Winterthur Garden Blog

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.

The snow seems to have made our local wildlife much more social. This raccoon was looking for leftover birdfeed among the leaves by the Farm Manager’s Building.

A staff member shares this photo of a fox she spotted near Enchanted Woods on February 3rd, along with the track it made in the snow. Enjoy!

Karen,

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

Chris

February 1—March 8, 2010: Winterthur will close for a winter break. Winterthur Members will continue to have dawn-to-dusk access, Tuesday through Sunday, to the gardens and grounds to enjoy walking in the winter splendor. On inclement weather days, access to the grounds may be restricted for safety purposes. Weather-related closings will be announced on local radio stations. Please call 800.448.3883 for details.

March 9, 2010: Spring Season begins! Winterthur reopens at 10am.

For more information, please see: http://www.winterthur.org/about/winter_break.asp

Flowers in February always seem like a miracle. Below is a selection of quotes about the February garden at Winterthur as noted by H.F. du Pont during his lifetime.  (Compiled by Maggie Lidz, Winterthur’s estate historian.)

 Feb. 1, 1954 to his sister Louise Crowninshield: Had cocktails after church with Ann Marvel and walked home. It was cold but lovely and sunny. The primula malacoides have been so beautiful that I shall never go to Boca Grande till about this time.

Feb. 2, 1922, to his friend garden designer Marian Coffin: I was so sorry you could not arrange to stop here on your way north, as it was a perfect weekend and the terrace was abloom with jasmine nudiflorum, two large Hamamelis mollis, numerous snowdrops, big patches of Adonis amurensis, some yellow crocus and the sweet-swented Lonicera.

Feb 5, 1943, Garden Diary: Hamamelis mollis mass of bloom terrace near gazebo. Worth not going to Fla. to see it.

Feb. 8, 1925 Garden Diary: Many snowdrops came in warm week after coldest Jan.

Feb. 8, 1932 to his sister Louise: It was delicious weather yesterday and a lot of people were playing golf, and there are new clumps of flowers coming in bloom.

Visiting the winter garden at Winterthur, circa 1906. Photo courtesy of the Winterthur Archives.

Feb. 16, 1944, to his friend Architect Bert Ives: We had our first real snowstorm of the winter two days ago. Before that the Snowdrops were out and my Hamamelis Molis were a mass of blooms. We have had a delightful winter so far and I really don’t think I shall ever spend the whole winter at Boca Grande again. I certainly am not going there until after the war is over.

 Feb. 22, 1954, Garden Diary: Crocus imperati dep purple. Crocus chrysanthus E.P. Bowles on terrace lovely yellow. Also C. vernus ‘Vanguard” on terrace. Daphne ready to open. Sarcococca hookeriana in bloom.

 Feb. 25 1944,  Ruth W du Pont, H.F. du Pont’s wife  to his sister Louise: The Adonis Amurensis or some such name, bright yellow flowers, are all out on the bank on the way to the bend, also countless snowdrops, Aconite and Hamamelis of course. We have not closed the conservatory this year and it is perfectly beautiful, cineraria in great profusion and primulas, all very swell.

Al Orr, a Winterthur staff member, recently shot these scenes with the camera on his cell phone. He asked if a telephone takes photos with enough resolution for the blog. What do you think? Looks like a great way to capture photos “on the fly!” 

So, it’s 20 degrees at Winterthur this afternoon.  I thought this would be a great time to take a nice photo of a snow drop. Wrong! The galanthus are smarter than I, staying curled up and protected along the March Bank.  Here’s a photo of what I thought it would look like, taken last year. Maybe it will entice you to come on a slightly warmer day to see the snow drops.

After my disappointing snow drop search (they were there, just curled up!), I found a lush tree full of robins. It’s a large beech tree adjacent to the museum store near a row of berry-laden holly trees. The robins are also protecting themselves from the cold air, puffing their feathers to trap insulating warm air. 

Meanwhile, the koi in the glade garden have slowed their metabolism and spend their days floating in the water in a kind of suspended animation.

One more photo to share, taken a few weeks ago when we had just a skiff of snow on the ground. Bundle up and enjoy winter in the Winterthur Garden!