baltimore county - Mason Dixon Arrive Magazine

The Manor House’s dining
room (first page) and the
Elizabethan Room (right) are
just two of the many breathtakingly
beautiful rooms at
Ladew. Photos by Helene
Elmore.
and Victorian garden, visitors will
enjoy an array of color, texture and
form throughout the seasons. The
crowning glory is the topiary trees
and shrubs trained and trimmed
into ornamental shapes. Ladew’s
topiary sculpture garden contains
many examples of this meticulous
craft ranging from Winston
Churchill’s top hat and victory sign
to a unicorn and seahorse. Topiary
are located throughout the property,
most notably the Hunt Scene by
the entrance to Ladew that displays
a hunter on horseback following
hounds in pursuit of a fox. Never
without humor, in the Garden of
Eden, which contains apple trees
that Harvey placed a statue of
Adam and Eve, the three steps that
lead to this garden has this inscription:
“If you would be happy for a
week, take a wife. If you would be
happy for a month, kill your pig.
But if you would be happy all your
life, plant a garden.”
In addition to the gardens and
nature walk, the historic Manor
House is open for tours. Visitors can
enjoy English antiques, paintings,
photographs, sketches and fox hunting
memorabilia. The Oval Library
is featured in the book 100 Most
Beautiful Rooms in America.
During Ladew’s lifetime he
received many awards. He was the
Master of the Elkridge-Harford
Hunt for seven years. In 1971,
about the time the Topiary Gardens
opened to the public, he received the
Distinguished Service Medal of the
Garden Club of America for his “great
interest in developing and maintaining
the most outstanding topiary in
America, without professional help.”
Ladew died in 1976, at the age of
90. Today the 22-acre gardens, with
their world famous topiary figures
and hedges, are still considered the
most outstanding topiary gardens
in America by the Garden Club of
America. The house and gardens are a
place that all should visit.
Ladew Topiary Gardens and Manor
House are located at 3535 Jarrettsville
Pike in Monkton, 410-557-9466,
ladewgardens.com.
Apartment Home Communities
near baltimore area bases
5% Military Discount
38 Mason-Dixon ARRIVE | APRIL 2011 Mason-Dixon ARRIVE | APRIL 2011 39
5