I wrote an article earlier this week on two Westchester gardens that will be open on Sunday as part of the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program. Here’s a “link”:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007705020303.

I highly recommend both of them. Here’s a rose in Henriette Suhr’s garden that our Tom Nycz shot a couple of years ago on an early June morning.

And Mrs. Suhr in her fern garden, by Steve Schmitt. Her 8-acre retreat in Chappaqua, Rocky Hills, is one of my favorite gardens.

And a peony from her garden (Tom again).

It was nice to see a big crowd out last week at the Chappaqua Library for the first Rocky Hills lecture.

Timothy Tilghman, her head gardener, gave a fascinating lecture, with lots of old slides, on how the garden has evolved in her 50 years of gardening there. It’s hard to imagine it now as just a typical suburban plot in the 1950s.

Rocky Hills will be open from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday for a $5 admission fee.

Six new private gardens in Westchester have been added to the 11-year-old Open Days program this year, joining 18 other great gardens in the county.

Michael and Judy Steinhardt’s 55-acre estate in Bedford will also be open on Sunday. Hours there are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Here’s Michael in his maple garden, all shots by Tom Nycz.

They have 350 different cultivars of Japanese maples. You have to see the garden to believe how great they look in early May.

Landscape designer Jerome Rocherolle has set all of the stones and created a totally naturalistic setting for the trees.

For more information, call the Garden Conservancy at 888-842-2442 (I don’t know about staffing on weekends) or visit their “Web site”:http://www.gardenconservancy.org/opendays/.

Click on the 2007 Schedule on the right and click through to May 6. The Steinhardts don’t like to put directions to their home on the Web site, so go first to Rocky Hills and get directions from the Conservancy staff.

Note that 5 other Westchester gardens are open on Saturday.

Admission to each garden is $5, no reservations are required and Open Days are rain or shine.