Our Story

Nestled in a valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Beagle Ridge Herb Farm awaits you. Nature is the watchword at Beagle Ridge. Prior to becoming our dream come true our 210 acre property was part of a 2,000 acre hunting preserve. It's pristine beauty is what nurtures us daily and we would like to share it's bounty with you.

Our farm building was the site of the pen raised quail and partridge and the mountains around us are filled with wildlife. We share the farm with deer, turkey, grouse, rabbits, numerous bird species and even black bear. Gardening in this situation is a challenge: however we have encroached upon them so we need to work with them. 
Our Tea Garden is redone every few years due to the abundance of mints we use. These herbs tend to take over and we are now using these terra cots tiles to contain them. Everything in these beds can be used for a tea.
The remainder of the gardens include a formal walled herbal display garden, a Lavender walk, Thyme, Oregano and Lavender collections, a pergola, a water garden, Cottage garden, Wildlife habitat garden, shrub borders with rugosa roses, Japanese Meditation garden, and a Gravel/ Mediterranean garden. The Thyme walk which when in bloom looks like a Persian carpet. All the plants are xeric, which means they can survive with little or no additional watering.

The woodland garden has filled in and provides the only true shade in the gardens. The Viburnums create the backdrop to our shade lovers, Columbine, Hepatica, Ginger and many others. In addition we have lots of berry producing shrubs which provide a food source for the birds.

The dry-bed through the woodland helps eliminate a water problem which occurs when we have thunderstorms. Along this temporary watercourse we have many primroses, ferns, columbines, sweet woodruff and Golden Alexander. Although we have now lost a few of the shade producing pines we still have enough shade for our woodland area plants to thrive.
In addition to the status as a Certified Habitat Garden with the National Wildlife Federation, this is now a certified Monarch Watch Site, a Bee Friendly Site, and a  Pesticide Free Zone. It is a myriad of color and activity. We enjoy a chorus of bird song in the morning and bullfrogs at night. We have resident birds, bunnies and too many species of butterflies to mention. In addition the frogs, fence lizards and toads were doing their job on the insect population.

The slate wall surrounding the Formal garden, was an anniversary present from my husband. This creates a microclimate around the herbs, protecting them from the biting winter winds. All our hardscape( fences, walls, rock paths, etc.)helps absorb the heat of the sun and then release it at night and as such we are able to grow plants which normally could not survive in this zone. 
The hardscape also lends a sculptural addition to the gardens. When the plants are dormant, the bones of the garden are visible and that is a great time to do planning for the next year.