Spring Ideas from Blithewold

Joan and I had the pleasure of presenting our lecture "Spring Ephemerals and Other Delights" at Blithewold last April. For those of you that have never been there, Blithewold is a 33-acre estate with a 45-room mansion framed by a series of lovely gardens overlooking Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. The property was purchased in 1895 by Augustus and Bessie Van Wickle, and served as the family summer home. The gardens were designed in the late 1800s, and feature a 10-acre lawn, an arboretum of specimen trees, perennials gardens, and a "bouquet" or scenic woodland. Bessie and her daughter Marjorie were ardent gardeners and turned the estate into a horticultural showplace. 

Blithewold is beautiful in all seasons. In the spring, the rose garden, framed by an Asian-inspired moon gate, blooms with colorful bulbs and early perennials.

Tulips, leucojum, grape hyacinths, bleeding hearts, euphorbia and other perennials welcome you to the Blithewold estate. 

Century-old trees present a sculptural beauty even in early spring, before they leaf out. Some are underplanted with shade and drought-tolerant perennials such as epimedium (below).

The chartreuse leaves of ginkgo trees are a delight when viewed against the mature deep green conifers.

The Bosque is planted with thousands of daffodils and a carpet of spring ephemerals including mayapples (above) and erythronium, also known as trout lilies (below). These woodland plants bloom while there is ample sunlight before the trees leaf out, and become dormant in the summer.

The Van Wickles used stone from their property to create rock gardens and garden ornaments such as the whimsical stone bench below.

Flowering crabapples frame the view of Narragansett Bay. In April, you can view more than 50,000 daffodils in bloom. In May, see the Magnolias, Flowering Cherries, Honeysuckles, Weigelas, Lilacs, and Viburnum, along with hundreds of blooming perennials.

Joan and I will be back at Blithewold on Monday, May 8 at 1:00 pm, presenting our "Propagating Perennials" workshop. Hope you can join us!

Falmouth Estate Offers Gardens and Art

If you are on the Cape this summer, I would highly recommend a visit to Highfield Hall in Falmouth, MA. Highfield Hall and Gardens is the magnificently restored 1878 estate of the Beebe family, with a dramatic history and a vibrant present-day existence. It offers something for everyone – the gardener, history buff, antique collector, art lover, theater fan and nature lover.

Highfield Hall was one of the early summer mansions built on the Cape, and is one of the few remaining examples of Stick-style Queen Anne architecture in the Northeast. It was one of two mansions built on nearly 700 acres by the James Beebe family, which gathered on the Cape for the summers and entertained in grand fashion. When the last Beebe family member died, the estate was sold and used for a variety of purposes by subsequent owners – from health resort to religious retreat to hotel. In 1949, the estate was purchased by DeWitt TerHeun, a great patron of the theater and opera, who created a theater on the grounds for college students. The theater remains the home of Falmouth’s much-loved summer stock company from Oberlin College, the College Light Opera Company.

From the late 1970s to 1994, Highfield was abandoned and suffered two decades of neglect and vandalishm. In 1994, a demolition permit was filed by the owners, which propelled a group of Falmouth citizens to organize to save the mansion. The group, now the Highfield Hall & Gardens non-profit organization, was embroiled in years of legal battles to stave off demolition. Volunteers cleared the property and secured the building from further decay and vandalism, while raising money and public awareness of the mansion’s plight. Finally, in 2000, the Town of Falmouth took Highfield Hall and 6 acres by eminent domain, and authorized the non-profit grout to renovate and operate the property. The extraordinary restoration effort that followed was made possible through donations totaling in excess of $8.5 million, almost all of which were contributed by private individuals. In 2006, the first stage of restoration was completed, and Highfield was opened to the public.

For the garden afficianado, Highfield Hall provides two formal gardens, a labyrinth, as well as walking paths through a rhododendron dell, heritage beech plantings and nearly 400 acres of woodlands. When Highfield Hall was built, there were far fewer trees on the property than there are today, since wood was the main source of building materials and heat. To design their property, the Beebes enlisted renowned landscape designer Ernest Bowditch, and later Frederick Law Olmstead. The Beebes were passionate about their plantings, and many of their favorite beech trees remain on the property.

Two formal gardens were part of the original plan. The West Garden, originally a cutting garden, supplied fresh flowers for the house all season long. Franklin Beebe was often found in this garden, tending his favorite flower, the carnation. Today, this garden is planted with shade and sun-loving perennials, from hostas to daylilies, rudbeckia, sedums and scabiosa.

The Sunken Garden was restored in 2011 according to a design by noted landscape preservationist Lucinda Brockway. Lucinda based her design on evidence of the Beebe’s original garden, but created a planting scheme that would offer more seasonal color and easier maintenance. The gardens are maintained by volunteers. The central boxwood-bordered beds bloom in shades of purple and blue in the summer with hundreds of salvias, ‘Rosane’ geraniums, and verbena bonariensis, accented with the silver foliage of artemesia, circling spiky yuccas. The outer beds feature peonies and re-blooming daylilies. The focal point of the garden is a tall whimsical tree scupture named “The Spirits of the Garden” by Alfred Glover, representing the passageways between the spiritual and the living in the garden.

When you visit Highfield Hall the summer, you will be treated to a wonderful art exhibit which is on view through September 14: “Kanreki: A 60 Year Journey. The 60th CWAJ Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese Prints”. This exhibit features more than 200 contemprorary Japanese prints by established and emerging artists. The prints encompass diverse techniques from traditional woodblock to intaglio, lithography, etching, aquatint, silkscreen and more contemporary digital innovations. The show debuted in Tokyo, and Highfield Hall is its exclusive US venue.

Tranquil Beauty in the Seattle Japanese Garden

One of my favorite April vacations was a visit to an old friend who had relocated to Seattle. Although my friend is not a gardener, he was a gracious and generous host who accompanied me to several public gardens that were on my "must-see" list. I was particularly anxious to visit a Japanese garden since there are few of those in the Northeast, and I was not disappointed.

There are two main Japanese gardens in Seattle - the Kubota Garden and the Seattle Japanese Garden. The Seattle Japanese Garden is a 3.5 acre garden tucked into the southern end of the Washington Park Arboretum. This small, perfectly designed jewel of a garden is one of the oldest Japanese gardens in North America, and is considered one of the most authentic and beautiful Japanese gardens outside of Japan.

The garden was conceived as a bridge between the Japanese and American people, and was created in 1960 by world-renowned designers Juki Iida and Kiyoshi Inoshita. Construction of the garden included bringing 580 granite boulders, ranging from 1,000 pounds to 11 tons,  from the Cascade mountains. These boulders were personally scouted and selected by Iida, wrapped in bamboo matting and transported to the garden where they were carefully arranged to complement the plantings.

Traditional Japanese gardens are all about form and structure, developed through the thoughtful  juxtaposition of stone, water, plants and decorative elements. The gardens are designed for tranquility and quiet contemplation. Seasonal interest is achieved through flowering trees and shrubs - cherry blossoms, azaleas, rhododendrons and tree peonies in the spring, and the colorful foliage of maples and ginkgo trees in the fall. Cedars, pines, ferns and mosses provide serene green backdrops and textural interest.

The Seattle Japanese Garden features a pond with turtles, giant koi, and herons that fly in from the neighboring arboretum. Winding paths allow you to slowly enjoy the unfolding vistas and intricate details of sculptural tree trunks, ethereal blossoms and gracious lanterns. With the gentle background melody of birds and running water, the Seattle Japanese Garden is a beautiful place to spend a few hours in perfect tranquility.

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Hampton Court's Romantic Gardens

The sixty acres of gardens and grounds surrounding Henry VIII's Hampton Court Palace in Britain are majestic and inspiring. 

The earliest gardens, relatively modest gardens, were created for Cardinal Wolsey, but it was under the auspices of Henry VIII that today's ground plan largely took shape. Henry VIII was not much interested in beautiful flowers - he was more keen on the sport that took place in the Deer Park and Tiltyard, the scene of jousting competitions.

The gardens were formalized in the baroque manner under William and Mary and subsequent changes were made as 500 years of royals gardened on the property. Today's gardens may not be true to one particular era, but they are stately and awe inspiring. Even if your own garden is a small plot, you can learn from the lovely plant combinations, the cultural practices in the vegetable and herb garden, and appreciate the beauty and pageantry of the garden and palace.

The walled formal rose garden is punctuated with beautiful statuary and was in full bloom in September.

The herb garden's formal layout is reminiscent of Victorian-era bedding gardens.

The Kitchen Garden grew all of the produce and fruit for Henry VIII's court.

The ornamental bed decorated the river gateway to the palace grounds.

Ornate Victorian-style bedding gardens decorate the Fountain Garden, a strolling garden that original showcased 13 magnificent fountains and clipped yews.

The Orangery Garden (above) shows Queen Mary II's passion for rare and exotic plants. She had an orangery built to house her orange and lemon trees and cactuses.

The Privy Garden (above) has existed on the south side of the palace since it was first created by Henry VIII in 1533. The recreation that is seen today has all of the original plant varieties, statues and hedges that were installed by William III.

The Knot Garden (above) was laid out in 1924 to show the type of garden that Henry VIII may have had at the palace.

These sunken gardens (above and below) were originally ponds used to hold freshwater fish such as carp, to feed Henry VIII and his court.

Hampton Court is easily accessible from London by train. You can also visit the palace by Thames riverboat - just like the court members and royalty of centuries past.

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September in Kew Gardens

Thanks to my daughter's decision to spend a Semester Abroad in London, I was able to visit several wonderful English gardens in September. The first was the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew - regarded as the world's number one botanical garden with the largest and most comprehensive plant collection. What began as a "physic garden" of 9 acres in 1759 is now a 300 acre property with an arboretum, woodland, rock garden, Holly Walk, Winter Garden, numerous perennial beds and formal display gardens.

In addition to the plants, the garden is home to beautiful conservatories, museums, palm houses, Kew Palace and several temples. Since we had only one afternoon to spend there, we focused on the horticulture. Below are some views of the fabulous garden in September.

Kew's arboretum is a living library of trees that stretches over the majority of the Gardens and is a wonderful place to see many different species of trees including rare and ancient varieties.

This specimen monkey puzzle tree was planted in 1978. The first monkey puzzle trees were brought to the UK in 1795 from chile.

There are more than 2,000 species of trees in the vast arboretum including a collection of "Old Lions". These magnificent trees are the oldest trees with known dates in the Gardens, dating back to 1762.

Grasses and perovskia sway in the breeze and create a soft foreground for the collection of trees and shrubs.

The Duke's Garden showcases perennials with beautiful foliage such as the bergenia and heuchera above.

The large rock garden displays a range of mountain plants, Mediterranean plants, and moisture-loving species from around the world.

The beautiful Japanese Garden is comprised of three areas. Above we see the Garden of Peace, reminiscent of a traditional Japanese Tea Garden with stone lanterns and a dripping water basin.

Below, is a glimpse of the Garden of Activity, symbolizing the elements of the natural world such as waterfalls, mountains and the sea. The raked gravel and large rocks represent the motion of water as it swirls and tumbles.

Bunny Williams' Garden Style

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting Bunny Williams' Litchfield County garden during one of the Garden Conservancy's Open Garden days. Bunny is a renowned interior designer and author of several books that I have enjoyed, including "An Affair with a House" and "On Garden Style". Her garden was at the top of my tour list for the day, and I was not disappointed. There was plenty of inspiration for anyone interested in plants, garden design, antiques and interior decor.

Bunny's fifteen-acre estate surrounds an eighteenth century New England manor house in Falls Village, Connecticut. A long gravel drive lined with gracious old trees brings visitors to the front door.

A rustic patio on the side of the house is welcomes guests from the parking court.

The back lawn is bordered by a whimsical yew hedge.

A small fishpond is the centerpiece of a sunken perennial garden.

Arborvitae line an alle to the upper garden.

The guest house with its adjoining conservatory looks out over this formal parterre.

A working greenhouse and elegant service barn border a beautiful vegetable/herb garden decorated with potted figs.

A cutting garden for house bouquets is included among the veggies.

An aviary with unusual chickens and fantail doves provides fresh eggs for the household.

Meandering paths lined with hundreds of mayapples, trilliums, ferns, solomon seal, tiarella and epimedium bring you to a large pond with a waterfall in the woodland garden.

Wandering uphill through an apple orchard of mature trees brings you to a swimming pool with eighteenth-century French coping.

A rustic Greek Revival-style pool house "folly", built to the exact proportions of a classical Greek temple, features a dining and lounging area for people and pets, and a small kitchen.

Private gardens such as this one are a treat to visit through the Open Garden Days program. For more information and a schedule, see the Garden Conservancy.

Hortulus Farm – Where History and Horticulture Meet

I discovered Hortulus Farm quite by accident, browsing the internet for interesting places to visit on my way home from Philadelphia. It turned out to be a terrific discovery, truly “off the beaten path” - a place I will return to on future trips to the area.

Located in beautiful Bucks County, Hortulus Farm is a historic homestead with beautiful gardens and a large nursery. The heart of Hortulus Farm is the Isaiah Warner house, a classic Pennsylvania stone house built in the mid 1700s. It is surrounded by two immense dairy barns and other outbuildings that were added in the mid 1800s when the farm operated as a large dairy. The current owners, author Jack Straub and garden designer Renny Reynolds, acquired the property in 1980. and set about the restoring the buildings and creating the present garden.

Hortulus Farm’s 100 acres of gardens are based in part on English models, but American in personality. They take their inspiration from American architecture as well as our native woodlands that surround the more formal gardens close to the house. Meandering paths and gracious alles pass between ponds and over bridges, connecting more than 20 individual gardens that surround the “village” of buildings at the center of the property. These include a breathtaking woodland walk, lush flower borders, a raised-bed potager, herb gardens and a stunning pool garden, all enhanced with hedges, topiary, statuary, follies and water features.

When you visit Hortulus Farm, you are immediately impressed by the pastoral beauty of the landscape, the gracious layout of the gardens, and the animals that call the farm “home”. Set amongst the formal gardens are dovecotes, an elegant cage with three peacocks, an chicken coop with a wisteria arbor, and horses grazing in the surrounding pastures. A large pond is home to ducks, swans and a resident blue heron. Unlike other “public” gardens, Hortulus is teaming with life.

I look forward to seeing the garden in other seasons – when the hundreds of daffodils and woodland perennials bloom in the spring, or when the vast peony alle is in full bloom (the owners supply cut peonies to the New York flower markets). Hortulus Farm can be toured from May to October, along with its museum and large nursery, which offers unusual tropical, topiaries, perennials, shrubs and preplanted containers.

To learn more about Hortulus Farm, visit www.hortulusfarm.com

Longwood’s Lovely Waterlilies

The metropolitan Philadelphia area is a gardening mecca, and I always squeeze in a few garden tours when visiting my daughter at school. So when Parent’s Weekend concluded last week, I headed off to a wonderful afternoon at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA.

 Late September is a great time to visit many public gardens, and I was overwhelmed with the beautiful borders of cannas, dahlias and grasses, a Dahlia Society show, and the stunning greenhouses. But the most awesome spectacle at this time of year are the water gardens of Longwood, whose peak bloom time is from late July through September.

Tucked into a protected courtyard within the Main Conservatory, five pools feature more than 100 types of day and night-blooming tropical waterlilies, hardy waterlilies, lotuses, giant water platters and other aquatic and bog plants, such as papyrus and rice plants.

The waterlilies bloom in hues ranging from blues to whites, yellows, reds, and oranges. Some have striking foliage streaked with maroon. I was duly inspired to try my hand at growing waterlilies in my humble home pond next year. But the most dramatic plant at Longwood defies home use, and is cited as one of the wonders of the plant kingdom: the giant waterlily ‘Victoria’.

This Amazonian wonder (below) features leaf pads that grow to a diameter of 6-10 feet, and each lily may have 10 pads at one time, consuming an area 30 feet across. The leaves emerge as prickly shells and then unfurl at a rate of as much as two feet per day. Fully open, they can support the weight of a grown man, and the undersides are covered in spines, apparently to protect the plants from fish and manatees.

Victoria's flowers are enormous and a little bizarre. As full buds, they begin to generate their own heat, and then open to attract pollinating beetles with a tropical perfume reminiscent of pineapple, oranges and jasmine. The lilies start out as female flowers but develop into male flowers on their second night, at which point they have changed in color from white to a rose pink. On their third day, pollinated, they sink to the river bottom to grow seeds that, when mature, float.

Since the Victorias crave the heat and humidity of the tropics, they are difficult to grow in our northern climates. At Longwood, these giants are started from seed in late winter and planted in submerged planters at the end of May. They grow rapidly in Longwood’s heated pools where the water is maintained at a constant 86 degrees. In an unheated pond, you would see them run out of steam in September with cooling temperatures, but at Longwood, the heating system allows robust displays as late as November.

Victoria water lilies were first observed in Bolivia by the Bohemian botanist Thaddaeus Haenke in 1801, and brought to Europe in the early 1800s. They were named in honor of Queen Victoria, who visited the first flowering plant at Kew in 1852. The two original species of Victoria (amazonica and cruziana) were brought to Longwood in the 1950s. Longwood’s aquatic plant expert, Patrick Nutt, succeeded in crossing the two species to produce a third Victoria lily, Longwood Hybrid, that is even more vigorous than its parents and produces a pad that is larger, with a pronounced and colorful rim. This fantastic waterlily draws throngs of visitors to Longwood every summer, and spurred the publication of Victoria: The Seductress by Dr. Tomasz Aniśko, curator of plants at Longwood Gardens, who oversees the proper naming and identification of plants, coordinates plant trials, and leads plant exploration efforts.

To see a time-lapse video of Victoria blooming at Longwood, visit http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/night-gardens/time-lapse-video

Garden of Artistic Delights

One of the highlights of the gardening season for me is the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program, and yesterday’s marathon tour of nine gardens in West Roxbury and Milton, MA did not disappoint! I came home exhausted and exhilarated, my head swimming with tips from garden owners, snippets of conversations with fellow visitors, and a plethora of the new design ideas, horticultural finds and plant combinations that I had seen throughout the day.

Although all the gardens were beautiful and interesting in their own ways, there is always one garden that really captures my fancy. Yesterday it was the West Roxbury garden of Christie Dustman, a professional garden designer, and Patti Ryan, a professional furniture maker. 

Their small garden, surrounding a historic home boldly trimmed in teal and purple, was packed to the brim with artistry, unusual specimens and fantastic plant combinations. The owners’ zeal for conifers (they are members of the Conifer Society) was evident in a collection of more than fifty unusual trees and shrubs, from towering weeping cedars to miniature yews.

But it was the whimsical use of cast-off items, like basketball hoops and organ pipes, that elicited the most “oohs and ahhs”.

The garden was a complex array of vignettes created from repurposed salvage store finds and hand-built creations masterfully laid out in a small space – a delight for the artist, designer and plant collector alike! If you have a chance to see this garden next year, don’t hesitate!

I am happy to support the Garden Conservancy as a member as well as a garden visitor. The Garden Conservancy was founded in 1989 to preserve exceptional American gardens for the education and enjoyment of the public.

The Conservancy partners with gardeners, horticulturists, landscape designers, historians, preservationists, and local organizations to preserve gardens; to share magnificent spaces and gardening ideas with the public through Open Days and other educational programs; and to raise public awareness of the important role gardens play in America’s cultural and natural heritage.

Since 1995, the Open Days program has spread the garden preservation message by providing access to some of America’s finest private gardens. Each year, hundreds of garden owners from coast to coast open their magnificent spaces to more than 75,000 visitors.

Next weekend I will tour the Open Day gardens in Hartford, Conn. and the Rose Garden in Elizabeth Park. Hope to see some of you there!

A Dozen Dazzling Spring Containers

(Poppies, lettuce and pansies grace a terrace at Longwood Gardens)

I recently came across a wonderful description of "pot gardening" by landscape architect Thomas Rainer, who writes a thought-provoking gardening blog called "Grounded Design":

"Pots are perhaps the purest expression of planting design. Composing a pot is like a chef creating a salad—all of the rules of design get stripped down to their essence. In a larger landscape, the hand of the designer can be lost, but with a pot, the artificial environment is a pure display of horticultural skill."

I saw a fabulous display of this horticultural skill during my recent visit to Longwood Gardens and Chanticleer. Need inspiration for your spring pots? See the beauties below.

Spring Containers at Longwood Gardens

Pitcher plants and ferns are an unusual choice for this bowl in part-sun!

A grand display creates a focal point in a long walkway.

Small redbud trees and dark pink foxgloves add drama.

A pot of wallflowers and burgundy heuchera is simple yet stunning.

Nothing says spring like English daisies, ranunculus, pansies, willows

Spring pots at Chanticleer

a formal urn of purple, orange, chartreuse and silver welcomes visitors.

The simple repetition of deep purple-black pansies accentuates the pink and purple tulips.

A large pot of edibles and flowers in the courtyard.

Blue fescue grass sets off the white poppies in a courtyard of raked sand.

The colorful branches of red-twig dogwood 'Midwinter Fire' combine beautifully with orange poppies, bronze fennel and golden creeping jenny.

Feel inspired? I sure did!

Chanticleer's Fabulous Fall Containers

I discovered Chanticleer Gardens last spring, and now that my daughter attends school nearby, I plan to visit this fabulous garden as often as I can. Last weekend I was once again inspired by the dozens of fabulous containers found throughout the garden. Each pot is a spectacular blend of foliage, color and texture, and most do not use flowers at all!

Many of these beautiful arrangements are made of tender tropicals - or houseplants for those of us in the Northeast. Now that I will be moving all of my houseplants back inside for the winter, I am thinking about creating a few Chanticleer-like pots to decorate the inside of my house!

A grouping of containers surrounds a cozy seating nook tucked in at the side of the house.

Pepperonia and a variegated agave are beautiful in a bronze urn.

A miniature container garden in a cement leaf.

A grand display on the mantel of a porch fireplace!

A banana tree creates a towering centerpiece in the garden!

A second outdoor fireplace is festooned with succulents.

Last but not least, a chain of small succulent pots adorns a rustic column.

Wakefield Estate Featured in Open Days Pr

In the effort to increase public knowledge about the importance of historic landscapes, hundreds of exceptional gardens nationwide are selected to participate in The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program. This year, the Mary M. B. Wakefield Charitable Trust has partnered with the Conservancy to organize “the Greater Boston Area Open Days” on Saturday, June 8, from 10:00am – 4:00pm. Five distinct Milton gardens will be showcased, offering visitors a diverse range of designed landscapes. 

The Wakefield Estate is the former home of Mary “Polly” Wakefield (1914-2004), a trained horticulturist, landscape designer, plant propagator and collector, and an advocate and leader on many environmental issues of her day. Her vision for the purpose of the Wakefield Estate was to “organize to re-establish the contact between the land and the people.” An active member and trustee of many garden and volunteer organizations, Polly was especially passionate about the revival of the Public Garden in Boston. As a founding member of the Friends of the Public Garden, Polly was instrumental in restoring one of Boston’s most beautiful landmarks to its original glory.

One of the strong themes in Polly’s life was her avid interest in science and nature, both observing and studying it. Polly continually augmented her knowledge, accumulating a broad understanding of arboriculture and propagation methods, ultimately leading to her development, selection and naming of eight patented dogwood cultivars, including “Greensleeves” and “Fanfare”, two of the most highly praised dogwood cultivars today. She strived to create a formal garden that defied formality and convention, tested nature’s limits and embraced whimsy and a bit of the wild. An innovator when it came to sustainable gardening methods, she deliberately “crowded” her plants, remarking that “nature prefers it this way,” adding that “it eliminates much weeding … while giving it a more natural appearance and retaining a more even degree of natural moisture.”

The Open Days program coincides with the kick-off of the Wakefield Estate’s annual “Dogwood Days” – a week-long celebration of the estate’s hundreds of flowering kousa dogwood trees. Dogwood Days, which runs from June 8–14, 10am – 4pm daily, features tours, open gardens, and a tree and plant sale including kousa dogwoods, Japanese maples, river birches, eastern red buds, paper bark maples, metasequoias, and larches. New this year is “Dogs and Dogwoods,” a day to bring your canine friend to the estate for dog-friendly events, including a fun and informal dog show.  “Dogs and Dogwoods” is scheduled for Sunday, June 9th, from 10am-4pm.  The dog show will start at 1:00pm.  Dogs must be leashed. 

The Wakefield Estate in located at 1465 Brush Hill Road in Milton. For more information visit www.wakefieldtrust.org or call 617-333-0924. To see a list of the Open Days selected gardens and directions, see The Garden Conservancy’s website: www.gardenconservancy.org.

Guest Post by Erica Max
Program Director, Mary M.B. Wakefield Charitable Trust

Inspiring Containers from Chanticleer

I was astounded by the beauty of the container plantings at Chanticleer Garden in Wayne, Penn.  Although it was only mid-April, there were dozens of richly planted pots throughout the garden. The containers themselves ranged from formal urns to terracotta, glazed ceramics and modern metals. Many were grouped or strategically placed to enhance the garden's design. I hope that you will be inspired to create your own artistic contained gardens!

Orange tulips, red lettuce and herbs complement the terracota pots in this courtyard garden.

Red tulips, red-twig dogwood, heuchera and euphorbia in a classic cement urn.

Grape hyacinths steal the show in this pot!

A grouping of potted shrubs, perennials and annuals in different pots that complement each other!

A quiet container water garden on the stone patio.

A vegetable garden with climbing peas on the terrace!

Another interesting grouping of potted shrubs, succulents and spring bulbs.

Pansies soften the spiky form of an agave.

Potted daffodils and tulips complement the Italian accent tiles with their lemon design.

Ranunculus, pansies, and yellow-twig dogwood in an indigo blue pot!

​A small centerpiece bowl of greens, herbs and flowers adorns the terrace dining table.

The Spring Glory of Chanticleer

To my family's chagrin, I always manage to find a nursery or public garden wherever our travels take us. So last week, when my daughter's college visit took us to the suburbs of Philadelphia, I was delighted to find that we were in the vicinity of the famous Chanticleer garden in Wayne, PA.

Chanticleer has been called the most romantic, imaginative and exciting public garden in America, and seeing it in its spring glory, I heartily agree with this description. The estate, with its 1913 mansion and themed gardens was once the country retreat of the Rosengarten family, whose Philadelphia-based pharmaceutical firm became part of Merck. The landscape was originally designed by Thomas Sears, and the 35 acres that are open to the public are now maintained by a staff of 12 gardeners and groundskeepers.

The terraces surrounding the main house are formally planted with thousands of spring-flowering bulbs.

The Teacup Garden's formal parterre gardens were a colorful tapestry of vegetables, herbs and flowers.

Dozens of lushly planted containers adorned the gardens around the home.

The estate's impressive lawns and trees were blooming with hundreds of daffodils. The saucer magnolias and cherries were magnificent.

The shady gardens of Bell's Woodland were massed with epimediums, ferns, hellebores, trilliums and spring bulbs.

The Gravel Gardens were ablaze with tiny species tulips, miniature daffodils and grape hyacinths.

Naturalized frittilarias adorned a remote, quiet part of the garden.

Chanticleer is open to the public from April through October, and more information can be obtained at www.chanticleergarden.org. It is well worth a visit, and I cannot wait to return someday!

Hollister House Garden, Washington, CT

recent Garden Conservancy Tour brought me to Hollister House Garden, overlooking the rolling hills of Litchfield County in northwestern Connecticut. The garden surrounds a rambling 18th century house set on 25 acres of beautiful wooded countryside with a winding brook and large pond. The garden itself is modeled after such classic English gardens as Sissinghurst , Great Dixter and Hidcote—formal in its structure, but informal and a little wild in its style of planting. Its pathways lead you through a series terraced garden rooms surrounded by tall walls and hedges which offer inviting glimpses of the landscape beyond.

Hollister House Garden is a 30-year labor of love by antiques dealer George Schoellkopf. George ran a gallery of 18th and 19th century antiques and folk art in New York City, so the garden was a weekend hobby for many years. He collected old stone, brick, wood and other man-made materials to complement his historic house, barns and outbuildings. 100-year old granite curbing, salvaged from Hartford road renovation projects, forms terraces, wide stairs and pathways that lead the visitor from one garden room to the next.

 The garden at Hollister House is abundant with both common and exotic plants, arranged in captivating combinations. Highlights of the garden in May include extensive plantings of tulips, iris and forget-me-nots, followed by old-fashioned roses and hybrid peonies in June, a magnificent 60-foot-tall Stewartia pseudocamellia covered in white blossoms in July, and unusual daylilies and true lilies in August. During my visit in late August, I was treated to towering dahlias, hydrangeas, Joe Pye Weed and stands of phlox.

Hollister House Garden is located in Washington, CT, and open to the public on Saturdays from late April to late September. It can be combined with a trip to White Flower Farm in neighboring Litchfield and Cricket Hill Nursery (specializing in peonies) in nearby Thomaston. For more information about visiting Hollister House, see hollisterhousegarden.org. The garden was featured on the Martha Stewart Show in 2010, and a video tour of the garden is available at www.marthastewart.com/251662/hollister-house-english-garden. Treat yourself to a visit to this garden destination!

Rhododendron Days at Heritage Museums and Gardens

For the past few years, my college roommate has visited from her home in the Hudson River valley for a weekend of plant swapping, plant shopping and touring local gardens for inspiration. We were art students together in college, and have become passionate gardeners who use the garden as our canvas. This May weekend had a strong rhododendron theme, coinciding with the Mass. Rhododendron Society’s plant sale at Weston Nurseries, followed by a viewing of Boulderwoods Nursery, the awe-inspiring Hopkinton garden of hybridizer Joe Bruso. Rhododendrons are exceptionally floriferous this year, so it was an excellent time to round out the weekend with a trip to Cape Cod to visit the Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich.

 Established in 1969 by Josiah K. Lilly III, Heritage Museums and Gardens is a garden oasis with outstanding collections of rhododendrons, hollies, hostas, hydrangeas and over 1,000 daylilies which light up the garden in July and August. The 100-acre grounds feature thousands of rhododendron shrubs that burst into pink, red, and cream-hued bloom in late May. These plants are the legacy of two rhododendron-obsessed men. Charles Owen Dexter, a man of varied interests who became famous for hybridizing and propagating rhododendrons, lived on the property between 1921 and 1943. His plant breeding goals were hardiness, clear bright colors, fragrance, and large, showy blossoms, and the most well known of his hybrids today is ‘Scintillation.’ Other unique rhododendron cultivars in the Heritage gardens are the work of horticulturist Jack Cowles, who lived and worked on the estate from 1957 to 1967.

 Heritage Museums and Gardens exceeded our expectations. The rolling landscape was covered with a tapestry of rhododendrons, some 20 feet in height, most in bloom. Instead of the mauvy pinks, purples and whites that are commonly found in local nurseries, there were soft creams, pinkish apricots, rosy pinks and soft reds. To my surprise, many of the rhododendrons were wonderfully scented, and I quickly chose two favorites: ‘Dexter’s Spice,’ with its huge frilly, funnel-shaped white flowers and intoxicating fragrance, and ‘Dexter’s Honeydew’, another fragrant variety with pink buds that open into creamy apricot-tinged blossoms.

 In addition to the other plant collections, which I plan to come see when they are blooming in July, Heritage Gardens features a labyrinth, children’s garden, flume water feature, classical herb garden and an arboretum of beautiful mature trees, including umbrella pine, enkianthus, halesia, stewartia and many more. An unusual maze constructed of metal frames supports dozens of climbing vines, including climbing hydrangea, clematis, hops, akebia, and wisteria.

 Heritage is currently celebrating “Rhododendron Days” through May 30 with daily special events and an on-going plant sale of some of their hydrangea and rhododendron cultivars. (I am only sorry that I did not purchase the ‘Dexter’s Honeydew’, as it is almost impossible to find anywhere else.) The property also includes several excellent museums featuring antique cars, folk art, history and a lovely old carousel. (heritagemuseumsandgardens.org). A perfect way to top off a visit to Heritage Museums is to stop for Afternoon English tea at the Dunbar Tea Room, less than a mile away in Sandwich (dunbarteashop.com) 

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