* sparkling white snowdrops and snowflakes

* golden adonis and butter-yellow aconite

* delicate lavender “tommy” crocus

Spring is (almost) here!

The Winterthur Garden, like many of the Winterthur staff, is ready to welcome visitors back after our winter break, based on what I saw today. I started out to take a peek at the March Bank. I didn’t even make it to the Bank before I saw the stunning view for today. . . it was the East Terrace outside the door to Port Royal Hall, covered with pale purple crocuses, Thomasiniana, I think. (Crocus tomasinianus. kls) And as a background, the yellow jasmine in bloom.

Many areas of the garden are still snow-covered, nice warm blankets for these wonderful bulbs.

The Winterthur estate has had conservatory displays since Evelina du Pont and her husband Antoine Bidermann moved into their newly built house in 1841. In fact, December 13, 1838 Evelina wrote to her sister Victorine du Pont, who lived at Eleutherian Mills (now part of the Hagley Museum and Library)

I was glad to learn that Alfred had a new little green house made for you nearer the House for I think you will enjoy it more in the winter as yr. yd. is far drier walking than the garden. Antoine regrets it was not made in the little corner near the parlor & pantry but I suppose you did not find it as convenient. He is getting a plan made here for our House in which he has not forgotten the little green House if such may be termed a little room for flowers.

The following letters are excerpts from Evelina’s letters to her son in Paris about her greenhouse at Winterthur.

March 25 1845: My flowers too, in the green house have much improved this year they have been in bloom the whole winter and still continue. I often think of you when I am in it and wish for you and dear Camille to see it & enjoy it.

May 18, 1845: My green house has been beautiful this winter, I have a great many new kinds of flowers. Eleuthera gave me some bulbous roots which had come from Holland, these proved to be very fine and were quite an addition to the green house. …It is so warm today I shall have to take my flowers out of the green House.

Dec. 18 1845: My green house continues to do very well, I have now some camellias in bloom and the Daphne Judicum and Parma violets have a delightful perfume. My dear James, your large scarlet sage is still in existence and blooming among the branches of the lemon tree mixing its blossoms with the yellow lemons. 

Dec 21 1845: Our house even at this season of the year except when the children come is always very quiet. My flowers do not make any noise like Aunt Victorine’s Birds… She has been very successful in rearing them this year and wishes me to have some in my Green House but I am too old now to attend to them. … I wish you could see my Camellias, oxalis and my bright row of Parma violets all in bloom. They look so beautiful, while all beyond a thin pane of glass is white with frost and snow.  How often I wish you were both with me when I am in that green House. I should think I would be tempted to put you both under glass as your Father says I always wish to do when I am afraid any thing should get hurt.

 May 27 1846: My flowers & Lemon trees I put out doors this week. I had more than 50 lemons mostly ripe on the large new one and some on the smaller one that measured 12 ½ inches by 13 ½ How I wish I could send you some of them. I expect My dear James you can remember the large Lemon tree ever since you can remember anything. You will therefore like to hear how well it has recovered its health & graces our Garden.

Nov 26 1846: When it rains, Your Father & I walk in the green house.

 Jan 29 1847: we have had about two weeks ago a chimney fire …As it was the coldest night this year we should have been very cold but for the furnace of the Green house until our fires were lighted again. My flowers are most of them in blossom now and look very well.

March 29 1847: I sprained my back lifting some flower pots on the top shelf of my “Garden” … [fantasizes about her granddaughter picking] fallen leaves and blossoms in the Green house which is full of flowers for her dear Grandpapa has kindly watered them for me so that they look even better than when I use to attend to them myself. How happy I should be to see Gabrielle’s tiny fingers pulling some of my Parma violets to make a bunch for Mama.

May 25 1847: I know [her granddaughter] would watch with pleasure the little humming birds on my Green house plants and like to peep into the nests of the many wild birds who build quite near the house, almost fearless of harm, besides Aunt Victorine has large cages of canary birds which she rears herself and which she gives to her friends with great pleasure.

March 24, 1852: The seeds of the Cinerarias you gathered for me last summer have grown very well. There are many of them in bloom now. …There are a great many flowers now in bloom in the green House: Camellias, Azaleas, roses, primulas, two kinds of violets, primroses, geraniums, my Rhododendron with 18 large bunches of flowers, convollus, etc. My flowers have never been so fine although the weather was so cold this winter.

Feb 13 1856: Your Aunt Victorine and Eleuthera wished me to give you their love. Their house looked quite bright with flowers and birds for they have two or three large cages full in their greenhouse. Your Aunt Victorine has had another greenhouse built near the house in which she has brought their plants. It is very pretty & large so you can walk in it & the is very light. The roof & two sides being of glass. I am sure you would enjoy it and so would our dear little girls, whenever I see anything pleasant I always wish for them.

JAB Letterbook Oct 24 1859 To J& M.W. Dick, advertisement for gardener:

I have a kitchen garden & a small conservatory to be attended to. I keep only two men, viz. the gardener and one to attend to my carriage house. The latter gives occasional help, principally to attend to the flower plots near the house and moving the plants in and out of the greenhouse. I give my present gardener $23 a month and a house. I prefer a married man, and, as there is a good garden attached to the house, it would be advantageous if he had a good lad able to attend to it.

JAB Letterbook Oct 27 1859 To John Brooks, Falls of Schuylkill. Sir, In answer to …I inform you that I have a kitchen garden and a small greenhouse or conservatory but no grapery. I pay my gardener $23 a month and give him a good house and a garden rent free. I have a man to attend to my carriage house who gives some occasional help to the gardener, principally for the flower plots around the house & for moving the green house plants in the spring or fall.

[Evelina died in January 1863. Ill health forced her husband Antoine to return to France to live with his son and daughter-in-law].

April, 1863 Notes on Winterthur Farm to Charles I du Pont: According to my agreement with the gardener Charles Bucknell I cannot turn him out before the end of the year. You will therefore have to pay him his wages $26. per month until that time. …The green house plants shall have to be abandoned but it is unavoidable.

October 11, 1863 Sophie du Pont to Antoine Bidermann: I got Charles to put two heliotropes in pots for Victorine and Sophie, of those that were beside the porch. We will not let any of the flowers freeze, but will all take some & nurse them carefully. Mary Simmons took home a heliotrope & a geranium, & was much pleased to have them as keepsakes.

Courtesy of Hagley Museum and Library

We are very excited this spring to have a new exhibition about gardens opening here at Winterthur. During the clamorous years before World War II, American gardens developed into a high art. Through the use of antique garden furniture, rare color photography, and never-before-seen family images of garden life, Lost Gardens of the Brandywine explores how Wilmington, Delaware, became a focal point of horticulture in the United States.

I have been lucky enough to see some of the images and objects gathered for this exhibition. It promises to reveal the beauty and depth of expertise that made the Delaware Valley home to some of the greatest gardens in America.

More details to come…

Courtesy of Hagley Museum and Library

Walking along the March Bank, the bright sunshine and fresh air cleared my stuffy-air, winter-feebled brain.  I found colonies of snowdrops blooming near the base of the enormous trees along the March Bank. Squill and snowflakes were nowhere to be found; they’ll make their entrance a bit later in the month.

At Magnolia Bend, the crystal blue sky touched the winter white landscape as the cherry trees cut a delicate ebony filigree through the blue and white. How wonderful, after being trapped inside by relentless blizzards, to be out in the wide open spaces of the garden!

Winterthur’s garden department did a fine job of clearing the paths along the March Bank; clear, dry and safe.  Enjoy a walk in paradise this winter – and pray for spring!

By the way, garden tram tours will resume in the Winterthur Garden when we re-open next Tuesday, March 9th, weather and road-conditions permitting. I, for one, can’t wait for the garden guides – and spring – to return!

We are excited to have a very special speaker for this year’s Bank to Bend lecture. Author and photographer, Rick Darke, will be sharing his insights with us about the “wild garden” – a way of gardening that ushered in a whole new approach to horticulture. The write-up as it appears on our website:

Bank to Bend:
The Wild Garden in the 21st Century
March 13, 11:00 am

In his 1870 classic The Wild Garden, William Robinson called upon gardeners to bring a bit of authentic wildness into their home landscapes, and the book incited a revolution toward naturalism that continues today. H. F. du Pont owned a copy of Robinson’s book, which heavily influenced the March Bank and many other parts of Winterthur. The Wild Garden: Expanded Edition has just been published with color photography and additional text by gardener, photographer, and writer Rick Darke. In this multimedia presentation, Darke will share his insights on wild gardening and, through historic and contemporary examples, will explain why it is the most enjoyable, vibrant, and sustainable approach for our time.
$20; $15 Members. Free for WGLS and Garden Associates members. To register, call 800.448.3883 or 302.888.4600.

The annual Bank to Bend lecture is named for Winterthur’s signature March Bank display of early bulbs and perennials. H.F. du Pont and other family members used to look for the earliest bulbs on the slope to the North of the house, where the heart of this display occurs. They called the path along the slope “from bank to bend.” The Winterthur Garden and Landscape Society underwrites the annual lecture and has generously supported the restoration of the March Bank.

UPDATE
For more information about Rick and the wild garden visit the American Horticultural Society’s website for American Gardener. Included on their website is an excerpt from the book read by Rick.

Rick’s work was just featured in Garden Design. They have also included an online gallery of wild garden images.

Karen,

Here is another shot of a fox from yesterday on Farm Hill.

Chris