In early August, a small group of professional gardener
students and interns (including myself) took a trip to Stoneleigh. The property was formerly an estate owned by
the Haas family, but was donated to Natural Lands and is now in transition to
become a public garden. Despite legal
battles with the school district regarding rights to the land, the community
has stood behind the gardens and its development.
The weather was hot and humid the day we visited the
gardens, however it wasn’t hard to find shade due to the overwhelmingly large
amount of tree specimens. I couldn’t
believe the sheer size of some of the trees.
I also thought to myself how breathtakingly beautiful this space has to
be in the fall.
The Tudor Revival mansion was a sight to behold in its own
right. I felt like I had been
transported to a different point in time when viewing the structure across the
vast and open lawn. The Cercidiphyllum, one of my favorite
trees, adorned the front lawn with a cascading water-like shape. I was amazed at the diameter of the trunk on
the Platnus that bounded the corner
of the front patio. While I’m not sure
whether any of the trees on the property were champions of Pennsylvania, I
wouldn’t be surprised if they were close runner-ups.
As I walked around the garden, it felt as though nothing had
been changed from the property’s glory days, but every now and again, you would
come around a corner and see a pop of modern garden flair that added a
child-like sense of awe. I loved how the
design outside of the event pavilion/restrooms played with geometric shapes,
lines, textures, and depths. You could
really feel the influence of Natural Lands as there were many North American
natives (Asclepias, Sarracenia, Gaura,
etc.) included in the beds found throughout the property.
One of my favorite spaces I stumbled upon was a white arbor
amongst a sea of shrubs, trees, and Pachysandra. The way the sun was making the structure glow
in waves of green foliage, you would have thought you were in a scene straight
out of a Miyazaki film.
After walking around the gardens multiple times, I could
really feel all the hard work that has been put in to the preservation of this
historic site. With the opening of the
gardens just occurring this past May, I can’t wait to see how it transforms
over time, and I really can’t wait to come back for a spectacular fall color
show.
Bulbs come in all shapes and sizes: the
larger bulbs pictured are Crown Imperials, also known as Fritillaria, along with Allium,
which are known as Giant Onions.
Every fall at Longwood a mighty mission
takes place, whereby a staggering 230,000 bulbs are individually planted! These
bulbs spend the winter underground and bloom in the spring, to create Longwood’s
famously spectacular springtime display. Last Thursday us students spent a day
helping the team with this huge bulb-planting project, as one of our weekly
activities.
Bulbs are underground batteries packed with
energy and they help a plant to survive the harsh conditions of winter in a
dormant state. The plant is then able to flower early in the year and harness
the springtime light. The fall is the best time of year to plant
spring flowering bulbs, as they are dormant at this stage of the year and at
Longwood a mix of bulbs are planted including Tulips, Daffodils, Fritillarias
and Alliums.
One of the main display areas for bulbs at
Longwood, is the Flower Garden Walk, which is an historic pair of parallel
borders, which are the length of two football fields. Each spring this area hosts
a mix of bulbs, which are planted in blocks of colour, following the spectrum
of the rainbow. In order to achieve such a large scale
planting, a design is drawn up a year in advance and detailed orders are placed
for the delivery of the bulbs. It then takes over a week of intense work kneeling down, for a large team of staff, students, and volunteers to first lay-out
the bulbs and plant each one individually. Guests are always delighted to see the vast
planting process and some ask whether we simply dump soil on top of the bulbs
once we lay them out? However we reassure them that each individual bulb is dug
in, 6 inches deep, using a trowel in order to maintain the pattern and design.
Curiously we started our
day of bulb-planting, with an area of bare soil and having planted the bulbs,
we also ended the day with bare soil. Come the Spring, the Flower Garden Walk
will be ablaze with colour and we will be able to see the results of this hard
work and the blooms of this buried treasure.
Here we are planting a mix of Tulips and
Daffodils.
To ensure correct spacing of the bulbs,
when laying them out, we use a pre-cut measuring stick. It is a tricky skill to
keep the rows straight and uniform!
Fellow interns Spencer, Clare, Myself and
Nathan, after a busy day laying out bulbs.
Thirsty work planting, on a warm October
day.
Article and photos by Katy Merrington, International Horticulture Trainee
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