Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
I recently had the privilege of visiting Brandywine Cottage, the house and gardens of horticulturalist and author David Culp. I have toured these extraordinary gardens many times over the last 20 years, but always in the winter and spring as David and I share a passion for (or should I say obsession with) snowdrops and hellebores. The arrival of a special shipment of snowdrops from England gave me an excuse to make the trip and experience Brandywine Cottage in October.
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Looking down on the gardens from the driveway.
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Among his other accomplishments, David Culp is the author of The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage (Timber Press 2012). The Layered Garden recently received the 2013 Gold Award from the Garden Writers Association for Best Overall Book. For more information on this wonderful book detailing David’s approach to garden design, his passion for plants, and the development of Brandywine Cottage over the last 20 years, click here.
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Fall is a difficult time to view a garden in southeastern Pennsylvania. The leaves are falling off all the huge trees, obscuring the beds and detracting from the perfection we can achieve in spring. The wonderful plants that might provide some lovely close up shots are eaten by insects, browned by drought, and beaten down by torrential rain. However, a well-designed garden like Brandywine Cottage highlights the subtle beauty of fall. It was still a pleasure to visit even on an overcast and dreary day with more heavy rains threatening. I hope you enjoy your virtual trip through this special place.
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A courtyard by the front entrance is shaded by a giant Norway spruce whose roots make an interesting pattern in the gravel.
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David has several edgeworthias thriving in full shade.
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The vegetable garden with its white picket fence is on the left and the largest perennial border is on the right.
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Narrow paths crisscross the hillside above the house which is filled with shade plants, including hundreds of hellebores.
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An opening through the trees allows a view from the hillside towards the gardens below.
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Carolyn
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Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.
If you are within visiting distance and would like to receive catalogues and information about customer events, please send your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net. Subscribing to my blog does not sign you up to receive this information.
Nursery Happenings: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is closed for the winter. Look for the 2014 Snowdrop Catalogue in early January.
Facebook: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens has a Facebook Page where I post single photos, garden tips, and other information that doesn’t fit into a blog post. You can look at my Facebook page here or click the Like button on my right sidebar here.
Notes: Every word that appears in orange on my blog is a link that you can click for more information. If you want to return to my blog’s homepage to access the sidebar information (catalogues, previous articles, etc.) or to subscribe to my blog, just click here.