garden

fresh
Secret Gardens
WHEN IN PHILADELPHIA
The greening of Philadelphia goes back to 1683, when founder
William Penn modeled its five parklike squares (still there!, though
one is now a circle) on those of Europe's "green countrie townes."
The whole Greater Philadelphia region is a temperate-zone Eden, with
fabled public gardens like Longwood and Chanticleer. But you don't
need to stray far from the brick and cobblestone streets of Center City,
abloom in April with pear and cherry blossoms, to grasp the city's threecentury-old
garden obsession and see how it's playing out in the hip
Philly of today. — CARA GREENBERG
TIME TRAVEL Step into the 18th century on the corner of 4th and
Walnut, where a Colonial-style formal garden is artfully re-created
next door to Dolley Payne Todd Madison's former abode. It's a tidy
little gem, with boxwood parterres, a miniature orchard and a handsome
vine-covered pergola. Drive some 15 minutes south of Center
City to stroll the riverfront grounds of Bartram's Garden, home of
early botanists John Bartram and his son William, and often called
America's first botanical garden (bartramsgarden.org). Heirloom
daffs and rare "broken" tulips, scattered among silverbell trees,
22 GARDEN DESIGN APRIL 09
Clockwise from top left: Take tea at the gardens at Shofuso in Fairmount
Park; get your gardening green on at City Planter in the hip hood, Northern
Liberties; visit Bartram's Garden, America's first botanical garden.
horsechestnuts and bottlebrush buckeyes, bloom in profusion this
month, along with native flame azaleas. Then check into the 15room
Revolutionary-period Morris House Hotel (onetime home of
Robert Morris, one of the Declaration of Independence signers),
where guests can relax in the flower-filled flagstone courtyard, and
breakfast is served in the library and afternoon tea in front of a fireplace
(morrishousehotel.com).
PHILLY'S "LEFT BANK" West of the Schuylkill River, Fairmount
Park erupts in a fantasia of pink from late March through mid-April
when hundreds of cherry trees, planted in the last decade by the
Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia, bloom. In May, take
tea among traditional Japanese plants such as bamboo and pine, a
koi-filled pond, perfectly placed rocks and a stone pagoda at Shofuso,
the authentic Japanese house and garden built in 1953 in Nagoya,
Japan, then reassembled at the current site in 1958 (shofuso.com).
From March 30-April 18, see abstract sculpture take shape at the 92acre
Morris Arboretum, where renowned artist Patrick Dougherty,
working with hundreds of locally gathered sticks, saplings and no
preconceptions, will weave a large-scale, site-specific creation likely
to resemble a fairy-tale dwelling (morrisarboretum.org).
MODERN PHILLY The city's rep for vanguard culture is growing.Tour
the growing houses at Greensgrow, an urban farm
and nursery in the up-and-coming Kensington section; pick up
some unusual container plants and hard-to-find heirloom vegetable
seedlings while you're there (greensgrow.org). In the liberhip
Northern Liberties neighborhood, choose from hundreds of
containers and planters, some of which are made from antique
molds at City Planter (cityplanter.com). Indulge in chocolate-chip
pancakes, a local favorite, at the Morning Glory Diner in Bella
Vista, just south of Center City, and be wowed by the most eyepopping
window boxes in town (215-413-3999).