Greenwood Gardens: an Arts and Crafts Gem

The Teahouse

Although just forty-five minutes from Manhattan, Greenwood Gardens is totally removed from the sights and sounds of city life. The 28-acre garden, surrounded by 2,110 acres of forest and meadows of the South Mountain Reservation, was a private estate until 2003, when the Blanchard family decided to transform it into a public garden.

The front entrance

Entrance Garden

Two very different American families left their marks on Greenwood Gardens. In the early 1900s, Joseph P. Day, a real estate auctioneer and self-made multi-millionaire, built the mansion and gardens as a retreat from hectic city life. Architect William Whetten Renwick designed both home and garden in an exuberant, heavily ornamented style. The garden was influenced by both Italian and Arts and Crafts styles, and laid out with strict axes and vistas. A series of lavishly planted terraces descended from the house, and an extensive system of paths made from exposed aggregate pavers led through lush, colorful plantings and recreational areas. The family could enjoy a croquet lawn, a tennis pavilion, a nine-hole golf course, a wading pool, shady pergolas and grottoes, a summerhouse, and a teahouse. The gardens were decorated with statuary and rough local stone embellished with colorful Rookwood tiles of the Arts and Crafts period. 

The Summerhouse

In 1949 Peter P. Blanchard, Jr., purchased the property, and he and his wife, Adelaide Childs Frick, brought a more restrained classical formality to the estate. They replaced the flamboyant house with a Georgian brick mansion, and supplanted the extravagant flower beds with simple hedges of boxwood and yew and allées of London plane and spruce trees.

The Garden of the Gods

In 2000, following his father’s wishes, Peter P. Blanchard III and his wife, Sofia, began restoring the garden to its early 1900s appearance and converted it to a nonprofit conservation organization with assistance from the Garden Conservancy. The garden needed extensive work. The walls, terraces, stairs, pools, statuary, and colonnades all had to be repaired. Trees and hedges were pruned or removed, and 28  acres of plantings were recreated from old photographs and notes under the direction of Louis Bauer, formerly of Wave Hill. After more than a decade of planning, fundraising, and restoration, the garden opened to the public in 2013.

The main terrace

In 2020, the garden went through another extensive renovation, focusing on the main axis and fountains, and on the Garden of the Gods. Fountains were restored, walls were repaired, paving stones were reset, views were cleared, and new plantings were installed. When you visit the garden today, you are greeted by an allee of London plane trees. A towering, hand-wrought iron-grill gate, decorated with vines, ferns, parakeets, and birds of paradise is displayed at the entrance to the garden. The Main Terrace, complete with loggias, connects the house to the formal gardens, which descend downward on several more terraces. An elegant reflecting pool serves as a focal point of the first terrace. The Croquet lawn forms the next terrace, and and a bronze sculpture of a boy holding two geese holds center stage in the Garden of the Gods. As you stroll through the garden, you will find ceremonial granite hand-washing basins and whimsical oversized chess pieces that frame the stone Tea House, granite lanterns that adorn the walls of the Cascade terrace, and Chinese Fu dogs that flank the stairs.

The horticulturists at Greenwood Gardens are keen on educating the public about new and noteworthy plants, so you will see unusual trilliums, calycanthus, hellebores, viburnums, phlomis, and the newest varieties of beloved perennials such as rudbeckia, pulmonaria and baptisia, all labeled for visitors. The combination of interesting horticulture, strong classical design, and whimsical Arts and Crafts details make Greenwood Gardens a truly unique destination garden in the Northeast.

The D Shaped Pool

The main Terrace

Greenwood Gardens, 274 Old Short Hills Rd., Short Hills, NJ 07078, (973) 258-4026, greenwoodgardens.org 

Open May–Oct.: Thurs–Sun 10–5, select holidays

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Presby Memorial Iris Garden: A Rainbow on the Hill

Van Gogh’s Irises

Cultivated in New England since early colonial times, irises have a long and revered history. The Greek goddess Iris was the messenger of the gods and the personification of the rainbow. The fleur-de-lis is derived from the shape of the iris and is the symbol of the royal family of France. In Japan, the rhizome was ground to create the white face makeup for the geisha. Iris flowers were a favorite subject of Impressionist painters. And in New Jersey, irises are the stars of this memorial garden.

Claude Monet, Iris Garden

Frank H. Presby (1857–1924) was a leading citizen of Montclair and an iris hybridizer, collector, and founder of the American Iris Society. It was his expressed wish to give a collection of his favorite flower to Montclair’s newly acquired Mountainside Park, however he passed away in 1924 before he could carry out his plan. The Presby Gardens were established thanks to local resident Barbara Walther, who led the effort and watched over the garden for 50 years. 

Located at the base of the 7.5-acre Mountainside Park, the gardens were designed in 1927 by John C. Wister, a Harvard University landscape architect. He designed the garden in a bow shape, and Presby Gardens is now referred to as the “rainbow on the hill.” The iris garden contains more than 10,000 irises of approximately 1,500 varieties, which produce more than 100,000 blooms over the course of the season.

Peak bloom time is mid-May through the first week of June. Many of these irises were donated from Presby’s and Wister’s gardens, as well as from private Montclair gardens, the American Iris Society, and hybridizers all over the world.

Every iris in the garden has a marker indicating the name of the iris, the hybridizer, and the year the iris was registered with the American Iris Society. Twenty-six beds contain bearded irises, each dedicated to a particular decade. Be sure to look for the Heirloom Iris bed (bed 5a & b) with plants dating from the 16th to 20thcentury. Also look for the dwarf irises, growing only to 8 inches in height. They are the earliest of the bearded iris to bloom, and are ideal for rock gardens and fronts of borders.

Beds running along the creek bed contain a collection of non-bearded Spuria, Siberian, Japanese, and Louisiana irises, which prefer a wetter setting. Purple weeping beeches, fringe trees, katsuras, stewartias, redbuds, and ginkgos provide an interesting border for the iris gardens. A bee sanctuary with seven hives was added in 2000.

Growing Bearded Irises

Irises can be planted in the spring, in early fall, or in July and August when they are dormant. Plant your irises at least four to six weeks before your first hard freeze so that their roots are well established before the end of the growing season. Plant rhizomes 12 to 24” apart to avoid overcrowding.

Irises require at least a half-day (6-8 hours) of direct sunlight. Provide your irises with good drainage: a raised bed or a slope are ideal. Keep beds free of weeds and leaves.

It is a common mistake to plant Irises too deeply. Plant your rhizomes at or just barely below the surface of the ground. The tops of the rhizomes should be visible and the roots should be spread out facing downwards in the soil. Tamp the soil firmly to anchor the rhizomes until new roots begin to grow, and water well. 

Divide and replant iris that have become overcrowded (usually after three to five years) in July or August when the plants are dormant.

For more information or to join a local Iris Society branch, visit the American Iris Society.

Presby Memorial Iris Gardens, 474 Upper Mountain Ave., Montclair, NJ, (973) 783-5974, presbyirisgardens.org. Hours: Daily dawn–dusk.

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