Not all of the Brandywine Valley’s scenic gardens grow on the grounds of a former duPont estate.
For one day, garden lovers will get total access to 13 private water gardens scattered throughout northern Delaware and Southern Chester County on the Delaware Center for Horticulture’s Water Garden Tour.
The gardens on the July 25 self-guided tour run the gambit from intimate, backyard oases to sprawling suburban jungles, complete with ponds, streams and waterfalls. Even a Japanese-inspired garden, including a winding stream and river stones overlooking a cliff-side rock garden, made the tour.
Visitors will have the chance to tour the gardens and talk with the gardeners about the unique challenges and rewards of water gardening.
| Tickets: $15 for DCH members and $20 for nonmembers
Purchase at Gateway Garden Center in Hockessin or Delaware Center for Horticulture in Trolley Square For tickets or info, call 658-6262 ext. 105 or email mstephenson@dehort.org Box lunches from Toscana to Go in Trolley Square will be available to ticket-holders for $10 the day of the tour |
Participants will receive a map and a guidebook with directions to each garden, which will be open for visitors between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Water garden spotlight
Stepping into Laurie Williams and John Lewis’ backyard in Pike Creek is like walking into a quiet, forest glen. Their water garden will be featured on the Delaware Center for Horticulture’s upcoming Water Gardens Tour.
Gardeners: Laurie Williams and John Lewis
Year planted: 1994
Size: 1 acre
Water: 1,550 gallons in two ponds connected by a waterfall, and a fountain
Foliage: over 125 trees and thousands of individual plants and flowers
Infrastructure: a submersed pump re-circulates water between the two ponds
Challenges of water gardening: dealing with leaks and runoff into the ponds, keeping fallen leaves out of the water and protecting $250 koi from hungry herons
Favorite plants: a patch of impatiens growing under a tree and the water lilies floating in the two ponds
Props: five reclaimed porch columns from an old house on Bancroft Parkway are featured in the Ruins Area, a collection of old gardening tools are planted alongside flowers in the Rust Garden
Before the garden: the backyard was completely covered in wild grape
What do the neighbors think: neighborhood kids like to watch the 25 goldfish nibble at their fingers; friends have asked if they could get married in the garden
Environmental impact: the garden’s ponds act as a water source for birds and squirrels in the winter
Quotable: “The thing about a garden is that there’s a good mix of art and science, so there’s an intellectual and an aesthetic challenge going on at the same time.”
-- Laurie Williams
