It is fall and students have returned to college campuses across the nation. I have a listing of the best college arboretums and botanical gardens and I plan my travel to visit as many as I can. I’ve long appreciated the beauty of a college campus. Just this week while traveling in the Northeast I’ve explored Wellesley, Smith and Amherst colleges. Botany has long been an important field of study, though the education of a Naturalist has fallen out of favor. Micro-biology and genetics are programs with great appeal today and both continue to advance the science of horticulture and other areas of study.
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Blooms Upon the Water
Monet wrote of his pond at Giverny,
“It took me a long time to understand my water lilies. I had planted them for the pure pleasure of it and I grew them without thinking of painting them…And then, all of a sudden, I had the revelation of the enchantment of my pond. I took up my palette. Since then I’ve had no other model.”Monet’s Water Lilies, Vivian Russell
Composition of Cactus
“To many people, a cactus is the tall, spiny plant that they have seen in films of the Wild West.” (Miles Anderson, Cactus & Succulent Guide)
A Castle, Flowers & Vegetables
Hatley Castle, on the grounds of Hatley Park Royal Roads University in Colwood, Vancouver Island, BC
Once upon a time on a beautiful summers’ day my fantasy of walking in a perfect garden came true. I entered an Italian style garden through a wisteria covered stone loggia (covered corridor). Pink roses climbed the loggia columns adding a bright color accent. A lawn formed a promenade to walk through the garden, with flower beds symmetrical in both color and shape surrounding the lawn. In each corner of the lawn stood a large floral urn. Boxwood hedges shaped the lines of the garden. A stone wall provided pattern and texture behind the flowers.
American History–Garden View
Andrea Wulf is the award-winning and New York Times Bestselling author of three garden history books, including “The Brother Gardeners, Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession” (2009)
An American Garden
Bartram’s — An American Garden
Philadelphia is known as the City of Brotherly Love, and for the men who gathered there to lay out the foundations of our democracy. This is where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution written. What many people don’t realize is that Philadelphia also claims to be America’s garden capital, boasting 30 public gardens within 30 miles of Philly.
Tree Houses in an Arboretum!
Visiting arboretums in my travels I naturally find myself walking in the woods. I enjoy the shade, the champion trees, meadows and blooming spring ephemorals such as jack in the pulpits, trillions, wood poppies, and may apple. Trees are the stars with their gnarly trunks, amazing branching structures and leafy canopies overhead. In spring the green color of new leaves is bright and clean.
Wisteria Wonder
It’s May in Pennsylvania, a month which bridges spring to summer. Gardens are the reflection of everyone’s hope that warmer temperatures and easier times are truly here for the season. Life moves so quickly and a garden clearly reminds us of this. Longwood Gardens has a wisteria garden. I visited there on May 13 and the wisteria was glorious. Purple and white blossoms hung in ringlets from gnarly, woody trunks. The scent and the color was magical. May 23 I returned to Longwood, and the wisteria was without color. The magic was gone, green was the only color. Tendrils of new growth reached out into thin air. Wisteria is a vine which can grow so vigorously with so much power it can move foundations, yet it’s beauty is so fleeting. How is it that something can be so beautiful so briefly? It is a flash of magic, it is a moment to be noticed and enjoyed. If you have made room in your garden for wisteria you understand its incredible power to bewitch and beguile your senses. If you haven’t experienced the brief beauty of a full bloom of wisteria it is impossible to appreciate how mystical it can be. Life’s beautiful moments are brief. Sometimes you simply stand still and enjoy the sparkle. Don’t miss it!
Chanticleer Gardens
Chanticleer Gardens near Philadelphia, PA is a 35 acre pleasure garden. Built in the early 20th century it was a summer home of the Rosengarten family. There are rolling hills, woodlands, a cutting garden, terraces and ponds, it is a truly beautiful garden space. There is an entire book written to describe and illustrate its story. Chanticleer’s spring palate was anchored with shades of purple mixed with whites and pink. The alliums in purple and white and in all stages of bloom were a star of the show. These perennial bulbs are easy to grow, come in a variety of colors and require little space. Interspersed among other plants they are great for adding height to a border as the pop up inserting their ball shape bloom. The buds emerge a small smooth ball with no hint of what will emerge. Then it begins to crack open and the beads of color appear. The individual flowers are a star shape and when fully open the bloom is a baseball size burst of color. I love them in the flower beds, in bouquets and in all stages of opening.
Killdeer, Killdeer, Henry Schmeider Arboretum
There is always a chance of a surprise encounter when wandering into a garden. Today we explored the Henry Schmeider Arboretum, which encompasses the entire campus of Delaware Valley University. The iris and peony garden was blooming and hidden among the flowers on bare ground a killdeer sat on a nest. Alert and protective she called out her name onomatopoeically. Her mate returned the call, both on alert and then she stood up!Under her were four eggs, spotted, camouflaged and like small rocks they seemed to set directly on the ground unprotected. The mother flew off to fake an injury to draw me away from the nest. Calling out and flapping her wings she wanted us to follow her. She wanted us to move away from the eggs. We backed away and she quickly returned to the nest. All seemed well. In just three weeks the babies will hatch. Remarkably they break out of the shell able to see and forage quickly after.