Yew Dell Botanical Gardens – Charting a New Course for This Plant and History Lover’s Paradise

In many ways, Yew Dell’s origins and recent developments seem to be following the same path. Theodore Klein started his Crestwood based Yew Dell Farm in the early 1940s as a small operation that grew into one of the leading nurseries in the region. Over the years it developed into a working farm and homeplace with acres of yews and hollies destined for the wholesale trade.

Following Klein’s death in 1998 at the age of 93, the property had lost a bit of its luster, but still proudly showed the bones of what had been extensive display gardens, plant collections and exquisite and functional buildings he had crafted and spotted around the property. Amidst mounting development pressure, a newly formed board of directors created a non-profit in 2002 and worked with the Klein family to save the grounds and develop a public botanical garden for the region.

Theodore Klein caught in an uncommon moment of rest in his Crestwood nursery around 1940.

Fast forward 17 years and Yew Dell now boasts an exploding plant collection, renovated and new award-winning architecture and rehabilitated gardens, a staff of more than 20 and a volunteer corps of more than 300. And among all the expansion sits a new nursery operation focused on offering up the fruits of Yew Dell’s growing plant collection, evaluation and introduction program. Headed up by KNLA board member, Jacob Stidham, the nursery focuses on woody and herbaceous ornamentals that have made it through rigorous testing and evaluation in the region. The overall goal is to fill the void that often exists between research, introduction and availability.

Yew Dell nursery & greenhouse manager, Jacob Stidham, in the current recreation of Yew Dell’s nursery

Expanding the Garden Market – Education and Community Programs at Yew Dell

An initial and guiding mission of Yew Dell is to raise the horticultural bar in the local community by helping to inspire and educate the general public. Classes for all levels from kids and beginners to avid plant collectors and professionals range from national-level lecturers (including collaborations with Fine Gardening Magazine, Horticulture Magazine, the American Horticultural Society, International Plant Propagator’s Society and more) to intimate hands-on workshops. Community-wide events such as the annual Hellebore Day and spring and fall plant sales are designed to build the buzz around new and better plants. Local, regional and international garden tours and trips expose members and donors to new and emerging trends from other regions. An intern and apprenticeship program helps to attract, train and provide opportunity for tomorrow’s plant industry leaders.

A happy Yew Dell plant sale customer and volunteer heads home with new plants to try in her home garden.

It’s All About the Plants

Yew Dell’s commitment to new and better plants doesn’t stop at the Kentucky or even the U.S. border. Always on the lookout for adaptable, attractive and sustainable additions for the region’s plant palette, Yew Dell staff members scour near and far to collect plants for testing and introduction. Among its collections is one of the first specimens of the Chinese Ironwood (Parrotia subaequalis) grown outside its native range in western China. Yew Dell works with private breeders, nurseries and collectors around the world to bring in plants for evaluation. Two evaluation gardens, one for shrubs and the second for herbaceous perennials, will provide space to conduct side-by-side comparisons of all available cultivars of a given species. Initial plantings will be installed in spring of 2020.

An 18'-tall specimen of Parrotia subaequalis (Chinese Ironwood) holds fabulous fall color for up to 2 months

Gardens Galore!

Yew Dell’s acres of gardens provide the perfect opportunity to test plants and offer the public examples of how to use plants and hardscape in their own gardens. Garden tours, design workshops and demos send visitors home with a wealth of information and a bit more confidence to try new things at home. And while the overall structure of the gardens remains fairly constant, the plants in those gardens change from year to year, giving visitors new ideas each season. Yew Dell garden manager, Sayde Heckman, works with nursery & greenhouse manager, Jacob Stidham, each year to select unique varieties to grow and exhibit on the grounds. The newest project, Klein’s original walled garden, now gets a complete annual makeover of in-house grown annuals and tropical in a unique color theme each year.