The Gardener's Gift of Travel - Part 2

Are you ready for another virtual garden field trip? This is the second part of a virtual trip around North America begun in A Gardener's Gift of Travel. This current series contains examples of what I believe are well structured informal gardens, those that characterize one of the garden design concepts written about in Tradition and Styles of Garden Design.

The gardens written about here are presented as models for close examination, and hopefully they will help you acquire or expand upon functional and practical ideas for your own property.

The third series, which will be presented shortly, will highlight gardens with which I am particularly fascinated, and return to time and again. I usually manage to take away some concept or idea useful for incorporating into my own garden. Happy Traveling! Please let me and other readers know how your adventures work out.

We begin this second virtual field trip with a visit to The Arnold Arboretum(Jamaica Plain section, Boston, MA) established in 1872. The Arboretum was among the first designs for public gardens and plant displays to shift away from prevailing beliefs that parks and gardens should be formal.

The Arboretum was envisioned and designed by its first director, Charles Sprague Sargent, and his collaborator Frederick Law Olmstead, so that a visitor driving through the Arboretum will be able to obtain a general idea of the arborescent vegetation of the north temperate zone without even leaving his carriage. It is hoped that such an arrangement, while avoiding the stiff and formal lines of the conventional botanic garden, will facilitate the comprehensive study of the collections, both in their scientific and picturesque aspects.

Now we travel south to Delaware and Winterthur (Winterthur, DE) the former estate and garden of Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969). In the early 20th century, H. F. du Pont and his father, Henry Algernon du Pont, renovated and remodeled this American country estate to look like 18th and 19th century European country houses. Their planning ensured that the house and other estate buildings appear to fuse with the 979-acres of rolling hills, streams and meadows that comprise the estate. The gardens du Pont developed here around the house and outbuildings are sometimes referred to as a Masterpiece of 20th Century Naturalism.

H. F. du Pont studied early in the 20th century at both Harvard University and The Bussey Institution, Harvard's college of practical agriculture and horticulture, and went on to become an avid antiques collector and horticulturist. His long friendship and collaboration with pioneer landscape architect Marian Cruger Coffin, whom he met while in Boston, led to her helping make Winterthur gardens into places of simplicity and order.

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