Blissful Friday, GPODers!
On New Yr’s Day I shared a few of my garden-related highlights from 2025 (Blissful New Yr, GPOD!), which included the journey I made to Maywood Gardens in Bridgewater, Connecticut, on their annual Open Days for The Backyard Conservancy. On the time of writing that put up, I used to be assured that I had shared pictures of that journey on Backyard Picture of the Day, however I used to be shocked to search out that I had not even talked about it. Now, on the finish of January, after extra winter climate has rolled in and summer season coloration nonetheless feels painfully distant, I assumed it could be a good time to share pictures from this sunny day with a few of my favourite scenes from the gardens.
Maywood is a personal property within the hills of Litchfield County, which is the northwest nook of Connecticut. Totaling round 1,000 acres of land, the formal gardens and more-naturalized woodlands round the principle buildings are only a fraction of the property, which additionally consists of an orchard and winery. Whereas the European-inspired structure and backyard designs would incline somebody to imagine these gardens have origins within the Gilded Age, they solely date again to the Eighties.
One of the crucial iconic components of Maywood Gardens is the Sunken Perennial Backyard, so it was no shock to see it at its peak for his or her annual day of public viewing. Whereas these are designed in a really conventional type, they nonetheless tackle the trendy want for extra useful plantings. All through these meadow-like beds you’ll discover loads of native blooms attracting and supporting a variety of pollinators.
All by the gardens, wildness and ritual collide to marvelous impact. This enables the grand structure of the property to fix with the rolling hills and woodland panorama of Litchfield County.
The pergola at one finish of the Sunken Perennial Backyard looks like a lush hideaway while you step inside. Trumpet vines (Campsis radicans, Zones 4–9) cling to and canopy nearly each floor, solely letting pockets of sunshine spill by the dense foliage.
Under the Sunken Perennial Backyard is a conventional boxwood backyard with inlays of annuals that create fabulous patterns of cool colours. The construction on the far facet of this backyard, a lined exterior gallery referred to as a loggia, provides to the European type of this a part of the property.
Whereas the grandiose gardens are filled with expansive designs which might be as spectacular of their element as they’re of their scale, I typically discover myself drawn to the smaller particular parts within the backyard that enchant and transport. This lined footbridge is a type of most memorable scenes.
As we’ve already seen a pattern of, a number of buildings all through the grounds have been lined in climbing vegetation that softened edges whereas including extra spots of shade. Nonetheless, this bridge felt straight out of a fairytale.
Whereas there are a number of buildings that make up the property, any gardener that visits Maywood will probably discover the large greenhouse a focus on the grounds. The entrance of the greenhouse options formal backyard beds, however the bottom is the house to the Annual Slicing Backyard. A fantastic mixture of annuals in some way comes collectively cohesively, and these flowers are literally utilized as an actual slicing backyard. A lot of the plant materials harvested from these beds create weekly flower preparations.
The greenhouse, apart from its important function of beginning and overwintering vegetation for future outside planting, is residence to giant collections of tropical vegetation that vary from orchids to warm-climate woodies. These conservatory vegetation are divided up by sort (as within the Orchid Home) or organized into unbelievable shows like this one with a sago palm (Cycas revoluta, Zones 9–12) focus.
Whereas the greenhouse is a useful addition to the property, it additionally provides extra magnificence to the gardens. A handful of garden areas located across the greenhouse make up the formal gardens that I discussed above, some with espaliered bushes and others with lengthy beds of colourful annuals.
There are such a lot of completely different backyard areas at Maywood, tucked into corners or ready for you round a bend, that it is extremely straightforward to overlook entire backyard rooms as you’re exploring the grounds. That was nearly the case with this smaller part of tender and tropical vegetation close to the rose backyard (which didn’t have many blooms once I visited). As a houseplant collector and succulent obsessive, viewing this fascinating foliage was really a spotlight. I’m thrilled I carried my drained legs down one more backyard path to search out it.
I hope you loved this tour of a Connecticut backyard marvel. This yr’s Open Day has but to be introduced, however should you’re within the space this summer season I might extremely recommend blocking out your schedule to make the journey. And should you visited any public or personal gardens final yr, please think about sharing your pictures with the weblog. Observe the NEW instructions beneath to submit your pictures to Backyard Picture of the Day!
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High-quality Gardening Really useful Merchandise
Corona® Multi-Function Steel Mini Backyard Shovel
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Razor-Again Potato/Refuse Hook
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