Check the calendar. It’s July 16th and is the first day it has really felt like summer in the northern Delaware. Just a touch of humidity and about 85 degrees. At the front gate, the meadows are being mowed and harvested for hay. This keeps the open field from turning into a woodland, maintaining the agricultural view enjoyed from the visitor center.
I walked in the garden around lunch time seeking refuge from the hot sun under the amazing trees of the Winterthur Garden. Under these trees on the March Bank, you’ll find hosta and ferns softening the slope. A perfect place to walk on a summer afternoon.
The children’s gardens near the greenhouses are coming along well. Last week I encountered a man and his young son as they watered the boy’s garden, taking great pride in the progress of his zucchini squash.
New this week: special Enchanted Woods-themed signs to lead you to Enchanted Woods from the visitor center. Getting there is half the fun! Let us know if they are placed properly to guide your walk. We may need to make a few modifications to the layout. The small signs are designed to clip to the existing blue “blade” signs so they are as unobtrusive as possible while adding a bit of adventure to the walk to EW.
- New Wayfinding Signs Lead to Enchanted Woods
At the Reflecting Pool Garden, you’ll find white crape myrtles, daylilies plus wonderful blue and white Nile lilies in the containers. It’s a beautiful summer day in the garden!
I was wondering if you could help me. We recently (July 20) visited Winterthur from Michigan. This was our second visit, and we have truly enjoyed each one. As we were leaving the estate, I noticed some shrubs flowering with purple spiky flowers, at the front entrance gate. I can only ask my husband to stop so many times to look at a plant close up, and this was not one of those times. I thought I could do some searches once I was home, relying on my memory to identify the plant. However, I have not had any luck. The flower spikes looked somewhat like a butterfly bush, but the shape of the shrub was more upright, like a small tree. Can you help me identify this beautiful plant?
Thanks!
Linda, the shrub you saw was chaste tree or Vitex agnus-castus. It is a relatively easy to grow shrub that is hardy in zones 6-10. As you saw, it flowers in the summer and is attractive to bees and butterflies.