CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS

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.

The last garden on the Camden Garden tour has sweeping views of Rockport Harbor.

Before I get to the post, I want to let the customers of Carolyn’s Shade Gardens know that we will be reopening for the fall in mid-September.  As usual there is a packed schedule including low maintenance gardening seminars, a double hellebore offer, and an opportunity to buy shrubs and vines.  The first open house sale is scheduled for Septmebr 28, and cyclamen breeder John Lonsdale will be making a guest appearance with his gorgeous, fall-blooming hardy cyclamen.  You will start getting emails shortly with all the details.

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Another view of Rockport Harbor from the Holmes garden.

This is the last installment of the posts on the gardens featured on the 66th Annual Camden House and Garden Tour, which I attended in July.  For photos of the Camden and Rockport, Maine, area and profiles of the first four gardens on the tour, read part 1 by clicking here.  Part 2, which you can find here, features the fifth garden, a classic Maine cape with a gorgeous perennial garden.  This post will focus on the Holmes house and garden, a palatial estate covering five acres overlooking Rockport Harbor.

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The entrance to the Holmes garden is quite lovely with this handsome, stone-pillared gate opening onto a handmade bridge bordered by woods.

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As we crossed the bridge, we came upon this dwelling, which we thought was the featured house, but it turned out to be the caretaker’s cottage.  I want that job!

The Holmes property is located at the end of Sea Street, a road bordering scenic Rockport Harbor  The house is newly built to resemble 20th century shingle-style Maine “cottages” (read grand estates).  It has magnificent views of the harbor from every vantage point as well as extensive gardens and very impressive stone work.  The inside of the house was gorgeous too but could not be photographed.  Although I prefer a much simpler lifestyle, this house and garden were fun to tour and a great source of ideas.  Enjoy the photos:

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the Holmes cottage

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Looking out from the house, across the perennial gardens and lawn, through the encircling edge of woodland to the harbor.

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Between the house and the ocean are massive shrub and perennial gardens .

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A lot of the plants were shade plants at their peak.  I wish I could have gotten more photos, but it was noon on a bright and sunny day, great for viewing but not so hot for photography.

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Looking down from the porch that extends the length of the house to an elegant circular garden in the center of the lawn area with the harbor as backdrop.

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Up on the porch looking out.

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Particularly notable in the design of the house and gardens was all the beautiful stonework in the extensive walls, stairs, and patios.  Stone was used especially well in the pool area and the pond and stream that surround it.

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Stone stairs leading to an elegant pergola over the full shade garden on the front of the house.

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Stairs on the side of the house along the stream on the way to the pool.

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The pool area: a naturally planted stream runs under and on both sides of the wide stone bridge in the middle of the photo.

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Looking down the stream with the harbor in the background.

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The boulder stream pours over several small waterfalls as it heads down the hill and under the stone slab to the pond.

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The waterlily pond lined with boulders.

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Looking back at the house from the harbor’s edge.

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A path leads through the woods at the edge of the harbor to a stone couch with a view over the water to the open ocean.  I could have stayed there all day.

Click here, Camden House and Garden Tour , for information about next year’s tour on July 17, 2014.

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 will reopen shortly with a packed schedule including low maintenance seminars, an open house on September 28, a double hellebore offer, and a chance to order shrubs and vines.  Customers on my email list will get an email shortly.

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.

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.

The Sortwell property in Camden contains everything that is beautiful about Maine gardens.

The 66th Annual Camden House and Garden Tour, which I attended in July, gave me a chance to admire up close a few of the many gorgeous gardens along the Maine coast  For photos of the Camden and Rockport, Maine, area and profiles of the first four gardens on the tour, read part 1 by clicking here.  I intended to include the final two gardens in this post, but even when pared down there were too many photos for one installment.  This post will focus on the classic Maine garden at the Sortwell residence.

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The elegant garden shed at the other end of the property from the house.

The fifth garden on the tour was located within walking distance of downtown Camden.  The house is an 1860s cape, a style prevalent in New England.  The gardens surrounding the house suit the setting perfectly.  Large beds are filled with big stands of perennials and shrubs and partially covered by elegant shade trees.  A picturesque garden shed nestled at the opposite end of the property from the house provides a perfect focus for perennial beds.

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The view from the house to the shed, as you can see the perennial border is huge.

I have mentioned on this blog many times how beautiful the summer gardens are in Maine, and this garden captures the essence of the coastal Maine gardening style.  I am not sure what makes the plants so big and beautiful.  It could be the cool but sunny and himidity-free weather.  Or the ocean breezes.  Or the relative (to Pennsylvania) lack of pests and diseases.  Whatever the secret is, here are more photos of this quintessential Maine garden for you to enjoy:

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This was a very high quality tour, and I highly recommend that anyone in the area attend next year’s Camden House and Garden Tour on July 17, 2014.  Photos of the final garden on the tour will be in the next post.

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: The nursery is closed and will reopen in the fall around September 15. Have a great summer.

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.