The sad truth, Ms. Zuk said, is that the four-acre garden has not been properly tended in years.

A new farmhouse, Cas Mal Ric, set in a mature four-acre garden, is perfect for two families sharing; £3,895 per week in high season.

It bounds a four-acre garden.

Fall highlights of the four-acre garden are such flowering bulbs as Guernsey lilies, a flowering crab apple tree and the brilliant red foliage of the American Tupelo tree.

Larry and Loretta Trumpore, who took over Sam Houston Baker's four-acre garden two years ago, call day lilies ideal for a "no maintenance" garden.

One of these is Frank Gross, the products of whose four-acre, organic garden in nearby Lisbon are destined entirely for Mr. Hayward's dining room.

The inspiration for the group was Ruth Bancroft's four-acre garden behind a high wooden fence.

We started at his Rare Find Nursery in Jackson, N.J., where he displays thousands of rhododendrons in an adjacent four-acre garden (open to the public from spring through fall).

These invitation-only affairs are held in the September-October harvest season and feature vegetables, fruits and herbs from the winery's four-acre garden.

The museum, on Deveau Road, is open Wednesdays through Sundays from noon to 4 P.M., and the four-acre Japanese garden is also open for viewing at those hours.