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London Town & Gardens
Garden GUIDE
V I S I T O R I N F O R M AT I O N Your tour begins in the Visitor Center. Please feel free to ask for assistance with planning your visit.
R E S T R O O M S , W AT E R F O U N TA I N & G I F T S H O P These are located in the Visitor Center and are wheel-chair accessible. Bottled water, soft drinks and snacks are also available for purchase in the Gift Shop.
ACCESSIBILITY London Town’s gardens are moderately accessible to visitors with disabilities. Paths can be slippery due to weather conditions.
GARDEN ETIQUETTE For the safety of our guests and environment: • • •
Well-behaved dogs are permitted in the gardens and must be on a leash. Please be courteous about cleaning up after your pet. Please respect our plants and remain on paths. Small hand-held music devices with earphones are permitted; however, larger radios with speakers are not allowed in the gardens.
Please refrain from the following outdoor activities while in the gardens: • Bicycling, rollerblading, skateboarding and using other recreational vehicles • Fitness running or jogging • Frisbee and ball-playing • Sunbathing; shirts are required at all times • Feeding wildlife • Picnicking in areas not designated
PHOTOGRAPHY Photography is welcome but should not interfere with the enjoyment of other guests. Personal photographs and videos may not be used for commercial purposes. Additional restrictions may apply for performances and events. All professional photographers using the site for commercial purposes must purchase a photographer’s membership ($75).
GROUPS Group tours may be arranged by contacting the Director of Public Programs 410-222-1919 ext. 212 for additional details.
HOURS
GENERAL ADMISSION
April - November Wednesday - Saturday 10:00 am to 4:30 pm Sundays - Noon to 4:30 pm December - March (Winter) Limited hours and days
Adult Senior (62+)
Funding for this project provided by:
Youth (7-18)
$10 $9 $5
Children 6 and under: Free London Town Members: Free
Historic London Town and Gardens offers a unique and diverse horticultural experience, including woodland, ornamental, environmental and historical gardens.
These gardens represent the culmination and continuation of hundreds of years of global horticultural discovery, trade and experimentation. In a sense, to tour these gardens is to visit a museum of the history of botanical exploration. If you are a gardener, our plant collections may inspire you and expand your sense of possibilities for your own garden. We hope you will relax and linger as you range through wooded ravines, explore the dell, and look out over the South River. Enjoy! 3
Join us for our Spring and Fall Plant Sales
OVERVIEW
EXPLORING THE GARDENS
4 SEASONS
S
PRING
Crocus
Redbud
Daphniphyllum
Spring Star Flower
Azalea
Pieris
S
UMMER
Crepe Myrtle
Lily
Hydrangea
Climbing Hydrangea
Eryngium
Viburnum
4 SEAS0NS
A
UTUMN
Autumn Crocus
Japanese Maple
Beauty Berry
Begonia
Autumn Joy Sedum
Goldenrod
W
INTER
Winter Jasmine
Hellebore
Paper Bush
Holly
Birch
Crocus
O R N A M E N TA L G A R D E N S
The Cook Memorial Garden and the Lillian S. Hall Memorial Garden comprise the Ornamental Gardens. This is a large sunlit space, designed to be colorful and welcoming in all seasons. Spring is the time to see pink cherry blossoms and a sea of daffodils. The Japanese flowering apricot blooms in late winter often before the earliest spring bulbs emerge. Southern magnolias offer huge, intoxicatingly fragrant white flowers in June and July. The river deck affords a breathtaking view of the South River and is the scene of many concerts and wedding ceremonies. 3
THE PEONY COLLECTION Although there are many beautiful plants in London Town’s Ornamental Garden, the peony collection is perhaps the best known and most loved. Starting in late April and continuing into June, the many forms of peonies—tree, herbaceous and fern leaf—combine to create a display of flowers that is unparalleled.
W I L D L I F E W AT C H
Osprey Pandion haliaetus (fish hawk) A large fish-eating bird of prey with long narrow wings and a white underside and crown. May be spotted over the South River.
O R N A M E N TA L G A R D E N S
After the peonies have finished blooming, the gardens may seem a bit quiet for a spell. In fact, they are gearing up for the summer-long display of daylilies, coneflowers, salvias, roses, hydrangeas, spiraeas, blue mist shrubs, chaste trees, Rose of Sharon and a host of tender foliage and flowering plants that vary from year to year. 3
E N V I R O N M E N TA L G A R D E N S
Native plants, bio-retention gardens, rain barrels, and a ground level green roof are featured at the Visitor Center. Still in the initial stages of development, these gardens will help manage storm water run-off and encourage environmentally sound garden practices in the future.
Green Roof Sedums
Fothergilla
Bufferfly Weed
Purple Coneflower
Today, many gardeners, naturalists and environmentalists have a different view of what gardens can and should do. They believe that native plants are more suited to our climate because they have been here for so long and have evolved to adapt to local conditions. Insects and other forms of animal life have in turn evolved with these plants.
And while a return to the pristine conditions of pre-colonial times is not possible, we can, as gardeners, strive to make the environments around our homes as natural and beneficial as possible. Using native plants, making rain gardens, collecting rainwater and preventing polluted run-off are all goals we can strive to achieve.
Swamp Mallow and Joe Pye Weed
Picnic area
Stormwater Wetland
Camassia
Rudbeckia
W I L D L I F E W AT C H This family contains species that are the largest butterflies in North America. Swallowtails get their name from the “tails� on the back edge of their wings that reminded people of the forked tails of Swallows. Adult swallowtails have black or black and yellow/white wings, sometimes with additional blue or red markings. Adult swallowtails fly in open areas (fields, vacant lots, meadows, open forest, sides of streams) near their food plants, especially where there are abundant flowers.
Swallowtail Butterfly Papilionidae
E N V I R O N M E N TA L G A R D E N S
As these gardens grow and flourish, we hope they will demonstrate the beauty that is possible when we plant with a view to the environmental impact of our landscapes. 3
WOODLAND GARDENS
HOLLY GROVE This collection includes a wide range of holly specimens, both native and exotic, as well as tree-form and shrub-like varieties. Many people are surprised to discover that there are deciduous hollies, hollies with tiny leaves, and hollies with yellow or black berries. The large yellow-berry specimen is always a major draw for devotees of this evergreen American holly. 3
Yellow Berry Holly
Winterberry
THE DELL The low-lying Dell features a pond, footbridge, towering trees and embankments of azaleas and camellias. Notable trees include a Dawn Redwood and the Bald Cypress by the river’s edge. Both are deciduous conifers, losing their needles in the winter. The Dawn Redwood, once thought to be extinct, was discovered in China in the 1940s and now graces many public gardens with its soft bright green foliage. The Bald Cypress is native to the southeastern United States. You may notice its “knees,” or root protrusions, which help the tree get adequate oxygen in swampy soils. Shading the Dell is a magnificent willow oak, the eldest resident of the garden at over 150 years old. 3
Dell Pond with South River view
Cypress Tree “Knees”
Louisiana iris
Bridge in the Dell
WOODLAND GARDENS /
White Trillium
WILDFLOWER WALK This ridge above the azalea glade is full of native spring ephemerals whose delicate blooms appear before the towering tree canopy leafs out. Trillium, Trout Lily and Dutchman’s Breeches are among the many specimens awaiting the discerning and timely eye. 3 W I L D L I F E W AT C H
Box Turtle
Terrapene carolina In the heat of the summer, box turtles largely restrict their activity to mornings and after rain. When it gets too hot, they hide under decaying logs and leaves, crawl into mammal burrows, or into mud. When it is really hot, they go into shady pools and puddles to cool off. In the spring and fall, they may be out foraging during all daylight hours, and they sometimes bask in the sun to get warm. Box turtles are diurnal and scoop out a shallow indentation in which to spend the night.
AZALEA WALK This gentle sloping ravine is paved for walking and is enveloped by a collection of mature and unique azalea cultivars. Blooming Hellebores, Bleeding Hearts and Epimediums line the path in Spring as this sheltered area blazes with color in April and May. 3
COLLECTIONS
Trout Lily
THE VIBURNUM COLLECTION The stunning white blooms, sometimes superlative fragrance and brilliant autumn berries of the viburnums are on display alongside of the northern end of the Winter Walk. 3
THE CAMELLIA COLLECTION London Town has an extensive collection of camellias throughout the garden, including spring-blooming Japanese camellias, fall-blooming sasanqua camellias, pure species and many hybrids. The glossy foliage and beautiful flowers of these shrubs make them very popular with gardeners. You may be surprised to see camellias growing here, since they are generally thought to be a southern plant. There is a very important group of camellias that grow at London Town. These are hybrid camellias, developed in the 1980s by Dr. William Ackerman of the U.S. National Arboretum. By crossing the very hardy Camellia oleifera with showier camellia species, Dr. Ackerman produced fall,
Pink Icicle
Winter’s Hope
winter and spring blooming camellias that can withstand temperatures as low as 15 degrees below zero. On the path behind this bed you will find many unnamed hybrids. This is where Dr. Ackerman grew camellia seedlings on to maturity and studied their hardiness and suitability for commercial production. We are proud of the camellia Winter’s Hope, which originated here and is named after Mrs. Hope Andrews, a founding member of the London Town Commission in the 1970s. In this area of the garden, you will also find Pink Icicle, Snow Flurry, Winter’s Beauty, and Winter’s Interlude—all selections from the Ackerman breeding program. 3
London Town Blush
Carex dolichostachnya ‘Kaga Nishiki’
COLLECTIONS
Camellia cultivars
/
The Winter Walk features an allee of plants and trees selected for their winter interest, stretching from the gazebo, located at the south end of the walk, to the South River overlook. Evergreen foliage, bright berries, interesting branch form and unusual bark make this garden “room” visually delightful even in darkest December. Some of these plants actually grow and bloom in the colder months— Seating along the Winter Walk Italian arum, wintersweet, witch hazels, edgeworthia, hellebores, and camellias all lend their color to the winter garden. 3
WOODLAND GARDENS
WINTER WALK
(continued)
Stachyurus praecox
W I L D L I F E W AT C H
Red Fox Vulpes vulpes Red foxes are solitary hunters who feed on rodents, rabbits, birds, and other small game—but their diet can be as flexible as their home habitat. Foxes will eat fruit and vegetables, fish, frogs, and even worms.
SPRING BAY The Spring Bay has many lovely early flowering plants. Possibly Maryland’s best collection of magnolia varieties is the first to bloom, including the white and pale pink star magnolias and the popular rosy saucer magnolias. By late March, the flowers of both these trees burst forth from grey fuzzy buds. May brings the lovely blossoms of the mountain laurels, large-leaf rhododendrons and a special group of azaleas, known as the Satsukis. Satsuki means “fifth month” in Japanese. These large-flowered azaleas are known to continue in bloom through the end of spring, far into June.
Narcissus and bleeding hearts
Cornus mas
This quiet nook contains some of the many cultivars of the very popular hosta plant. Hostas are native to Asia and were once called funkias. Over thirty species and 3,000 cultivars are currently recognized, so this little garden cannot do them justice. But the hostas grown here do represent the range of plant forms available—from large leaves to tiny, green, gold, blue and variegated themes of each. 3 Hostas
SPRING WALK This path connecting the Woodland and Ornamental gardens is alive with color above and below in March and April. Magnolia, cherry and dogwood trees bloom above as earlier witch hazel blooms are followed by a carpet of flowering bulbs such as Scilla siberica and Crocus tommasinianus. 3
Magnolias in bloom on Spring Walk
Harebells
Witch hazel
Spiraea
Within the recreated Historic Area, visitors will find the Colonial Kitchen Garden and the African American Demonstration Garden. These are planted with herbs, heirloom flowers and vegetables, as well as crops of economic significance, such as tobacco. Herbs were important for medicinal and other household uses. Perennial herbs
are planted along the fence of the garden’s perimeter. Valerian was used as a sleeping aid; comfrey, made into a poultice or a salve was used to heal cuts and sores. Feverfew could relieve a migraine. Other herbs were useful as dyes, cleaning products and insect repellents. 3
COLONIAL KITCHEN GARDEN The kitchen garden was a useful source of food, seasonings, and medicinals for a London Town family in the 1700s. This garden is laid out with a southern exposure in a modified foursquare pattern that has been used for centuries. The colonial housewife prized vegetables that could be stored for the long winter, so you find many root vegetables such as turnips, beets, parsnips and carrots growing here. Summer crops included beans, squash, cucumbers and peppers. Beans and squash
were introduced to early colonists by the Native Americans and were easy to dry and save for winter. Greens were used in salads and as herbs cooked with meat. 3
AFRICAN AMERICAN DEMONSTRATION GARDEN A portion of this garden is devoted to tobacco, the driving force of the colonial Chesapeake economy. Thousands of enslaved Africans had been brought to the Chesapeake region to cultivate this labor-intensive crop and fill the workforce necessary to meet the desires of England and Europe. As more Africans entered the Chesapeake, the crops grown in this region were influenced by the foods Africans and Europeans exchanged through the slave trade. The plants in this garden reflect this international assortment of crops from both sides of the Atlantic. Watermelon, sorghum, and black-eyed peas are native to Africa; collards were brought to the Chesapeake region from Europe. Tobacco, pumpkins, gourds, and peppers are native to South America. Tobacco actually crossed the
Atlantic twice, arriving in this region from Africa after Portuguese traders had transported it there from South America. Most of these crops are ready to harvest in the summer and early fall. 3
Sorghum stalks
Tobacco leaves
HISTORICAL GARDENS
HISTORICAL GARDENS
South River 8 4
3 7 9
Pavilion
6 1 2
5 11
12
10
Visitor’s Center & Exhibition Hall
13
Plant Sales
16 15
14 Green House
17
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MAP
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1
Ornamental Gardens
9
Camellia Collection
2
Environmental Gardens
10
Winter Walk
3
Holly Grove
11
Spring Bay
4
The Dell
12
Spring Walk
5
Azalea Glade
13
Ground Level Green Roof
6
Viburnum Collection
14
Sound & Sensory Garden
7
Wildflower Walk
15
Colonial Kitchen Garden
8
South River Overlook
16
African American Garden
17 Historic London Town & Gardens
Picnic Area
839 Londontown Road
Edgewater, MD 21037
410-222-1919
Visit our website at: www.historiclondontown.org, or e-mail: londontown@historiclondontown.org