The Morris Arboretum and Gardens at the University of Pennsylvania

Today I'm returning to the gardens I visited in Pennsylvania last September as part of the Fling, I still have so many to share with you!

Andrew and I arrived in the Philadelphia area a few days before the Fling officially kicked off, so I was able to visit the Morris Arboretum & Gardens, which was not part of the Fling itinerary.

I knew of this garden because I'd watched a Hardy Fern Foundation webinar hosted by Kyra Matin (propagator at the garden) as she toured attendees through the garden's fernery. I'll cover the fernery later in the week, today we'll be touring the rest of the garden, which was a great first stop for my whirlwind visit to "America's Garden Capital".

This is the view after you enter the garden and drive up to the parking area. As with all of the Pennsylvania area it was so very very green!

...and old! This is the building that now serves as the arboretum's George D. Widener Visitor Center, it first served as the gardener's cottage, carriage house and stables—built by Theophilus P. Chandler, Jr. in 1888.

Abelia chinensis—commonly known as Chinese abelia, a species in the honeysuckle family—was in lush bloom near the visitor center.

Their "Out on a Limb" tree canopy walk was fun..."a bird’s eye view of the forest from 50 feet up".

The Squirrel Scramble; "a huge hammock-like net where you can look down to the ground far below through the rope netting". No, I did not partake of the Squirrel Scramble.

Onward, to the Rose Garden, which really was much more than just a rose garden...

I was torn between using this photo which showed the whole charming corner...

And this one that was cropped to remove the green rods with chain to keep people out of the fountain.

Fabulous dark foliage, maybe a hibiscus? *It's black cotton plant, Gossypium herbaceum ‘Nigra’, thanks Roger for the name!*

A bud...

These were fun, although I can't imagine moving them out in the spring and back in each autumn.

Echium pom-poms.

See, so much more than roses!

Here's where we jump ahead in my visit, skipping over the hour and a half I spent with the ferns. You'll see all that later, but now we're on the other side of the garden, where I used the restroom, and appreciated this painted wall.

So far as I can tell this part of the garden doesn't have a name, but I loved the structure.

As well as the planter boxes and plantings.

Although (sadly) the opuntia had been damaged. Hopefully by critters and not people.

The depiction of tree roots stopped me in my tracks.

Then I read the signage. It's always a shock to see just how shallow tree roots are, and how far they travel.

The Pennock Flower Walk...

Senna didymobotrya, aka popcorn cassia 

A bit short (and wide) to be called a rill, but I loved it just the same.

The Orange Balustrade...

This structure immediately reminded me of part of the "Out on a Limb" tree canopy walk. I was going to suggest you page back up to that photo, but instead...

Here it is again. Coincidence?

Now that's a rill! 

This final view reminded me a little of Wave Hill in NYC. Come back on Wednesday for FERNS!

To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note; these are sent from a third party, you’ll want to click thru to read the post here on the blog to avoid their annoying ads. 

All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

A long weekend away; plant shopping and gardening

Last week at this time I was up in Spokane, WA, for a long Mother's Day weekend with my mom. We celebrated as any gardening mother and daughter would; we spent one day plant shopping (with a break for a nice leisurely lunch) and the next day planting. 

A view looking out across mom's garden. Most of the plants we bought went into containers on the back deck, where I'm standing when I took this photo...

Spokane is a little behind Portland as far as spring plant development, so I got to see my mom's shredded umbrella plants (Syneilesis aconitifolia) in their fuzzy state, whereas mine are all grown up and green now. 

This ginormous, beautiful green monster is a climbing hydrangea (no clue of its name), there is a trellis under there, somewhere. Mom says it blooms white, I don't remember seeing the flowers but I must have.

I'm sure I take multiple photos of this Rheum palmatum every time I visit, it's just so good!

We bought our plants at the same time (way back in 2011), mine is long gone—I wanted the space for sun loving plants that need less water—but mom's just keeps on keeping on.

So here's our haul photo from the day's shopping. We were both a little bummed at the selection on offer at our favorite stops (here for example) as we didn't find many of he unusual offerings we had in the past. Were we shopping too early in the season? Are there less plants to be had this year? Dunno, thankfully we managed to buy a few things.

Lots of Phormium 'Mat's Merlot', which went into multiple containers around the garden. Funny thing, she paid $16.95, $5.95 and $9.49 for these at different nurseries, plant prices do vary!

Dahlias (dark foliage at the back), lemon grass, Uncinia rubra 'Belinda's Find', red begonia and a striped cordyline.

I practically twisted her arm to get this orange blooming abutilon which will be an annual in Spokane. I pray it continues to pump out blooms all summer long.

Potato vine, wire vine, lobelia, asst. succulents, and a coleus round out our container-filling haul.

I was so tired and dirty after I got everything planted I took a shower and forgot to take "after" photos! (there may have been a glass of wine and a delicious bbq dinner to distract me)

Here are the two (only two!) plants I came home with...

Hosta 'Rainbow's End', cause I loved that variegation...

And a coleus (!), I haven't grown coleus for many, many years—but look at how dark it is with that thin green outline, I had to have it (mom got one too). It's part of something called the "Main Street Coleus" series that is bred to work in sun and shade, this one is Lombard Street. Other famous street names in the series include Ashbury, Bourbon Street, Rodeo Drive, and Alligator Alley. Can you imagine the meetings where these names were thought up? 

Four days away from the garden in early May is hard—there's so much to do and things are changing fast—plus my time away coincided with a mini-heat wave here at home (two days over 90 bracketed by days in the 80's) so I was a little concerned what I'd find on my return. Thankfully the heat came after a very wet week (1.78" of rain!), so my plants did fine, even the ones in containers that I took steps to protect.

A few new blooms greeted me, like this Lewisia rediviva, aka bitterroot. Its succulent leaves are already going dormant, I think the flower looks a lot like a cactus bloom.

The Salvia africana-lutea I overwintered in a container (it's not hardy here) is blooming it's rusty-colored flowers.

And the replacement passiflora I bought already budded (winter killed the two I had) is starting to bloom, P. 'Star of Surbiton'...

And it's akebia time! Akebia longeracemosa 'Victor's Secret' that is...ain't spring grand?

To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note; these are sent from a third party, you’ll want to click thru to read the post here on the blog to avoid their annoying ads. 

All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.