The Garden at Eyre Hall

     The road to Eyre Hall is a long dusty lane lined with ancient eastern red cedars and crape myrtles. The first members of the Eyre family settled here beside Cherrystone Creek in the 1660's, and about 100 years later, construction began on what was to become the family seat. Around 1800 a parterre garden was planted behind the house, and it is considered the oldest continually maintained ornamental garden in the state, and one of the oldest in the country. Today Eyre Hall is still occupied by descendants of the same family, and they graciously open the garden to the public without charge, and without appointment.

Photo in the public domain, from the Library of Congress

     The garden has a central axis that starts at one of the home's back doors, runs through the garden, out the back gate and becomes a wide woodland walk leading to the creek. On either side of the axis are several parterres formed from ancient boxwoods and crape myrtles. The garden is enclosed by a brick and wood fence with gates at regular intervals. There are many unpaved, swept-earth pathways throughout the garden, and the beds are maintained without any mulch, both of which I suspect are traditional treatments. In one corner of the garden is the family graveyard and the ruins of an orangery.  

     Lest you think this is just another boring collection of linear green blobs, each parterre is planted with a variety of flowering shrubs, perennials, evergreens, bulbs and annuals. Years ago I got to know garden designer Donna Hackman who was hired by the family to bring new life into the garden, and she had a very careful eye with the plants she chose. Donna would call me with a wish list, and I would get what I could for her, plus when she came to pick up her plants, she would always find something else she did not know she needed.  She is a consummate plantswoman. Now the gardens are maintained by Laurie Klingel of Appleseed Nurseries. Appleseed is owned by Laurie and her husband Jeff and the company includes a visit-worthy garden shop, a landscape design firm, and a growing operation as well. Laurie's work at Eyre Hall has the venerable garden in the best shape I have ever seen. I think John and Ann Upshur Eyre, who added the original parterre garden and the orangery, would agree.

     If you would like to visit Eyre Hall's garden, it is open year round, and is about half a mile off of US 13 in Northampton Co., VA, between the towns of Cheriton and Eastville. 

Bloom Day Resolution

Here in southeastern Virginia, we have until just recently been suffering through a sustained heat wave and a conspicuous absence of rain, and things were getting desperate.  Mind you I am not complaining, just stating, besides this is the year I have resolved not to complain about the weather.  It is not right to worry about wilted annuals when so many people across the country are trying to rebuild their lives after losing their homes, and in some cases losing things even more precious. So I will be grateful for whatever blessings the weather brings, but especially for the two back to back evenings of rain this past weekend, prompting the garden and the gardener to both breathe a sigh of relief. 

I have a lot of things in bloom right now, and two of my favorite plants are at their peak - the Hydrangeas and the Daylilies.  So this post will be heavy on those two plants, but I have a few other things to show as well.

Here are a few Daylilies (Hemerocallis) whose identification has been lost to poor record keeping or indifference.

Here are two I remembered, 'Smoky Mountain Autumn' ...

... and 'Milk Chocolate'.

This is the first year I have grown Castor Bean (Ricinus communis), which some sources list as the most poisonous plant in the world.

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

This year my Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides) had more flowers on it then ever.  Unfortunately a large limb came down out of my Linden and took out 3/4 of it the day after I took this picture, but now there is more room for something else.

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Penny Mac'

I am not positive, but I think this is one from the Halo Series.

H. macrophylla 'Pia'

H. macrophylla 'Sun Goddess'

The latest Hydrangea in my garden is one that I found mis-labeled at work.  The tag said 'Glory Blue', but this one was a double flowered variety whose flower stems match the color of the blossoms.  I have no clue to it's real identity, but I like it.

If you have made any mid-year resolutions, please let me know. And if you would like to see what other garden bloggers are showing this month, then please visit Carol at May Dreams Garden who is our gracious host for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on the 15th of each month.

Delayed Expectations and Pleasant Surprises

This past Saturday we finally got our first taste of overdue winter weather, however it was only a light appetizer and not a filling entree. The day was cold, miserable and rainy - not conducive to shopping or stringing lights through shrubbery, so we spent the day inside getting a little housework done and the Christmas tree decorated. During a break in the domesticity and the rain, I was able to spend a little time in the back yard. I was surprised to find that the Climbing Hydrangea foliage had taken on a pleasant yellow color, when in most years it simply falls off unnoticed. The leaf color is good match to the blooms of Winter Sun Mahonia.

Rain drop on Confederate Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides)

Fatsia japonica blossom encircled by the Jasmine

The Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris)

Mahonia x 'Winter Sun'

When I woke the next morning and checked the thermometer, it said that we had finally kissed the 32 degree mark for the first time this season - about two to three weeks later than usual. There was little apparent sign in the garden of this brush with winter, but later when I got home from work I noticed that the exhausted Impatiens and the Coleus had definitively been hit. Monday morning frost had to be scraped from the windshield. I realize that many people out there have had far worse and though I am not happy about it, I expect that it should be time for winter.

High Geraniums

Several years ago at the garden center, I overheard two elderly sisters speaking with each other. One appeared to be more of a gardener than the other and was explaining the difference between "high geraniums" and "low geraniums".

"High geraniums are shrubs. You remember momma had blue ones growin' in the shade out by the shed in the back yard".

"Low geraniums are red and orange and you gotta bring 'em in fo' the winter".

She may have had the names confused, but at least she knew where they should be grown. My own "high geraniums" are just coming into full bloom this week.

Hydrangea macrophylla var. serrata 'Kiyosumi'
Hydrangea macrophylla 'Mariesii Variegata'

The next four are two different varieties from the Halo Series, but unfortunately I did not know which two they were when I planted them. All of the varieties in this series have petals with a white "halo".

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Glory Blue'

I did not plant this one, it just sort of appeared and it's name is unknown.

Hydrangea macrophylla var. serrata 'Blue Bird'

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Sun Goddess'

I also have planted a couple of "low geraniums" which I will be sure to bring in before the winter. This is Pelargonium x hortorum 'Indian Dunes' and ...

... Pelargonium x hortorum 'Mrs. Pollack'.