#stoneleigh

In early August, a small group of professional gardener students and interns (including myself) took a trip to Stoneleigh. The property was formerly an estate owned by the Haas family, but was donated to Natural Lands and is now in transition to become a public garden. Despite legal battles with the school district regarding rights to the land, the community has stood behind the gardens and its development.

The weather was hot and humid the day we visited the gardens, however it wasn’t hard to find shade due to the overwhelmingly large amount of tree specimens. I couldn’t believe the sheer size of some of the trees. I also thought to myself how breathtakingly beautiful this space has to be in the fall.

The Tudor Revival mansion was a sight to behold in its own right. I felt like I had been transported to a different point in time when viewing the structure across the vast and open lawn. The Cercidiphyllum, one of my favorite trees, adorned the front lawn with a cascading water-like shape. I was amazed at the diameter of the trunk on the Platnus that bounded the corner of the front patio. While I’m not sure whether any of the trees on the property were champions of Pennsylvania, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were close runner-ups.

As I walked around the garden, it felt as though nothing had been changed from the property’s glory days, but every now and again, you would come around a corner and see a pop of modern garden flair that added a child-like sense of awe. I loved how the design outside of the event pavilion/restrooms played with geometric shapes, lines, textures, and depths. You could really feel the influence of Natural Lands as there were many North American natives (Asclepias, Sarracenia, Gaura, etc.) included in the beds found throughout the property.

One of my favorite spaces I stumbled upon was a white arbor amongst a sea of shrubs, trees, and Pachysandra. The way the sun was making the structure glow in waves of green foliage, you would have thought you were in a scene straight out of a Miyazaki film.  

After walking around the gardens multiple times, I could really feel all the hard work that has been put in to the preservation of this historic site. With the opening of the gardens just occurring this past May, I can’t wait to see how it transforms over time, and I really can’t wait to come back for a spectacular fall color show.