Winterthur Garden Blog

Here’s a tough choice: to see the Peony Garden at peak or take in the Quarry Garden with primroses in full bloom. No need to choose, come to Winterthur and see them both this week.  Each will take a little bit of fancy footwork since neither are directly on the garden tram route.

To view the Quarry Garden, walk from the Enchanted Woods tram stop. That’s the easiest.  Or walk from the Galleries Reception Area across lower Oak Hill.

Candelabra Primroses on Quarry Floor

To see the peonies in full bloom, there are several good routes:

• Take the garden tram to Azalea Woods and walk down hill to the Peony Garden. Ask your friendly garden guide for directions.
• Start at the Visitor Center and follow the white arrows for a lovely walking route through the garden.
• Begin at the Museum Store and walk uphill to the Peony Garden. Look for the big white birdhouse-like building, the Latimeria Summer House.

The Lower Peony Garden on May 22, 2013

The Upper Peony Garden

Love the Intense Pink!

Look for the Latimeria Summer House to find the Peony Garden

Peonies!

We are pleased and lucky to have seven amazing interns working in the Winterthur Garden for the spring and summer seasons.

Today, they are working with Dave Schurr at the Visitor Center, planting lots and lots of hosta, ferns, and other healthy plants near the Visitor Center patio. Hope you enjoy the view next time you lunch at Winterthur!

New healthy plants going in at Visitor Center

Lovely pots all lined up, ready for the rich soil at the Visitor Center.

A sighting of interns in the wild.

So many plants, so little time!

Proof of a job well done – empty pots!

The tools of the trade.

Broad-Leaf Evergreens

11:30 am, May 22 in the Brown Horticulture Learning Center (a five-minute walk from the Visitor Center)

Broad-leaf evergreen shrubs are valuable plants in any garden, formal or informal. Some have colorful flowers, but all impart a feeling of solidity through the seasons. The various habits and leaf forms can be used to provide texture, and those with fine dense foliage can be sheared into fanciful topiaries.

Join specialist garden guide Ed Stevenson for a walk in the Winterthur Garden while we explore various kinds of broad-leaf evergreen shrubs and the ways they can be used in your own garden.

Please note: this walk was originally scheduled for May 29.

Mahonia bealei

Join us for demonstrations, talks, and guided walks covering a wide range of gardening topics. These events begin at 11:30 am on Wednesdays from April to October (except August).  Included with all admission tickets, Members free.

Walks last 45-60 minutes. No reservations necessary.  Dress for the weather and wear walking shoes.

Plant Nursery Sale

Friday, May 17, 10:00am – 8:00pm

Saturday, May 18, 10:00am – 5:30pm

Sunday, May 19, 10:00am – 2:00pm

in front of Museum Store

Shop our selection of locally grown shrubs, & perennials that will be available during these three days. Neighbor’s Envy Nursery staff will be here to answer your plant questions and help you make a selection that is right for your home. Still time left in the season to do lots of planting!

Wonderful, Healthy Plants in Big Pots!

So Many Pretty Things Ready for Your Garden (Or mine if I get there first!)

Thanks to Winterthur volunteer, Bob Leitch, enjoy some shots of the Winterthur Garden in spring!

And here’s the latest Winterthur Garden bloom list from May 15, 2013:

http://www.winterthur.org/pdfs/May 15 2013.pdf

In addition to incredible flowers all over the Winterthur Garden (the Peony Garden, the Pinetum, Azalea Woods, and Enchanted Woods),   the Quarry Garden is in full bloom right now with its intense carpet of candelabra primroses.  Come and see!

Fabulous color on rhododendrons in the Pinetum. Amazing!

The Peony Garden is Starting to Bloom. Just a quick walk from the Visitor Center!

The Quarry Garden is in full bloom now!

Just purchase a ticket at the visitor center or display your membership card, then enjoy all the Winterthur Garden has to offer!

Look for some amazing automobiles at Winterthur on May 18, from 10 am to 4 pm, weather permitting.  We are very grateful to private owners who agree to spend a day at Winterthur displaying their prized autos.

Here’s a photo from the display of 1930s automobiles on May 11 to give you a taste of what’s in store on May 18 when we feature autos from the post-war years, 1947 to 1969.  More info: http://www.winterthur.org/?p=1063

Historic Autos at Winterthur on May 11, 2013

In addition to the wonderful display of automobiles, Greg Landrey will speak at 1:00 pm in the Brown Horticulture Learning Center, just a short walk past the Peony Garden.

May 18, 1:00 pm
Brown Horticulture Learning Center
“Automobile Advertising: Slogans and Images of the Post-War Era”
Greg Landrey, director of library, collections management, and academic programs, Winterthur

Here’s the list of automobiles we hope to see at Winterthur on May 18, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, weather permitting:

William Shakespeare warned against the ides of March, but there’s nothing to fear in the Winterthur Garden in mid-May!  During today’s Wednesday at Winterthur on garden photography (many thanks to Jeannette Lindvig), I had time to stroll through Azalea Woods and the Peony Garden. And they call this a job!

Hope you will come to see the Winterthur Garden soon; and do enjoy the tram tour, but take time to walk to Azalea Woods, the Peony Garden, and the Quarry Garden so you’re in the middle of an incredible floral banquet.

Though some of the azaleas are just past prime, others are opening. Rhododendrons are holding their huge bouquets of intense color and the Quarry Garden’s candelabra primroses are in full bloom. There’s plenty to see on this day in May.

Here’s the message recorded on 302.888.4856, Winterthur’s Bloom Hotline:

Today, color and fragrance weave their magic throughout the Winterthur Garden. Azalea Woods and Oak Hill are splendid with clouds of pink, white and lavender azaleas and rhododendrons. Graceful sweeps of azaleas, spirea, and spikes of blue cammasia create a wonderland of color and texture at Magnolia Bend. Explore the March Bank to discover the delicate flowers of thousands of wildflowers, including flocks and Spanish bluebells.

The quarry garden is colorful now – it’s marshy floor is covered with bright red, pink and coral primroses while azaleas and rhododendrons continue the brilliant show in Azalea Woods. Pick up your admission ticket at the visitor center or show your membership card, then enjoy spring in the Winterthur Garden.

On a recent Tuesday, I was walking through the Peony Garden when I heard a rather odd buzzing sound. A large mosquitoe on the prowl?  No, I looked up to see a small drone hovering overhead. Ah, Greg must be nearby.

Greg Mackenzie, a former garden intern, now in Winterthur’s Development department has a new gadget, a drone that he uses to photograph the Winterthur Garden.

Enjoy his latest work!

http://gregmackenzie.zenfolio.com/p6082598/h5ed9336e#h5ed9336e

Here’s the latest list of everything in bloom in the Winterthur Garden. Quite a feat for our bloom-logging volunteer duo!

http://www.winterthur.org/pdfs/May 9 2013 Winterthur Bloom List.pdf

Oh dear, how to summarize 11 pages of blooms?

• Azaleas and Rhododendrons
• The Dove Tree (Davidia involucrata) – lovely white bracts drift in the breeze – by the Dorrance Gallery – probably the largest one in the USA!
• Flowering Dogwoods
• Doublefile Viburnum (Viburnum plicatum x tomentosum)
• Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)
• Spanish Bluebells – see a ‘river’ of them by the 1750 House (Hyacinthoides hispanica)
• Wild Blue Phlox – a beautiful pale blue carpet on the upper March Bank
• Lilacs – lovely fragrance near the greenhouses and along Garden Lane at the Sundial Garden – sweet!!
• Lily-of-the-Valley – another sweet fragrance – in the Pinetum and Peony Garden
• Peonies – just starting in the Peony Garden – lovely voluptuous flowers

Too much to list. Your ‘job’ for the week is to get to the Winterthur Garden to see the garden at its spring best. The garden trams will likely be packed this weekend. Plan to wait in line for a little while…with four 24-passenger trams, we can serve about 200 people per hour.  This might be a good time to plan for a stroll in the garden. Azalea Woods is close to the visitor center and best seen on foot as the garden tram tours only skirt its beautiful center.

Just display your membership card or your admission tag and enjoy the Winterthur Garden. (At some point in your visit, we like members to check in so we can count you in the daily totals, please.)