Property History

on the Howard Phipps, Jr. Estate

Howard Phipps Sr, was an avid horticulturist, plant collector and hybridizer. Mr. Phipps bred peonies, magnolias, and finally settled on rhododendrons. He had 1,000 bare root rhododendron plants shipped to New York from the Rothchild estate in England every year. He was close with Charles Dexter, the great hybridist from Cape Cod and some of his hybrids are still available in the commercial nursery industry.

Under the guidance of Mary Stone Phipps, the estate was turned into a world class arboretum and botanic garden. The rhododendron breeding work has been continuous since 1982 and there are over 10,000 rhododendrons here grown from seed.

Location

453 SQUARE MILES  /  1.4 MILLION RESIDENTS  /  6.5 MILES OF BEACHFRONT

Nassau County, located on the North Shore of Long Island, NY, is a short 33 miles outside of New York City and is bounded to the East by Suffolk County and to the West by Queens County. Nassau County comprises 453 square miles and is home to 1.4 million residents. Many attractions are offered in Nassau County such as The Americana Manhasset where one can find luxury shops, Jones Beach State Park, which is the largest public beach in the world offering 65 miles of beachfront, and Belmont Park, home of the third leg of the thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown.