A Mini Tour of Heronswood Gardens 2000
Every time I go to Heronswood Nursery and visit the gardens I come away inspired. I put this page together with a few of the many creative gardens and a few plants from Heronswood. I hope you enjoy this brief tour.
An arbor surrounds this garden with hexagonal-shaped entrances that promise a wonderful walking experience around the perimeter.
Another entrance where you can pass through to the inner garden. This is the private garden of Dan Hinkley's residence and since my companion Jennifer and I weren't invited in (it is marked private) I didn't get any photographs inside.
Someday I hope for an invitation to the inner sanctum. The entrance to this garden is almost invitation enough to trespass through. But we honor their boundaries and move on.
The arbor gently curves around the garden with benches to sit and take in the view of the garden through openings in the walls. You can see a very large Phormium through the center of one of the openings.
While we were walking along the outside of the arbor a Heronista (what a guy!) told us we could walk through a portion of the pergola. So we took the opportunity to walk through and admire the beautiful and shady walkway.
A new garden created at Heronswood is a formal vegetable garden. On one end is a beautiful fountain. I was tempted to nibble the vegetables but refrained and instead admired the garden for its beauty. I am not a fan of formal gardens, but this one made me believe that formality can also be creative and beautiful.
I love container gardening and this container stole my heart. It also towered over me since the plants were quite large. After seeing a container on this grand of scale, it is hard to come home to my smaller large pots and see them as grand. I believe a forklift is needed to move this pot into the greenhouse.
At any moment I thought a huge dinosaur would come out of the trees in this Jurassic Park like setting. Instead a few giant mosquitoes landed on me and had lunch at my expense.
I am beginning to believe that when Heronswood does something they have to do it on a grand scale. This Trillium is a good example of large, and it was beautiful. I will take a dozen to go please.
Even the orchids look like they're on steroids.
If you want to see the gardens you will need to call ahead for an appointment. Although I focussed in on a few of the structures in the garden, the plants of course are the main focus. It would take an encyclopedia-sized web site to show photos of all the plants. Better yet take a personal tour yourself. I hope you enjoyed this little mini tour.
Note: Heronswood Nursery is no longer operating in the Pacific Northwest and is now located back east. The Kingston-based garden is now on the market for sale.
Debbie Teashon
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton
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