfection is most often in the imperfection
- Enjoy them!
This article is part of our ongoing series A Walk Through the Garden, which highlights the private gardens of residents across Pine Plains, Ancram, Gallatin, Milan, and Stanford. If you’d like to recommend a garden — or share your own — email editor@newpineplainsherald.org.
