It got me thinking formal.
The Mt. Cuba press release described the redesign of a formal garden originally created in the 1940s to complement the estate’s impressive Colonial Revival home (one that’s now on the National Register). And the photos looked inspired by a proper English-style mixed border–except the headline and captions all made it clear: the new plant palette is native-only. Delphiniums need not apply, apparently.
Surprising, and exciting.
I invited Mt. Cuba Director of Horticulture Travis Beck, one of the team that created the new formal native garden, to join me to talk about using American plants in less-expected places in our gardens. Read along as you listen to the June 27, 2016 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
About midway through the interview, learn what goes into selecting perennials for a formal border—what qualities the gardeners sought—and some great, mounding native front-of-border choices for spring and summer.
my q&a on native perennials with travis beckQ. Before we talk about the redone formal garden, Travis, let’s give people a quick picture of the Mt. Cuba landscape and a little background. This was an estate in the du Pont family, I believe.
A. That’s right. This was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lammot du Pont
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