Nothing's happening at Montogomery Place since it's closed, right? Well, first off, it's not closed, it's open. The site's lush grounds, 434 acres of waterfront serenity in Annandale-on-Hudson, are blooming and welcoming visitors every Saturday and Sunday from 10-5 through October.

As HHV buffs know, the mansion at Montgomery Place is off-limits while it continues to undergo renovations in preparation for a significant reinterpretation, but that doesn't mean you can't take a stroll through the (blooming) peonies like those here.

And getting ready for the relaunch, HHV has brought aboard a new Montgomery Place site director, Ray Armater, who previously was site director at Philisburg Manor and Locust Grove. Welcome, Ray!

Ray joins Landscape Director Sarah Price, who has devoted the past several years to an ambitious project of meticulously restoring the Montgomery Place gardens. Her staff and volunteers have planted, divided, weeded, and mulched to bring the borders back to their glory from their 1920s and 1930s heyday. (More garden bloggin' to come...)

And what about the reinterpretation? Launching in 2010, "American Arcadia: People, Landscape, and Nature at Montgomery Place" will refocus the site to explore man's relationship to nature, landscape, and the environment. The project will use the experiences of people who lived and worked on this model country estate during its 200-year history to illustrate important turning points in American attitudes towards nature and landscape.