Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Chanticleer Redux (2016)


An ornamental variety of redbud (Cercis candaensis)
Kali's brother, Patrick, was in town from San Diego over the Independence Day holiday.  We visited Chanticleer in Wayne, Pennsylvania, a garden we usually tour once a year and about which I have posted in the past.

Patrick and Kali
I took my camera with me, mostly to take pictures of Kali and Patrick, but also in case something caught my eye.  As soon as I took out the camera and started snapping away, Kali asked, "What are you taking pictures of?  We have so many pictures of this place!"

An incredible variety of Echinacea (usually the flowers are dusty purple)
Floating arrangement for the day
Blue hydrangeas and Adirondack chairs
The new Serpentine Walk and Garden
We did not visit Chanticleer last year, the first year after the garden installed a long, long sinuous elevated path called the Serpentine Walk.  The garden is on two levels: an upper level with the mansion and its associated gardens, and a lower level where the water gardens and stream garden are located.  These two "halves" are separated by a steep hill.  Chanticleer invested (heavily) in a long, winding, handicapped-accessible path to link the two halves of the garden.  It's spectacular.

Pink varieties of Queen Anne's-lace (Daucus carota)
Peeling bark on a streamside birch (Betula sp.)
I have yet to come to terms, personally, with the dry garden, perched on a rocky outcrop at the lip of the hill.  Every time I visit, I express my disappointment to Kali about how "sorry" the garden looks.  This year, I was not disappointed; the garden has finally come into its own.  I think that the garden was developing over the years, and I was just impatient.
The dry garden in its summer glory
Kali, in a wistful moment
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I know that I haven't been posting much lately.  Frankly, Kali and I haven't been doing much that has been worth writing about.  Hopefully, that will change.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great place to walk and to take visiting family. Truly beautiful there. I do love that dry garden. Definitely worth waiting for. Really glad to see a post here.

Scott said...

Robin Andrea: It felt good to post again; thank you! Though Kali and I have visited Chanticleer a half-dozen times, it's always new and exciting. We really love it there.

Mark P said...

I like the dry garden. Our area is not particularly dry as a rule, but we seem to have fairly extended periods of very dry weather in the summer. In fact, our area has been in a severe drought for several weeks. We got some decent rain in the last couple of days, but a dry garden might be appropriate here.

Scott said...

Mark:

It seems like you've got a lot of trees around your new place, but if there's a sunny opening that's well-drained, you could probably create a dry garden, too. Just keep in mind that such a dry garden might look really out of place in the Georgia mountains. It's OK if it's part of a larger garden setting, but a dry garden in and among a more traditional landscape could look weird.

We'd been really dry for about a month, too, but we've had two decent soakings in the last week--thank goodness!