More on Longwood Gardens

The conservatory is a grand, large scale greenhouse complete with several reception areas that lead to a grand ballroom where parties were always held by the DuPont's. Now, for the 2nd year, the grand ballroom is on display with the rest of the conservatory.

There are founds and ponds and all sorts of waterways running throughout the conservatory, long, decorated paths of ferns and flowers that lead to one greenroom after another. It's an easy place to get lost in. There is a lily pond area that wasn't open to the public yet, a children's garden, bonsai room, tropical room, dessert room, a florist room where they keep florists roses, hibiscus and other interesting florists plants and flowers. All of these rooms are quite interesting from the cactus to the bananas.



We were honored to explore part of the way with a local Red-Hat Society that were visiting the same day. They were an interesting group of ladies.




The next post will be one of our favorite places to linger and take photographs. This is the part of the conservatory we spend the most time and is the most beautiful to view and smell.....

A Day At Longwood Gardens

It has been determined some time before my time off the job that we'd spend a day going to Longwood Gardens. Here and the Hershey Botanical Gardens are where we visit at least once a year if not more. Usually Longwood just for relaxation and to lower the blood pressure while Hershey is for a photo shoot of their roses. That's not to say I don't take photographs of my own roses, it's just that they have about 2000 more varieties than I do. A formal secret garden on the far east end of the estate.

I usually like to go to Longwood on a Tuesday. It has always been that Tuesdays is discount day an any time to get a few dollars off the regular price is a good thing. This year, I wasn't sure about going this vacation. The desire was there, but if the weather was good, working in my own garden takes top priority this time of year. However, this time the time off started out with some really nasty weather and rain, rain, rain. It was beginning to look like this weather would last the entire week. I was feeling disappointed. A secret path that leads across the front of the east side of the conservatory, hidden by tall pines and other trees. The quiet walk is lined with Mountain Azalea and Rhododendron. It ends at the entrance of the Secret Garden.

Tuesday morning, the clouds began to break up, though it was still quite overcast. The temperatures started to climb and it was beginning to look like a wonderful day. I thought it would be nice just to stay home and enjoy my own garden, but it was just to wet to play in the dirt. So the day was set. Off to Longwood we would go.
To the west side of the secret path, it ends with a circle of Mountain Azalea and Rhododendron. Still in front of the lower level of the conservatory and surrounded by large trees. It's a beautiful place to sit in the grass and just chill.
There is a small area, near the perennial garden that is set aside for vines and climbing shrubs. This is one climbing shrub that really caught my eye. Being into everything natural for the East Coast of the US, I had to check out this American Wisteria. This one is called Longwood (I'm sure the variety was developed by the Longwood masters) and is about the same age as my Amethyst Falls. Personally, I didn't see much difference in the two varieties, but until the blooms actually open I can't be sure. Mine is a lovely sky blue with a white tongue and an orange dot in each individual flower. They are small flowers and not as fragrant as the Asian varieties. The plant itself isn't as aggressive and overbearing as the Asian varieties and it blooms from it's first year instead of waiting 6 to 10 years to mature. My plant is 3 years old now and it covers a 12 foot arbor, offering repeat blooms every summer as well as privacy from the neighbors. When folks from my rose club come to visit, they hover over it as much as the roses.
The topiary garden is very near the entrance to Longwood Gardens. This is a very unique garden that is fronted by the formal rose garden. It's proper that both these gardens be kept together as they both seem to require a lot of work. The topiary garden is very interesting and very formal, but I can't afford an army of gardeners to keep it looking like this one. It's fun to walk through and see all the different shapes and animals they have these yews trained into.
This is the bridal path. It is one of the gardens several bridal areas and one of two gorgeous gazebos. Walk though the gazebo here and you walk down a grass path edged with tree rose of sharron and a lovely bluebeard called...you guessed it...Longwood. The bluebeard is fairly easy to get anymore. I have one (had two but one died when transplanted), but it's variety is First Light. Personally, I like my variety a little better. The flowers of Longwood is a nice sky blue but First Light is a deep, more royal blue color which in my opinion stands out just a little better. The bluebeard isn't in bloom yet but will be by mid June to early July. It is an outstanding woody perennial that attracts butterflies and bees by the groves.
This is absolutely one of my favorite photographed areas of Longwood Gardens. This is the Chimes tower and it reminds me of the nursery rhyme Rapunzel. Or maybe a medieval European tower. Your imagination is the limit here. The tower is an outstanding garden spot with a number of observation areas shown below. Surrounded by an overgrown waterfall and pond, the tower itself is open part way up but is blocked off at the chimes. It chimes every hour and believe me, you don't want to be inside when they ring.
This is one of the observation spots overlooking the water fall and woods around the Chimes Tower.
This is another observation spot that overlooks a path around the Chimes tower that takes you to the Eye of the Fountains. This is the spot where the pumps are housed to make the fountains in the estate work. There are fountains all over the estate as well as inside the conservatory and lily pond areas. I'm sure there are supplemental pumps at each of the fountains, but the eye is where the water is pressured.

There will be more in another post.

A Garden Wish

Yesterday was a beautiful day! But it had rained almost non-stop for three days so there was no denying that playing in the dirt would be impossible. So instead, we took a trip to Longwood Gardens. I love going there. This should be my garden!!!! Oh, wouldn't I be in heaven!

One of my most favorite trees is the beech. Above is my beech tree. It's always the last tree to come out in leaf and always the most beautiful though it is still very small. Below is one of the river beech at Longwood garden. I want that!!!!! I want my beech to look like that! My beech is growing nicely, but it will be a very long time until it looks like the one at Longwood.

This massive tree at Longwood is their last surviving American Elm. This is one impressive tree and I want it in my garden. The tree in the foreground is a White Oak, another of my favorites. When we went to choose our last and final shade tree, it was a toss up between the white oak and the sweetgum. The sweetgum won because it was already dug and has less chance of transplant shock killing it. White oaks are hard to transplant.

This is my elm, though it isn't an American Elm. It is a Chinese elm which is more resistant to the Dutch Elm disease. It doesn't get as big or impressive and the American elm. Most all of my trees, except for a couple are native to the Eastern US. I'm really funny about this. I want our native trees. I think they are more impressive than anything else I've seen coming from other countries with diseases and insects that are hurting our eco-system.

A Nandina at Longwood. I saw this and was really impressed. Makes me wonder what to expect with my own.

This is my 3 year old nandina.

A great time was had yesterday. We walked over 10 miles until we were ready to leave. We also shot over 250 pictures. I will post more pictures when I have them ready.

The Visitor

From time to time we get a visitor . The one yesterday was a little different from the usual. The first thing was the motorcycle that we thought had hit a ground hog. After the motorcycle left, I went to inspect the body on the the road. It was a snapping turtle, scrunching into his shell on alert by my presence. It looked fine and wasn't hit by the motorcycle at all. They had just stopped to inspect the creature on the road.

I left to return in a few minutes with Husband to show him the snapper. It was gone, but found easily in my most front flowerbed. There we could leisurely give a closer inspection of it. It was, in my guesstimate, about 1 year old and weighed around 5 to 10 pounds. NO, I didn't try to pick the thing up! I've seen much, much bigger snappers. We left it then, getting the impression that it had an appointment somewhere. Husband thought we should trap it and take it back to the frog pond behind my property, but I told him to leave it alone. It could make it's own way. Besides, by moving it, we might not be doing it any favors.

About a half hour later or so, I was working in the garden when there was a ruckus by the neighbors Huskies. Here, the snapper had worked it's way back to the middle of my back garden. I think it was headed for the toad pond about 500 feet from my back property line. The dogs startled it and it scrunched back into it's shell and stayed there for a very long time. When the dogs went into the house, the snapper raised it's head out of it's shell, looked around and disappeared.



It's not to often we get visitors of this nature. But, I did enjoy it's company while it was here.

Is this truly May?

Today we're busy with the early March winds and the raw temperatures of early April. It's hard to believe that it's May 11th. May is supposed to be in the upper 70's to low 80's with night temperatures in the low 50's. I don't know where this weather came from but it's putting me in a very grouchy mood. This is the kind of weather that gives me severe headaches, penetrates my sinuses and makes me sick. This type of weather should have been done a month ago.

A Good Holiday

To all mothers who read my blog..."Happy Mother's Day".

Weather

The weather the past three days (including today) has been more like the early to mid April weather we usually get. It's been raw and rainy with temperatures barely reaching 50. The plants don't seem to mind at all. There's very little to no chance of frost so they are busy growing and the roses are getting ready to bloom. It just seems strange to have weather this raw and cold this time of year. And just think...I was getting used to shorts!!!

With each passing day, the garden is changing now. Right now the lilacs are in bloom and as long as the weather stays cool, over cast and wet, they may extend their bloom time.

Everything is in high color right now too. The brilliant leaf color of the spring is always sensentational. The dogwoods are about done, the cherry trees are done. My tri-c0lored beech is just coming out and I'm sure it really wants to roll up it's leaves and go hide for another week. This and the Vitex are the last trees to come out in the garden.

I look out my window and see only one rose, a hybrid perpetual called Baronne Provest. This large OGR is now about 7' tall with a spread to match and I've lost count of the fat buds ready to open. Each year when I prune the roses, they get what they need. Last year Baronne Provest needed a deep interior pruning. It slowed the flowering down somewhat but this year the rose promises to be more than gorgeous. When those buds unfurl, I'll open my office window and allow that intense fragrance to waft through the entire house...and it will. Of course it has the help of two other of the most fragrant OGRs I grow, Charles de Mills and Rose de Rescht. Charles de Mills is slotted for a deep pruning this summer after the blooms are done. Since Charles de Mills is a spring bloomer, I'm hoping I won't ruin to many of next year's flowers. Rose de Rescht was another that got the deep pruning last summer. The fourth OGR, hybrid perpetual, Frau Karl Durschki, is such an open, flouncy rose and it needs these deep prunings every March. It is a repeat bloomer, so it can take a serious pruning without skipping a beat.

The only problem I have with Frau Karl Druschki is thrips. Having a very large, dinner plate size white flower, the thrips have a field day with it. I've started using a systemic with it every year to help control the thrips. It seems that thrips love the lighter petals and will generally seem to leave the reds, mauves and oranges alone. The whites and pinks are the roses attacked. At least in my garden anyway. Oh, BTW, my favorite rose color is white.

I regress here. I was hoping that the sun would burn it's way through the cloud cover today. The Landis Valley Historical Society is having their annual heirloom herb festival today and I always go. This year I'm taking my friend Linda who's never been there and loves all old things. Most of the plants sold at this festival today must be a registered variety before 1940. Personally, I like the taste of the heirloom vegetables better than what is common to grow today. Oh, you do have more problems with bugs (they eat too, you know), and there's not a whole lot you can do about that. I've found that if I get out at the crack of dawn and harvest, I can get to the produce before the bugs do. I also encourage lots of birds to come and help themselves to the bugs.

I'm also funny about tomatoes. I can eat citrus but in only small amounts at a time. So, if I want to make hamburgers, I like a tomato that is fairly acid free. The very best tomato I've found for sandwiches and eating raw is a lovely smallish yellow called Yellow Queen from the 1800's. So far the only place I've been able to find this plant is at Landis Valley. Each year I plant one and it produces the most perfectly round palm size yellow fruit that doesn't seem to split or get blight. The taste is sweet and it's easy for me to eat.

I also get my herbs there. Since neither my husband or myself like the texture of celery, I plant an herb called lovage. It has the same taste as celery without the strings. It is a perennial herb but I will harvest it for two years as strawberries and replant it before the plant gets old and tough.

About three years ago I went there and got talked into a found rose, a rambler called Queen of the Praries. It is registered as being introduced in 1843. I took it home and planted it across the back fence in the back 40 and completely forgot all about it. It got no care at all. The next spring, I was back there to dig up some alfalfa that seeded in the bed and found this little rose. It was the most magnificant rose I've ever seen. No winter kill, extremely drought resistant and growing handsomely. It only gave me three small flower last year. I researched it and found that this almost lost rose will bloom better as it ages with a lovely fully double, fully fragrant pink rose. Right now, at the beginning of the growing season it spans 26 feet of fence. It has quite a number of tiny buds and I don't expect it to bloom until around the end of the month. After it blooms this summer, I'm planning on rooting some cuttings to extend it to the far side of the fence. This fence I'm referring to crosses the back of my property of about 130 feet. I'm figuring that one more rose will do it. There are few roses that I recommend that are as good as New Dawn and Dr. W. Van Fleet, but this rose is even better in my opinion. It just doesn't falter.

It's a bit early for the roses, those some of my rugosas are coming into bloom. It's time to clean up the cameras and get them ready for another year of photo shoots.

Hosta

Out of the blue and from a source I no longer remember, I got this hosta.  It does seem to me that I got it at an auction, without knowing what it looked like or where I was going to put it.

This hosta is called Liberty.  For the first two years I considered losing it; it was so tiny and not all that nice.  Then about three years ago, it simply started to strut it's stuff and has been a highlight for anyone who visits the front door.

It borders a blind path through this garden which is 35' wide and 70' long.  Around it is purple bug-bane, ferns, bloodroot and a white rhododendron.

Liberty is a great stand-out hosta for those semi-shady spots.  It will tolerate some sun, but prefers mostly shade.  It averages about 2-1/2 to 3' tall and wide and so far has not needed divided.  It literally glows.  I've not had it plagued with bugs or slugs so far.

I keep impressive hosta throughout the garden, some in spots where hosta are known not to particularly like, but they all do good for me.  Liberty, however, is extremely happy where it is and continues to impress me.

Introducing the Newest Family Member

Introducing the newest member of the family. My niece Rachel is seen here with her new daughter, Julia Alexis.











Isn't she a dear?


Julia Alexis
April 21, 2008

Images of Spring

Camellia - April Rain

Crabapple - Flame

Flowering Almond

Purple leaf cherry.  Notice the purple leaves with the pink Kawazanaa cherry type flowers.

Purple Sandcherry.

Yard Art

Today is a rather strange day, offering up cloud bursts every so often (whenever I venture outside to prune roses). I did get quite a number of them done before it began raining. In between cloud bursts, the sun shines brightly.

However, this does give me some time to catch up on other things that need done around this house as well as time for some pleasure.

One of the things that Husband is basically against is yard art. He thinks it makes a garden look junky. And, I must agree, there are places where we've been where there was simply to much in the wrong spot.

But the size of our garden beds cries for something other than plants, so some garden art is wanted. Here is a new little resin sculpture that I call "Little Man". He's holding a shallow bird bath that the little tree sparrows simply love! Because he is resin, he will be antiqued lightly and Husband will fill his empty cavity with some cement to give him some weight and help keep him from breaking apart through the winter.


This is the Service berry in bloom between the forsythia. This tree, though almost done blooming now has already attracted an assortment of tiny song birds. It's almost like they know what it is and have come to check it out.

At the base of this three multi-trunked tree, you can see St. Francis standing.




The best angle to see St. Francis is from my office window. He was placed there for this view. He is on the side yard under the Service berry holding a bird and another on his shoulder. St. Francis is a solid cement statue and resides in this wild, native area close to where my cat, Chloe, is buried. It is appropriate that he be here. The Jacob's Ladder and Barron wart will grow around him and by autumn he'll probably look like he's always been there.






Last but not least is my "Little Woman" with the butterflies. She sits on a rock covered with Waterperry Blue creeping saliva. The saliva isn't showing yet, but it's coming. When it's it bloom, she will be sitting in a sea of powder blue tiny flowers with yellow eyes. Behind her is the flowering quince right now. Along with the Waterperry Blue creeping saliva, there will also be two large beds of bearded iris around her.

"Little Woman" is a resin sculpture that isn't fill with cement. She's broken for us a number of times and we've simply glued her back together. This gives her a rather interesting patina. So far this year she looks intact. She was our first sculpture for this garden. There are other spots that cry out for more art, but just a little at a time.

We also have two bird baths that I haven't shown. They are the usual bird baths. Then there are also two cement benches, strategically placed so one can sit down and take a rest while either working in the garden or just exploring it.

The coming of color

Flowering Quince
Jonquills
Service Berry

Species Tulip
Yellow Daffodils

Star Magnolia Tree
Snowfountain Cherry

Bloodroot

It's nice seeing color begin to emerge in my garden. Winters are cold and gray here and this brings warmth and sunshine. The tiniest of wild flowers are pushing up now and this bloodroot is quite happy. The colony is becoming larger and more vivid with each year. I started a second colony in the same area and hope that it too shows me the same vigor.

My plant orders have now started to arrive as well. Most of them, that are bare root, bulbs or rhizomes go into the ground right away, while plants that are actually growing will be hardened off before being planted in the garden.

A Blast from the Past

I just got a comment from someone for my post "Dear Diary". Funny, this reminded me that I had gotten a rather unexpected response from my Congressman for the note that I wrote to him back in October. The letter was received in the mail rather than email which made it even more personal. He stated in his note that he was quite concerned on how events were headed.

After that, this Michael creature slithered out of the public eye, like a snake in the grass. But, apparently he's still trying to push his weight around, doing what he can to destroy the soul of this country. Frankly, this country could do better without him. We've already proven our worth and 911 only made us stronger.

As far as this Michael creature is concerned...he needs to be put in his place.

If this upcoming election is truly supposed to be for the people...the first order of business would be to replace this Michael creature because of his arrogance if nothing else. If we want to stop terrorism, we must first stop it in our own back yard. A policed state is totally unacceptable.