Gardens of Philadelphia and Bucks County

Transcription

1 Gardens of Philadelphia and Bucks County September 3-9, 2019 Escorted by C. Colston Burrell

2 Philadelphia is known for its history, food, art, and museums. It s also known as America s Gardening Capital. Why? Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley now claim the largest concentration of many of the finest public and private gardens in the world. In fact, the entire region is often called America s Gateway to Gardens. Join C. Colston Burrell to explore the private and public gardens that have come to define a tradition of excellence. From the grandeur of Longwood Gardens and Winterthur to the meticulous design and planting of town and country gardens in Swarthmore and West Chester, we will explore a diverse selection of stunning gardens. Our journey takes us to Philadelphia s western suburbs, Northern Delaware, and the bucolic countryside of Bucks County along the Delaware River. Land-Only Tour Price From $2495* per person *Price is per person based on double occupancy and a minimum of 16 participants. Additional cost for single accommodations quoted upon request. Airfare is additional. Carlson Wagonlit Travel air coordinators can assist you with flight reservations. TOUR HIGHLIGHTS: Visit with Peggy Anne Montgomery and Dan Benarcik during a welcome reception in their private garden Enjoy dinner and the Fountain Show at world renowned Longwood Gardens Join exclusive guided tours of premier public gardens, including Mt. Cuba, Stoneleigh and Winterthur Relish visits to nine private gardens, including David Culp s Brandywine Cottage and Charles Cresson s Hedgeleigh Spring Learn about the unique vision of the Scott Arboretum on a tour with Director Claire Sawyers Discover treasured plants and gifts while shopping at Hortulus, Linden Hill Gardens and Tiffany Perennials Savor an elegant farewell dinner at Hortulus Farm with Jack Staub and Renny Renolds TOUR PACKAGE INCLUSIONS: Six nights accommodations, based on double occupancy Six breakfasts at group hotels Four group lunches Sightseeing and transfers as noted in the itinerary Services of a Carlson Wagonlit Travel tour escort Expert host, C. Colston Burrell A tax-deductible donation of $100 for members of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society NOT INCLUDED: Round-trip airfare; airline fees for checked, oversized or overweight luggage; additional nights; optional sightseeing activities; gratuities to coach drivers, luggage handlers, housekeeping, tour manager or individual garden guides; meals not indicated in the itinerary; travel insurance; other items not specifically mentioned as included in the itinerary. Tour Host C. Colston Burrell Mr. Burrell, an avid gardener and naturalist, has devoted a lifetime to studying plants in the wild and in gardens. He holds an MS in Horticulture and received an MLA from the University of Minnesota, where he was also an instructor. Registration is subject to availability and limited! Register online at mshsphiladelphia and deposit now to confirm your space! Contact Carlson Wagonlit Travel at or: MINNESOTA MICHIGAN Burnsville Southland Southdale U.S. Maplewood Toll-Free Rosedale

3 Itinerary Day 1, Tuesday, September 3 Departure to Philadelphia Upon arrival in Philadelphia, transfer to your hotel in Mendenhall, Pennsylvania. Enjoy dinner on your own this evening. MT. CUBA CENTER Day 2, Wednesday, September 4 Public Gardens Our first day of touring is an exciting one. After breakfast we board our coach with tour escort Cole Burrell and start our day of public garden tours at the Mt. Cuba Center, a botanical garden that inspires an appreciation for the beauty and value of native plants through exquisitely designed plantings along inviting, comfortable paths. In addition to display, the garden is committed to protecting the environments that sustain wild plants. Our next stop is Winterthur, a 1,000 acres estate of exquisite gardens and quiet trails set among rolling hills, streams, meadows, and forests. Henry Francis du Pont translated his love of the land into a unified work of art that embodies a romantic vision of nature's beauty. We will tour the gardens and the house, and then enjoy lunch on our own account at the garden s tearoom. WINTERTHUR SHEA GARDEN MONTGOMERY/BENARCIK GARDEN We continue our touring as we depart for the garden of Mary and Tom Shea. Their lot had a few large trees and not much else when they moved there in The small space gave them a chance to develop a garden on a much smaller scale than their previous homes. They like easy gardening using plant combinations that they have had success in the past that provide both bold and subtle color and texture year-round. Sculptural elements are either boldly placed or emerge from denser foliage to add a little whimsy. Our final stop of the day is at Peggy Anne Montgomery and Dan Benarcik s garden. Two creative spirits with long careers in the horticultural industry combine their respective talents and aesthetics to create this garden. Now twenty years in cultivation, this garden of just less than one acre in a quiet northern Delaware subdivision is anything but ordinary. A small front yard for the neighbors gives way to a concealed delightful rear garden complete with groves of trees, a mixed native-ish meadow and verdant mossy shade gardens for the exploring. A September visit will likely find a garden just beginning to breathe again after the often stifling heat of August in the Delaware Valley. Moderating temperatures and shorter days have not yet initiated fall color in this region or its gardens. The manipulation of space and views, the sense of adventure and the attention to details are the hallmarks of this very personal garden. After our tour we can relax and enjoy an elegant reception with wine and delicious canapés. B, R Day 3, Thursday, September 5 Private Gardens Today we head to Belvidere to the garden of Andrew Bunting. This architectural town garden has beautiful bones and exquisite details in both planting and appointments. Multiple spaces for relaxing and entertaining embellish the garden, even in the front yard. This small garden is full of details sure to inspire. BUNTING GARDEN Our second stop of the day is at Hedgeleigh Spring, the iconic garden of Charles Cresson. As a third generation gardener, Charles lovingly tends the garden started by his grandfather. Mature trees shelter sweeps of perennials and bulbs in a rich pastiche of flowers and foliage. Following our garden tour we depart for Broad Table Tavern for a delectable lunch.

4 We continue on to the Scott Arboretum, which threads seamlessly through the entire campus of Swarthmore College. Comprised of explosively colorful tropical displays, quiet shade gardens, tapestries of groundcovers and towering specimen trees, an arboretum visit is a sensual experience. We will enjoy a private tour of the gardens, established in 1929 in honor of Arthur Hoyt Scott. SCOTT ARBORETUM LONGWOOD GARDENS BRANDYWINE COTTAGE HERON HILL GARDEN Our final stop of the day is the world famous Longwood Gardens. We will stroll along the many paths through acres of exquisitely maintained grounds featuring 11,000 different types of plants. Highlights include the Italian Water Garden, Flower Garden Walk, aquatic display gardens and conservatories. We will have dinner at Longwood Gardens followed by time to enjoy the evening illuminated fountain performance. B, L, D Day 4, Friday, September 6 Private Gardens of the Mainline After breakfast we head towards the mainline, which runs from downtown to the western suburbs. We will visit a number of exciting private gardens. A few of the highlights are listed below. We start at Stoneleigh, which recently transitioned from a beloved family home to a public garden which layers historical designs with contemporary native plant species. Stoneleigh is an unique garden which blends history, horticulture, ecological and conservation values. The garden is a showcase for melding the aesthetic beauty of designed gardens with the natural richness of native habitats that are essential to the health of our planet. Next we depart for Brandywine Cottage, the two-acre garden where David Culp has mastered the design technique of layering inter-planting many different species in the same area so that as one plant passes its peak, another takes over. The result is a nonstop parade of color that begins with a tapestry of heirloom daffodils and hellebores in spring and ends with a jewel-like blend of Asian wildflowers at the onset of winter. The garden is a study in resilience, as it receives no supplemental watering. Heron Hill, the garden of Bob Yungman and Vince Pompo, is a whimsically interactive garden. There are several destinations located throughout six acres offering places to explore or just sit and savor. Inviting trails lead to diverse garden areas, each with unique character, including fountains, Roscoe s road house, Seuss central, the great bamboozalla, the meadow, the reviewing stand and the springs at Heron Hill. We will enjoy a box lunch in the garden at Heron Hill. We end the day at Chanticleer, which is regarded as the most romantic, imaginative, and exciting public garden in America. The garden is a study of textures and forms, where foliage trumps flowers, the gardeners lead the design, and even the drinking fountains are sculptural. It is a garden of pleasure and learning, relaxing yet filled with ideas to take home. B, L CHANTICLEER SOLOW GARDEN Day 5, Saturday, September 7 Depart for New Hope Today we begin our garden touring at Sharee Solow s garden. Over the 30 years that landscape designer, lecturer Sharee Solow has been working this small urban garden, it has changed from poison ivy, yews and barberry to an eclectic collector's garden with Asian influences. When removing all the lawn, a rock garden went into half the front yard while the remaining half displays favorite plants with an under-planting for monarchs and swallowtails. Then, open the Japanese-style gate to the back patio to hear the quiet waterfall splash into the pond and view a decorative bonsai collection where one Japanese visitor said, "It feels like I am back home."

5 Our second stop for a tour and boxed lunch is Linden Hill, a destination garden/nursery lovingly developed by Jerry Fritz. Set on scenic Bucks County farmstead, the garden features extensive display beds including a deer-resistant garden, cottage garden and long border of perennials, bulbs and shrubs. The nursery specializes in unusual plants, and there is time to shop! LINDEN HILL GARDENS Next, we depart for Mill Fleurs. Barbara Tiffany has created a destination garden and nursery tailor-made for plant collectors. A collector herself, she has amased a whopping 1,000 host varieties, as well as 325 different rhododendrons, 60 ground-hugging epimediums and dozens of dogwoods. Tour the steeply sloping, four-acre garden around the Tiffanys' house, an 18th-century stone mill on the Tohickon Creek, where plant collections are blended into a seamless whole, arranged for color, form, texture and scale, in a manner that enhances the overall garden. After check-in at our nearby hotel we will venture to the charming riverside town of New Hope for free time and shopping. BARBARA TIFFANY GARDEN If you wish, you will have time for a self-guided visit of the Nakashima Woodworkers Studio. Situated on 12 acres with four buildings open to the public at the time of the tour, the Nakashima grounds were the home and workspace of George Nakashima and currently serve as the headquarters of Nakashima Woodworkers and of the Nakashima Foundation for Peace. Dinner on your own account this evening. B, L Day 6, Sunday, September 8 Garden Visits in New Hope After breakfast at the hotel, we will visit the Tyler Formal Gardens at Bucks County Community College. This small, classically formal garden, built in the early 1930s, is a jewel set in the college campus for all to enjoy. The gardens currently reflect early twentieth-century horticulture, and originally were greatly influenced by larger French and Italian gardens. PAXSON HILL FARM HORTULUS BARTRAM GARDENS After our tour, we head to Paxson Hill Farm, a 32-acre property that is home to a beautiful garden and plant nursery. The nursery grows various rare and exotic perennials, annuals and trees. Varied gardens include Koi ponds, waterfalls, bridges, a hobbit house and sculptures by local Bucks County artists. We will have boxed lunch at Paxson Hill Farm. We will have time to head back to the hotel to freshen up for our final tour and farewell dinner at Hortulus. Hortulus Farm, a 100-acre property, has 30 acres of twenty-four separate gardens that are composed of formal gardens linked by paths, greenswards, and bridges passing over local Fire Creek. Particularly notable later in the season are imposing perennial and summer borders, a lush woodland walk circumnavigating the lake, birch and pine alle es, pool and fountain gardens. B, L, D Day 7, Monday, September 9 Departure After breakfast and checkout we head to the Philadelphia airport for our flights home. But we must make one final stop for a bit of important history. America s oldest surviving botanical garden sits along the Schuylkyll River and belonged to botanist John Bartram. Bartram, a Quaker, built the original stone house between The house still stands, as does his original garden (circa 1728) and greenhouse (1760). Three generations of the Bartram family continued the garden as the premier collection of North American plant species in the world. After our tour, we head to the Philadelphia airport for our afternoon flights home. B B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner, R= Reception