Ashland Nature Center: Jct. of Brackenville and Barley Mill Roads,
Hockessin, DE.
- This Nature Center features a native plant garden with a
variety of plants that provide food and shelter for wildlife, as well as
four self-guiding nature trails on 200 acres of meadow, marsh, pond and
forest. A wonderful mesh greenhouse Butterfly House is a complete ecosystem,
containing water, shelter, food and host plants for each species.
Delaware Center for Horticulture:
1810 N. Dupont Street,
Wilmington, DE 19806-3308
(302)658-6262.
- A public agency promoting agriculture, the Center also has a
stunning new glass-highlighted building with demonstration gardens emphasizing
plants for urban and suburban sites.
George Read House and Gardens: 42 The Strand,
New Castle, DE 19720
(302)322-8411.
- An 1801 14,000 square foot mansion built by one of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence, is graced by a 150 year old garden. The 1-1/2
acre garden has three sections: a formal parterre flower garden, a specimen
garden of exotic and native favorites, and a large fruit orchard and kitchen
garden with allees of pear trees and trellised grapes and formal boxwood hedges.
Gibraltar: 1405 Greenhill Avenue,
Wilmington, DE 19806 (302)
651-9617.
- The grounds of this early 20th century estate include a formal Italian garden, a bald cypress
allee, and an extensive collection of period garden ornaments.
Hagley Museum and Library: Route 141
and Brandywine River, P.O. Box 3630,
Wilmington, DE 19807 (302)658-2400.
- 230
acres of trees and flowering shrubs on the banks of the Brandywine River
surround this museum on the site of the first Du Pont black powder works.
Several restored buildings house exhibits and live demonstrations that give
visitors a window into 19th life and work. Gardens include a formal French
garden cultivated by E. I. du Pont.
Josephine Gardens:
Brandywine Park, 18th and Market Streets (Latitude 39 degrees N and longitude
75 degrees W),
Wilmington, DE 19899 (302-577-7020).
- This lovely 178 acre park
blends monuments, formal gardens, and natural forested areas with trails. Two
features of interest are the Josephine Fountain, surrounded by a rose garden,
and a Sensory Trail for visually-impaired visitors. The park gardens are
maintained with the assistance of the
Friends of Wilmington Parks. The Brandywine Zoo is located on 10 acres
within the park.
Mt. Cuba Center:
Barley Road (4 mi. N of Route 141),
Greenville, DE 19807-1507 (302)239-4244.
- This 630 acre non-profit organization fosters an appreciation for the plants of
the Appalachian Piedmont. The extensive grounds feature azaleas on the South
Terrace, tulips, delphiniums and chrysanthemums in the Round Garden, 25
cultivars of lilacs on the Lilac Path, native trees, shrubs and wildflowers in
the Woods Path, Dogwood Path and West Slope Path, native grasses in the Meadow,
and native shrubs, ferns and wildflowers in the Pond Garden.
Nemours Mansion and Gardens: 1600 Rockland Road, P.O. Box 109,
Wilmington, DE 19899
(302)651-6912.
- Built in 1910 by Alfred I. du Pont and named after an ancestral
home in France, this 102 room Louis XVI-style chateau is surrounded by 300 acres
of French-style gardens and natural woodlands.
Rockwood
Park and Museum: 610 Shipley Road,
Wilmington, DE 19809 (302)761-4340.
- The Estate grounds, created in the
mid-1800s, feature a Gardenesque style, a naturalistic approach to landscape
architecture. In addition to the extensive landscaping mixing native and exotic
plants, the visitor will find a lovely walled rose garden (replacing a former
kitchen garden), a Conservatory and the former owner's Pleasure Garden.
University of Delaware Botanic Gardens:
South Campus at the Dept. of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Townsend Hall,
531 S. College Avenue, University of Delaware,
Newark, DE 19716 (302)831-0153.
- A
host of gardens make up the UD Botanic Gardens, including the Emily B. Clark
Garden (among other mature plantings a dwarf conifer collection), the Worrilow
Hall Garden, the Herbaceous Garden (annuals, perennials, ornamental grasses),
the Fischer Greenhouse Garden (including the Meadow Garden), the Native Garden
(Eastern U.S. plants), the South Greenhouse Garden, and the Townsend Hall Garden
(including a Magnolia Society test garden). The web site has a listing of trees
and shrubs in the Gardens.
Winterthur
Museum: DE 52,
Winterthur, DE 19735 (302)888-4600 or (800)448-3883.
- Henry
Francis du Pont, former owner of this 966 acre estate, created this
extraordinary 60 acre naturalistic garden, containing an Azalea Woods, Magnolia
Bend, March Bank, Oak Hill, Peony Garden, Pinetum, Quarry Garden, Reflecting
Pool, Sundial Garden, Sycamore Area, and a Winterhazel Area.