Artists Marcie Bronstein and Alan Fishman have lived and worked in a converted 180-year-old barn for the past 29 years. On Saturday, July 12, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., they will open their studios and gardens at 39 Homestead Close in Belfast to the public as part of the Belfast Garden Club’s Open Garden Days. Admission is $5.

When the couple moved to the property from New York City in 1996, the barn had no studios, and was surrounded by trees, a few shrubs, and a handful of perennials. Through the years, they've added brick pathways, a porch, a patio, and garden beds in many shapes and sizes. While Fishman uses the gardens as inspiration for his paintings, designing and tending to them is ceramicist Bronstein’s realm. The gardens have continually evolved, both by choice and chance.

“Initially, I knew almost nothing about gardening, literally not knowing the difference between an annual and a perennial,” Bronstein admits. “In time, I went from intimidated to intrigued to obsessed to overwhelmed to where I am now, which is fairly relaxed. My gardens are now well established, and there’s a clarity about them which, for many years, seemed to be always in flux. As the gardens have cycled through their evolutions and devolutions, I have absorbed their experiences. I’ve learned to garden with a lighter touch, to focus on fewer, happier, thriving plants, and fewer, simpler garden beds.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, given her art, Bronstein says that one of her favorite aspects of the garden is in using tree stumps as pedestals for any number of objects. At the event, she will have some of her exquisite ceramic pots for sale, already stocked with garden bouquets.

The $5 admission cost to the garden helps to support the Belfast Garden Club’s many educational and community projects, including the planting and maintenance of 13 public gardens within the city of Belfast.