From blackberry brambles to botanical destination
Public gets peek at Blue Hill’s private Overlook gardens in full bloom
July 7, 2026
By John Boit
A gazebo nestled away at the Overlook gardens in Blue Hill. Photos by John Boit.
BLUE HILL — When Leslie Clapp and Blaise de Sibour bought what used to be the Overlook Meat Market on Blue Hill’s Pleasant Street, they didn't inherit a picturesque landscape.
The field behind the business was overgrown with blackberry brambles. The building had 16 broken windows.
What the dilapidated property had was potential. What it needed was vision.
"We just moved in with a huge, overgrown blackberry field. It was a rundown old piece of property, but we knew the potential," Clapp said.
Some 40 years later, the Blue Hill couple have created a 10-acre oasis of walking trails that meander through meticulously maintained gardens, completely fenced in to protect the plants from the local deer population.
In a nod to the property’s past as a local meat market, they named the gardens “The Overlook.”
On June 29, about 200 people had the chance to tour the private garden, which is opened to the public once a month from late spring to early fall.
Visitors at the recent open house were greeted with a display of Audubon educational materials encouraging wildlife-friendly landscaping and native plantings.
"We put out Audubon stuff so hopefully people can make the connection between nature and landscaping and doing good for the earth," Clapp said.
Maintaining the gardens requires three people: de Sibour, Clapp, and her sister, Jodie Clapp, who spends three days a week working on the gardens.
“It’s an addiction,” de Sibour said. “I wouldn't recommend it for anybody. Honestly. You’ve got to like to work.”
He is quick to add that he focuses mostly on the paths–during the day he works just down the street at the Blue Hill Garage–while his wife and her sister do the plant work.
“I don’t know the plants. I’m not a flower person. I just love the trails, wandering through, poking along and making it look good,” de Sibour said.
Clapp, meanwhile, delights in the gardens themselves.
Her favorite spaces include the vegetable and herb cutting garden, a spiral that showcases native perennials, and a tranquil pond.
"The pond always has little things happening," she said. "It's just quiet and peaceful, except when the peepers are in control."
The result isn't a formal botanical garden but a network of winding paths, themed plantings, quiet corners and natural spaces that encourage exploration.
"People leave with a smile, and that makes us happy," Clapp said.
