Purple Coneflower and Mugwort

Echinacea purpurea and white-flowering mugwort (Artemisia lactiflora 'Gutzhou')

A lovely combination for late summer/autumn. This combination was one that we spotted at Stan Hywet house and gardens in Akron, Ohio in their Great Garden. See more about this garden in my series on Stan Hywet... here. 

Lotus Garden in Virginia Beach, Virginia

Native American lotus, Nelumbo lutea, growing naturally in Virginian freshwater.

Hello all!
Summer is flying by here at Havenwood, with garden plans progressing on most days. We did take a break, however, and enjoy some beach time in Virginia this month. We were able to see some beautiful nature lotus gardens along the way and I knew that you all would enjoy them too!

Colonial Williamsburg ~ Governor's Palace Garden

Bluebells by the Wall in the Governor's Palace Garden in Williamsburg, VA

Last May we took the kids to visit Colonial Williamsburg for the first time. It was a lovely experience! They really enjoyed it. And of course, our family spent a nice long time just enjoying the most beautiful garden in the place at the Governor's Palace. Here are a few shots of one wall and parterre at the back of the house.

Stan Hywet's Great Garden ~ Part 2: The Cutting Garden

The Cutting Garden in the three acre Great Garden at Stan Hywet, Akron, Ohio

Visiting Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in August finds the Cutting Garden full to bursting with the classic annuals of summer: cosmos, zinnias, statice, cleome, dahlias and lisianthus. Come take a walk with me!

Stan Hywet's Three-Acre Great Garden ~ Part 1

Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron, Ohio

The Great Garden at Stan Hywet in Ohio encompasses three acres to the north of the Hall. It includes a Cutting garden (for fresh and dried flower arrangements for the Hall), a Rose garden, and Mixed borders that surround generous lawns. The Birch Allee acts as a loose background along one side of the Great garden. Also, it provides some wonderful views of the Seiberlings' Tudor-revival hall.

Zinnias in Stan Hywet's Cutting Garden

I think a row of these electric orange zinnias next to some purple Russian sage (Perovskia) would be quite exciting for the summer months!

The summer flowers in the Cutting garden were all in bloom for my visit to Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron, Ohio.

Tea House Steps at Stan Hywet

Quarry steps at Stan Hywet

Just passed the Birch Allee at Stan Hywet, you come to the Tea Houses. If you venture to look over the railing between them, you will see the most thrilling stone steps down the side of the hill. This was one of the original quarries, and so these steps were part of the Quarry wall.

Birch Allee at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens

Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens was created through a combined design effort by architect Charles S. Schneider and Boston landscape architect Warren H. Manning. This is very clear when viewing the central axis (read more here), and also when viewing the magic of the Birch Allee which extends from the right wing of the Hall.

Waterlily pool at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, Ohio

Waterlily pool at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron, Ohio

I found a few more lovely photos of Stan Hywet's waterlily pool in my archives. These are from our very first visit to the hall and gardens two years ago. It was such a nice day out with the kids that we decided to take time to go back with just the two of us this year.

Visit to Stan Hywet in Akron, Ohio ~ The Waterlily Pool

Waterlily pool at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens

My husband and I just returned from a wonderful weekend away in nearby Akron, Ohio. We visited Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens which is considered "one of the finest examples of Tudor Revival architecture in America" (ref). The Hall was patterned after Ockwell’s Manor in Berkshire, Compton Wynyates in Warwickshire and Haddon Hall in Derbyshire by architect Charles S. Schneider.

Visit to Phipps Conservatory's Summer Show 2013

Glass passion flower at Phipps Conservatory

We were visiting at Phipps Conservatory after my RHS test in June, and were wowed by some of their pretty glass flower sculptures for the summer show.

I posted the enormous glass waterlilies last week. Here are a few more highlights from our visit.

Glass Waterlilies at Phipps Conservatory's Summer Show

Giant purple water lily sculpture at Phipps Conservatory this summer.

 Summer is always a hot time to visit a conservatory, but it can still be worth while. Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA helped make their summer show something special this summer by including lots of beautiful glass art. My favorites were the waterlilies in the East Room...

Winterthur's Sycamore Hill in May

Redbuds and azaleas bloom up a winding hill to an outlook at Winterthur Gardens.

These photos popped up on my computer's slide show the other day, and it was so refreshing to see some spring favorites again! (I truly have a weakness for spring.)

We visited Winterthur (pronounced Winter-tour) in May for the first time. It is a beautiful garden for spring as its founder, H.F. du Pont used a garden journal to plant his succession of blooms that starts in early spring. After walking past the beautiful Quarry Garden with its hundreds of giant primroses, I found this hillside covered in our native redbud trees (Ceris canadensis L.) and matching pink azaleas (Rhododendron).

Winterthur's Quarry Garden in Full Bloom

Our visit to the Quarry garden at Winterthur

It is a busy morning here as we are getting ready for our last official day of homeschool (yea!) and for our annual garden party that is scheduled for this Saturday. But I wanted to take a minute and post a few more photos from our trip to Winterthur gardens near Philadelphia, PA from early in May.

At Winterthur, H.F. Dupont designed a spring-watered wet garden that includes an enormous collection of giant primroses, Primula x bulleesiana hybrids. They are a cross between Primula bulleyana and Primula beesiana, both parents being native to Asia (more here). Enjoy!

Color for the Weekend

Dark pink Azaleas, Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) and an Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) at Winterthur.

On our travels last week, this spring azalea garden was in the children's garden at Winterthur (pronounced "winter-tour") in Wilmington, Delaware. It is an amazing garden in the Philadelphia area. More from this garden to come on WMG!

Have a great weekend!
Happy Mother's Day!
~Julie

Visit to Chanticleer's Orchard and Bulb Lawn in May

A circular tree bench in the middle of Chanticleer's Orchard garden.

Hi all! We have just arrived home from a whirlwind tour of some of the most beautiful gardens on the US east coast. While we were gone, spring definitely arrived in Pennsylvania; all of my flowers have lept ahead in growth. But before sharing more from our garden, I could not wait to share a few of the highlights from our garden tours in Colonial Williamsburg, George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate, Winterthur, Longwood Gardens and Chanticleer.

A couple of our happiest vacation hours were spent reveling in the beauty of Chanticleer's Orchard and Bulb Lawn on a fine May day. We ate a bite of lunch, let the kids run around on the lawn and drank in the spring scent of thousands of daffodils and crabapple blossoms. I hope these photos help you get lost in the beauty of it all like we did!

Chanticleer House in Spring

My visit to Chanticleer House & Gardens in April.

Welcome to the end of my Chanticleer series! It has been nice to finally post these photos from my visit last April with my garden blogging friends, Pam and Carolyn. Chanticleer is a beautiful garden throughout, and it was a very enjoyable visit. Keep and eye open for roosters statues (like on the pillar above), as chanticleer is french for rooster.

If you are interested in reading more about Chanticleer, I recommend looking at their book that was new out last year, Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden by Adrian Higgins. For me, the real thrill of this book was the beautiful garden photography by Rob Cardillo. His photos cover many seasons of the romantic garden, and there is a bit of information for the plant and garden history lovers as well.

So here we are, at Chanticleer house...

Chanticleer's Bulb Lawn

Viburnum macrocephalum and Tulipa 'Akebona' in Chanticleer's Bulb Meadow.

When you emerge from Chanticleer's Asian Woods, you are greeted by sunshine and a wide swath of grass. But this is no ordinary field. In April and May, it is filled with a succession of colorful bulbs and flowering trees. This is the Bulb Lawn, where tulip, daffodils and bluebells abound.

Chanticleer's Asian Woods

Chanticleer's Asian bridge... corresponding to this multi-stemmed tree and the dark-stemmed Arisaema.

Chanticleer's Asian Woods is beautiful in April! It is full of blooming woodland primroses, fresh hosta leaves, delicate peonies and many other woodland treasures. Orchids, Epimediums, Japanese maples and lady's slippers fill out the scene. Plant lovers, read on!

Chanticleer's Pond Garden

The Pinkshell azalea, Rhododendron vaseyi, in bud beside Chanticleer's Pond Garden.

Continuing our tour of Chanticleer this week, we come to the Pond Garden. Once you descend the Gravel Garden's substantial slope, you come to the low point on the estate property. This is the perfect place for ponds and surrounding woodland.