Visiting an Icon
I can’t believe I never really posted photos of many of the gardens I visited last year when my mom and I went to Seattle. That’s the nature of the game, when I travel I end up behind both at work and in the garden. My return home is filled with too much paid work and I forget about things like looking through photos to post on the blog.
Heronswood has been on my “must-see” list for years, many, many years. Whenever I happened to be in the area it was closed or up for sale. Thankfully, I was able to schedule a private tour for my mom and I and a few blog readers who met up with us. It wasn’t the best day for a tour, the lighting wasn’t great, but we still enjoyed ourselves. The formal hedge garden was the part of the garden I was most excited about seeing and it didn’t disappoint.
The neatly trimmed arched hedges were simply stunning, something that I have always admired and would love to find a place to incorporate something like it here at Chiot’s Run. What struck me most about this garden is that it was so small. It would be something that would easily fit into a small city garden and is the perfect way to break up a very large garden.
If you’re bored of photos of this one part of the garden, too bad. It was the reason I came to visit this garden and I wanted to capture it from every angle (this is only a small portion of the photos of this part of the garden).
This garden was everything I expected it to be, and more. I won’t go into all to details, you can research that on your own. And beside, photos are much better than words anyways. Come back tomorrow for more photos of the other parts of this lovely garden.
That garden is gorgeous!
to Jeanette's comment
I love the symmetry and visual energy the hedge arches- they make it really unique. Definitely an idea to try!
to PennyAshevilleNC's comment
Susy, I too like hedges and the living fence effect it gives. It takes some time to establish and maintain a hedge fence. I planted some Rugosa Rose bushes along the road of Terra Nova Gardens. Some of the plant took off and grew great but others died leaving gaps that I need to fill with transplants. Hedges and especially great looking hedges as in your pictures take a lot of time and care to keep looking good.
Have a great garden memory day.
to Nebraska Dave's comment
It was a stunning garden. And thank you for the opportunity to visit with you. Friends and I had always talked about visiting Heronswood and the reserve out near Bainbridge, and finally gave up because Heronswood was endlessly closed. If it hadn’t been for your trip, I’d probably never have gone. Thanks again. It was an amazing fairy tale land. :)
to whit's comment
It was wonderful to meet up with you, and the blueberries were amazing. I certainly wish I had taken a small recorder to record the names of all the plants we saw, there was just so much information in that hour we were there.
to Susy's comment
When we visit again, i will try to get some of the names and pass them along.
I just heard of another smaller garden in our area that is opening up to the public. Can’t wait to visit this coming spring.
Here’s a video my husband received from the communications dept at work. I thought i would pass it along to you, in case you hadn’t heard of the Soos Creek Botanical Gardens.
Reber Ranch (mentioned in the video as a portion of the original property in 1890) is a huge, local mom and pop feed store, with many services. http://reberranch.com/ Pasting their link here in case you want to follow up on “researching” the area with Google Earth. :)
to whit's comment
Wow, what a beautiful hedge! Do you know what kind of tree/shrub they used to do that? I would love to try something like that (on a smaller scale).
to Liz's comment
Hornbeam, you can also use beech as the same way. Research which would work best for your climate and soil, they both are similar in use and each thrive in different conditions.
to Susy's comment
Thanks! I will look into those.
to Liz's comment
Beautiful! Do you know what they have the plants in the trimmed hedges growing on?
to Chris's comment
The hedge plants are hornbeams that have been trained, I’m guessing they aren’t trained on anything in particular. Maybe when they were first planted they used some sort of support.
to Susy's comment