Organic gardener growing food and flowers, lovin' pollinators and birds.

For a magical reconnection to nature, set sights on Winterthur



WINTERTHUR, Del. - When the flowers bloom at Winterthur, it is like you are walking through a sonnet.

On nearly 1,000 acres and 10 miles of roads, varying gardens in bloom resemble stanzas of a poem: the March Bank, Sycamore Hill, the Sundial Garden and even the Enchanted Woods. Each provides a succession of color that ties the entire estate together.

It's a botanical masterpiece every gardener should experience. I drove more than four hours to experience it for myself last spring, and I'm looking forward to returning again in the future. And you should consider going as well.

Heirloom daffodils are planted in large swatches
throughout the entrance and along Sycamore Hill.
This garden is the work of the late Henry Francis du Pont, who took over the estate in 1914 from his father. He was influenced by the Wild Gardens movement, which emphasized the beauty of plants growing in natural settings. This influence - and his tours of European gardens before World War I - helped develop his garden designs at Winterthur. (One of the results is the March Bank, consisting of thousands of bulbs that bloom in sequence beginning in early spring.)

The heirloom daffodils on Sycamore Hill - which were just beginning to bloom during my visit - were planted in drifts that resemble clouds. This is not an accident - the clouds' shadows were actually used to mark the beds for planting. (I learned this and other interesting facts during the two tram rides I took while visiting the garden. Each ride has a different flair, depending on which volunteer is driving.)

At the heart of the estate is the 175-room mansion du Pont lived and entertained guests in, featuring historical architectural pieces from days past. Visitors can tour the house (which is where the trolley will drop visitors off after the tour of the grounds). It also provides different views of the woodlands, hay fields and meadows from the windows.

Spring blooms

Hellebores bloom with azaleas and witch hazels
in this photo I took last April during my visit to
Winterthur.
When I visited last April, spring was slightly delayed, but the March Bank was alive in a blue glow, filled with glory of the snow and blue squills. The effect was stunning when the shadows of the overarching trees were cast below on the flowers. The hellebores were blooming by Winterhazel Walk, the magnolia trees were just beginning to bloom by the Sundial Garden, and the Enchanted Woods, a fairy garden-themed area for children and adults alike, was just beginning to show signs of spring.

Curvy paths follow the natural contours of the land, which can climb upward to see majestic views of the surrounding lands or down into hidden rock gardens.

This year's bloom cycle is ahead of schedule, according to Chris Strand, Brown Harrington director of garden and estate for Winterthur. The next major draw to the garden will be the azaleas, which will bloom in the eight acres of the (appropriately named) Azalea Woods by May.

"The azaleas in Azalea Woods are plants and descendants of the plants that Mr. du Pont purchased nearly 100 years ago," said Strand. "They are a mixture of Kurume azaleas and Kaempferi azaleas (also called torch azaleas) that Mr. du Pont purchased from Cottage Garden Companies of Long Island. The azaleas are the high water mark of the garden in spring and are a crowd-pleasing favorite."

The Winterthur website offers a yearly bloom calendar, so gardeners can plan their visit based on what they wish to see most. (To plan your visit based on what's blooming, click here.)

To see photos of the March Bank, click here.
To view photos of daffodils and
the Enchanted Woods, click here.

To see photos of hellebores and magnolias, click here.


Winterthur is open from Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The admission cost is $20 for adults, $18 for students with ID or seniors, and $5 for children.
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Daffodils and the Enchanted Woods - Winterthur

WINTERTHUR, Del. - Here are some botanical highlights from my visit to Winterthur in 2015.

Daffodils in bloom along Sycamore Hill.

Daffodils in bloom along a path in the Enchanted Woods.

Virginia bluebells bloom with daffodils.


View from Sycamore Hill of the daffodils just beginning to bloom.

A resident of Winterthur.

A staple of the Enchanted Woods.

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Hellebores and Magnolias - Winterthur

WINTERTHUR, Del. - Here are some botanical highlights from my visit to Winterthur in 2015.

A hellebore in bloom along the Winterhazel Walk.
Hellebore.

Magnolias in bloom along the Sundial Garden.





A stately magnolia in bloom at Winterthur. (From my Instagram account.)

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The March Bank Gallery - Winterthur

WINTERTHUR, Del. - Here are some botanical highlights from my visit to Winterthur in 2015.

A bench for reflecting in the March Bank.
Italian windflower.






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Book Review: 'Chaos' creates beautiful results

Book Review

Cultivating Chaos: How to Enrich Landscapes with Self-Seeding Plants
By Jonas Reif, Christian Kress & Jurgen Becker

I've known gardeners who valued every plant in its place, and while I can respect that mentality, I always found there were gaps between the plants that resembled a museum gallery more than a garden. But encouraging the growth of self-seeding plants doesn't mean the garden has to look disheveled - Cultivating Chaos shows that garden design doesn't have to always be formal to be beautiful.

The authors describe the process as "letting go" before the reader dives into the book: "... when gardening with self-seeders, you may begin with just a notion of how the garden might look. Instead of planting numerous plants at precise, final locations according to a plan, you introduce the plants to the garden in the form of seeds or plug plants" (p. 11). In Cultivating Chaos, plants rule the landscape, finding the best spots to grow themselves with the power of self-seeding. With the help of the gardener - so things don't get out of hand - the authors demonstrate through the gorgeous photography how a naturalistic, wild style of gardening can look breathtaking.  If the idea of self-seeding sounds scary, one chapter features Waltham Place, where naturalism is showcased in a formal setting. 

The book labels almost all the plants in the photos, which helps the aspiring naturalistic gardener to recreate a scene in his or her own garden. There is a good use of interspersing ornamental grasses in the landscape, a plant that can sometimes be undervalued in the gardens of novice gardeners. What else will you find through the pages? Images of plants such as bronze fennel mingling with verbascum and verbena, or Mexican feather grass complementing red-hot poker and Verbena bonariensis.

I found Cultivating Chaos to be inspiring and a book that should be kept on the shelf for ready access. Tips for creating a suitable site as well as a thorough section on suitable and suggested plants for self-seeding gardens, is also included int his book. It's a great resource to remind us all that nature shouldn't be controlled in our garden plots.

Cultivating Chaos retails for $40.00 and is published by Timber Press.

Timber Press supplied me with a review copy of this book.
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Floral Friday

Here are some highlights from this week as the garden continues to awaken from winter.

A little honeybee on my scilla. (See more at my Instagram account.)

Hoping the plum blossoms stay closed during the upcoming freeze.
(See more at my Instagram account.)
Daffodils from my garden. Aren't they beautiful?

This little goldfinch is getting his spring plumage!

Flowers my dad sent me for my birthday. I'd love to find this mum variety so I could grow it in the garden.

Click here to see last week's Floral Friday.
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The Gardener's April Calendar - 2016


As I write this month's garden tasks, the snow has once again fallen in Central Connecticut and the temperatures have plummeted back into the 20s. What gives? After a pretty warm winter, April is having an identity crisis. The best bet is to keep trucking along at the tasks you can do, which for me is catching up on all my seed sowing!

Here are some other tasks to work on this month:

Cleanup and Maintenance 

  • I've been sweeping up the black oil sunflower seed shells that the birds have dropped underneath the feeder over the winter. The seed will inhibit the growth of other plants, and I've ruined two areas of grass with that in the past already. I'm hoping that sweeping it up will help this time. (Can't hurt, right?)
  • Give birdbaths a good scrubbing. I use SOS or Brillo pads to do the job.
  • I'm still cutting down old growth from last year and raking up leaves. Try not to walk on soil that is too wet because this can compact it.
  • You can create new paths (and even garden beds) by layering cardboard on top of grass and then covering it with mulch.
  • Remove old foliage from irises to lessen the chance of the Iris borers settling in this season.


Pest Control

  • I'm continuing my use of Repellex Systemic, a powder that you sprinkle around your plants, to deter groundhogs. It has to be applied as the plants grow so it will be absorbed by the plants and make them taste like hot pepper. It provides protection for three months. My tulips made it through last spring unscathed. This year I sprinkled some on my Oriental poppies as well.

Garden Structures

  • Make sure to repair fencing and trellises. It's a lot easier when the garden hasn't filled in yet for the summer.


Seeds and Bulbs

  • Sow peas! I still haven't sown mine as I type this. I had a hunch to not plant them when we had those nice 70 degree days about a week ago, and I am glad I listened to that hunch! Now it's too cold. I plan to soak mine in water overnight (this helps germination) and then plant them in the soil. The time window for getting peas in the ground is small because they stop producing when the temperature gets too warm.
  • Have you started your tomato, eggplant and pepper seeds yet? Now is the time. I try not to start them too soon or they get leggy. With all seeds started indoors, keep the lights above them fairly close. There's usually a 3 inch gap that I leave from the top of the plants to the lights.
  • Keep sowing seeds as the month goes on. I have all my seeds sorted into file folders so I know what to plant next. I've fallen behind with some, but I just keep on sowing.
  • Sow bread poppy seeds if you weren't able to do so in March. Especially if you have snow on the ground right now.
  • You can start potting up tuberous begonias and dahlias now for a jump on the blooming season. 


Pruning

  • Pruning paniculata hydrangeas is a good garden chore for the first warm day of spring when gardeners need an excuse to be outside. "You take about a third of the plant off to increase branches in the growing season," said Chris Valley in a previous hydrangea talk. When pruning, make sure the cuts are uniform so the entire plant grows at the same rate. "After five years, take out the main branches to reinvigorate the plant and spur new growth."
  • As soon as the buds begin to swell on the roses, I trim them. (I've also heard it's safe to prune with the forsythia blooms.) I trim out old, diseased or damaged canes and try to remove canes that will impede air flow.
  • Prune clematis. Margaret Roach has advice here.
  • Trim back Montauk daisies so they are about 12 inches high. 

Fertilizing 

  • Scatter bulb fertilizer around emerging bulbs. I like to use Espoma's Bulb Tone.
  • Top dress roses and other perennials with compost. Top dress rhubarb with well-rotted manure.


Don't let this late winter spell deter you. Spring is here! (It's just buried under the snow out there.) Onward!

I live in Central Connecticut and garden in Zone 6b.

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Floral Friday

Welcome back to the growing season in my garden! Spring is arriving earlier this year than last year. Even though my area (Zone 6b in Central Connecticut) is still experiencing temperature fluctuations, we have already had close to 70 degree days which has made several of the daffodils rush to bloom - I do not think there has been a time where I have had so many bloom at once! Every year I add more daffodils to my gardens, except last year when I focused on different bulbs. Many of the crocus and scilla siberica showcased below were planted in November, and are starting to bloom now. (You can read more about what I chose to grow here.) 

Come join me on a tour of my back and front gardens:

I added this spice bush a year and a half ago. In the fall it gets bright red berries
that the birds enjoy eating. It is also the host plant for the Spicebush Caterpillar,
which I hope will find my plants this year!

These Tete a Tete daffodils are planted in mass in my front garden.

Pansies purchased from my local garden center.

Violas purchased from my local garden center.

More violas purchased from my garden center.

I collect rabbit statues in the garden, which complement the plants I grow.
Shown here is 'Red Lady' hellebore.

The 'Spring Beauty' scilla siberica is starting to bloom. It is growing among columbine leaves.

This is the hellebore that started my collection several years ago.

Another hellebore blossom (and another rabbit statue). 

The robin takes a quick bath in the front garden among the daffodils.

I planted more crocus this year for the front garden.

Right now this is the only hellebore in the front garden. It tolerates the extra sun
fairly well during the summertime.

Here is the same hellebore as shown above (with another rabbit statue).

Loving this 'Ruby Giant' version of crocus.

This 'Gold Shoulder' collection of daffodils from Colorblends was a great investment!

Another shot of 'Gold Shoulder' brightening up a corner of my garden.

These flowers added a pop of color that I'm sure my neighbor enjoys as well!
What is growing now in your garden? Thanks for visiting!
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