A & E

When J. Judson Brooks inherited Newington, a historic estate in Edgeworth, he and his wife, Laura, avidly worked on the property, adding trees, shrubs, flowers and especially rhododendrons, about which J. Judson Brooks became an expert.

Jay Brooks and his brother inherited the estate after the death of their father, but it was Jay Brooks who decided to live there and preserve it for the future. And although they have help, he and his wife, Ellen, spend lots of time weeding beds and clipping shrubbery.

The couple will open their gardens to the public June 24 for the Sewickley Garden Gala and the following day, for the Sewickley Garden Tour. The gala will include food from the Sewickley Cafe, music from the Jack Moyer Sewickleyland Band and an auction of exclusive items and experiences. There will be nine gardens on the tour.

Proceeds from the gala and tour benefit the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force. Natasha Green originated the garden tour nine years ago, after a cherished uncle received a blood transfusion on vacation and spent what she calls "an excruciating three-year hospitalization" before succumbing to AIDS.

"Living in Sewickley, a very conservative town, I knew instinctively that the only 'event' that would attract a following to support the AIDS community had to be non-threatening -- a garden tour," Green says.

The tour has become more important to the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force than ever, says Sean Gray, development specialist for the task force.

"(Government) funding has been cut left and right," Gray says. "Fundraisers like the Sewickley Garden Tour are so important, because we are able to take that money and do things we used to do easily."

The tour and gala annually raise about $50,000 for the organization, which provides services to people with AIDS and HIV, the human immune deficiency virus that causes the disease, for which there is no cure. The task force also provides outreach and education to people at risk for AIDS.

"It's a great cause," Ellen Brooks says. "It's important to help. We don't manage these grounds for ourselves. We are really doing this to preserve the history of the place for the community. It's great to see people enjoying it."

Guests at the gala will sample food on the lawn of the home, which was built in stages during the 1800s. Jay Brooks is a seventh-generation descendent of Daniel Leet, who acquired the property and surrounding 500 acres as the result of his participation in the Revolutionary War with Gen. George Washington. Leetsdale and nearby Leet Township are named for this early landowner.

Leet's daughter and son-in-law built an early version of the house in 1816.

Jay Brooks points out a series of garden rooms on the property, which people will see on the tour. They include a formal rose garden dating back more than 100 years, with painstakingly clipped boxwood borders; perennial beds flanking a long expanse of lawn; and a "green room" of yew hedges with nearby callery pear trees pruned into the shape of Hershey's kisses.

Arches of twin arborvitae about 170 years old have been trained to grow into each other, with entrances trimmed to admit visitors.

"They've been around," Jay Brooks says of the arborvitae with a wry smile. "If they could talk, they could give you lots of tales."

The property contains many rhododendrons, a particular interest of Jay Brooks' father, who bred new varieties; and multicolored azaleas, which he says bloom like "firecrackers" in May.

A large variety of events relating to the garden tour include an $8 Lunch on the Lawn at Sewickley Presbyterian Church, Beaver Street, from noon to 2 p.m. June 25. And from 5 to 7 p.m. after the tour, people can bring their own picnic dinners to Riverfront Park, Chadwick Street, for a festival that will include pony rides, a petting zoo, flower sale and jazz band.

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