I have not traveled during the past two years of COVID. Fortunately, I had just returned from a month of trekking throughout Patagonia (Argentina and Chile) into Ushuaia in early March, 2020, so my travel bug had been well fed. Now having received my second booster, I felt it was time to venture out, albeit very carefully. So I planned a trip to Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware to visit gardens I have long wanted to see and to catch up with friends, old and new. This emergence into a new sense of “normal” was divine!
In the garden this time of year, there is a moment that happens: a coming together of energy that is bigger than anything you can imagine. The luminous bluebell wood or the quivering carpet of ostrich fern and trillium create a particular energy that you must simply pause and feel the surge. The very nature of the moment is that it is fleeting, and maybe just this once: the light falling a certain way, the particularities of the year or that you are just lucky enough to be there when it all comes together.
The first visit was to a private garden in Ruxton, Maryland. Designed by Kurt Bluemel and lovingly tended for 50 years by Penney and AC Hubbard, Walnut Hill is an extraordinary Garden of Eden. On Walnut Hill – The Evolution of a Garden is the story of this garden and is beautifully written by Kathy Hudson. I had the good fortune of attending their Zoom presentation through Wing Haven Gardens in 2021, so I mustered the nerve to invite myself and Chantal Boisvert for a visit. We were welcomed with open arms, very cool breezes, and glorious sunshine.
My next visit was to Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton, MD. There you will find 22 acres of award-winning gardens with more than 100 remarkable topiaries and a mile-long nature walk. Harvey Ladew began his garden in 1937 and the Garden Club of America awarded him the prestigious Distinguished Achievement Award for “creating and maintaining the most outstanding topiary garden in the country without professional help.”
Day Three took me to the Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. In 1703, George Pierce purchased 402 acres of land from William Penn, despite the fact that the land actually belonged to the native Lenni Lenape tribe. 200 years later Pierre du Post purchased the property primarily to preserve the trees. But as we know now, he didn’t stop there. Much of what we see today – the majesty and magic that is Longwood Gardens – was shaped by the remarkable vision and versatility of Pierre du Pont, one of our nation’s most extraordinary citizens.
Day Four was a marathon day that began at Mt Cuba Center in Hockessin, Delaware.
Mr. and Mrs. Lammot du Pont Copeland were visionary in their approach to conservation, and in their vision for Mt. Cuba Center. Mrs. Copeland summed up their ambition for Mt. Cuba Center in what has become our founding intention: “I want this to be a place where people will learn to appreciate our native plants and to see how these plants can enrich their lives so that they, in turn, will become conservators of our natural habitats.”
Here you can explore more than two miles of scenic trails throughout 1,000 acres of natural lands, which are managed to promote ecosystem health and function, support environmental education and scientific research, and preserve the character of the regional landscape. These areas are maintained in their more natural state and take on a “wilder” aesthetic, as opposed to the carefully curated gardens.
I needed to rest my eyes after seeing so many plants, so I dropped in at the Copeland Sculpture Garden in Wilmington, Delaware.
Last stop for the day was at Winterthur Gardens in Winterthur, Delaware.
The garden is a result of the artistic vision of its creator, Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969) and is surrounded by nearly 1,000 acres of meadows, farmland, and waterways. The views in every direction are important to the whole. The paths are an integral part of the overall design, curving rather than straight, following the contours of the land, passing around trees, and drawing walkers into the garden.
I returned to Devotion for one short night then headed to Juniper Level Botanic Garden and Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Juniper Level Botanic Garden (JLBG) was established in 1986 by plantsman Tony Avent. The garden actively promotes and preserves botanic diversity by bridging the gap between botany and horticulture through plant study, identification, educational outreach, global plant exploration, and by selecting, breeding, and propagating new and little known perennials to share with plant researchers, botanic gardens, and gardeners around the world. The garden philosophy is to promote botanical diversity by assembling the largest collection possible of growable, winter/summer hardy ornamental plants for our region and display them in an aesthetic, sustainably-maintained, healthy garden setting. This philosophy includes obtaining plants from all over the world with a strong emphasis on North American native plants, realizing that these are, as a group, no more or less adaptable than plants from foreign lands. Plants are obtained though plant exploration, plant breeding, as well as exchange and purchase from others.
Visiting these gardens during the abundance of spring has checked off the only “bucket list” that I have ever had. Now I am sated and will cherish these precious memories and the unfolding floral ballet at Devotion for years to come.