Welcome to
Brush Hill Gardens
You are invited to take a tour of Brush Hill Gardens, the home of Charles Raskob Robinson and Barbara Paul Robinson.
Gardening, a Love Story:Creating Brush Hill
This is the garden love story of Charlie and Barbara Robinson and of Brush Hill, the garden they created together over five decades. Narrated by Barbara, it is the story of how two people of very different temperaments and skills worked to create a place of great beauty. Brush Hill covers over 10 acres of gardens, with formal flower borders, a rose garden, vegetable garden, woodland walks, all created and tended by Barbara, and a number of garden features and structures all built by Charlie, including a large pond, bridges, arches and his Waterworks with 14 pools, rills and waterfalls. Each year visitors and tour groups from near and far are welcome. Barbara makes clear that while they were busy creating this magical garden, the garden was working its magic on them. Full of wonders and frustrations of the garden, this delightful tale will appeal to serious gardeners, want-to-be-gardeners and non-gardeners alike. Their ongoing love story offers inspiration, encouragement, honest and funny tales of garden mistakes and the seriously hard work that a garden entails, along with the garden’s many joys.
New Book
HEROES of HORTICULTUREAmericans Who Transformed the Landscape
Here are the stories of eighteen heroes – institution builders, plant explorers and garden creators – who have had a major impact on the landscape around us. The book profiles those who were essential to the creation of The Garden Conservancy, the restoration and enhancement of public parks and public spaces, and the revitalization and establishment of botanical and other public gardens.
Latest Blog Posts

Litchfield Magazine Article – September/October 2024 Issue
/A wonderful article about Brush Hill and The Robinson Family in Lichfield Magazine. Delgihted to see it in print.
- Barbara Robinson·
- September 22, 2024 11:12am·
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Gardening, A Love Story: Creating Brush Hill
Quite a tale over many decades of how my “Capability Brown” husband, Charles Raskob Robinson, was eager to transform the landscape around our pre-revolutionary farmhouse in Washington, Connecticut. A wreck when we bought it with no garden and I was not a gardener. It is quite a tale of evolution and creation.
- Barbara Robinson·
- December 29, 2023 4:56pm·
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Here is the Cover of My New Book
I am thrilled to have my new book out from the printer and now available. This is the story of how two of us with different backgrounds and abilities bought a pre-revolutionary farmhouse in Washington CT, then in terrible shape. Over the decades since we have restored and expanded the house and transformed the landscape…
- Barbara Robinson·
- December 10, 2023 5:00pm·
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