On Monday morning, I arrived at work very early so I could get out into the garden to see my favorite tree, a magnolia called Wada’s Memory. It is my favorite tree in the garden and it only blooms early in April. If you miss it on the one day that the beautiful white blooms are perfect, it’s just not the same tree. It’s still beautiful but it has one true day of absolute glory.

I walked through the pool area and up garden lane into the sundial garden to see the (my) tree. The sun was very low in the eastern sky so as I approached the tree I was disappointed as I thought I had missed its height of beauty. Then I realized the sun was so bright that it was causing me to be unable to see the blossoms. I walked around to the other side of the tree and was rewarded with the full beauty of this amazing tree.

I stood gazing at the tree for a full 10 minutes or so, delighted that I had caught its full beauty this year. With the sun on my back, standing in this spectacular garden, admiring this tree doing its Easter egg imitation in nature, it was a truly spiritual experience and I felt so blessed to I have this garden to enjoy in every season.

I wasn’t quite ready to start work so I wound through the paths passing the glade ponds, said good morning to the fish and headed back to my office, appreciating the perfect start to another week of work at Winterthur.

Author, Lisbeth L. Selsor lives in Delaware and works at Winterthur Museum & Country Estate.

Trying to beat the coming thunderstorm, I took an early afternoon stroll through part of the Winterthur Garden today. What fun on a low-humidity late-spring day!

• ferns – lush and frilly and fresh
• astilbe, daylillies and hydrangea near the Reflecting Pool – sure summer favorites
• a new color scheme in the containers around the reflecting pool – magenta, white, yellow and blue – stunning!
• bright green frogs and a huge gray bull frog sounding his deep call
• the sweet scent of gardenia wafts through the air
• a cool moss-covered stone wall
• a set of new gray containers near the Box Scroll garden
• a yellow Koi fish that jumped twice in the Glade pool
• new chandeliers gracing the loggia and dining room porch – beautiful, graceful, complete
• crazy Turk’s Cap lilies displaying their upside-down acrobatics

With all that beauty, it’s easy to ignore a major project underway in the garden this summer. After years of hard use, many of the pathways are being restored with either new macadam or wood mulch. The work will correct erosion problems and the many ankle-turning patches and holes.

The red tipple stone paths are on their way out in favor of materials that are more in keeping with the beauty and history of the garden.  Some of the pathways will be closed this summer, so please bear with us as you enjoy the winding paths through this paradise garden.