Our scheduled field trip for 2019 was to travel to Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton. The gentleman proprietor had a thing for fox hunting and purchased himself about 200 acres conveniently close to the local hunt club. Besires renovating and adding to the old farmhouse, he indulged his passion for art and beauty by creating 22 acres of topiary gardens out of the farm fields surrounding the house. Topiary is the art of training and clipping suitable shrubs or trees into semblances of figures, creatures or designs.
It was a rather cool day with moisture laying on the air, so our turnout was rather low in comparison to the number that might have attended. Still, we had Brenda, Terry, Jan, Kelly and our two Nancys, Sue, new member Mil and Vicki and her husband arrived later.
May, of course, is the time to see the trees and shrubs in bloom: viburnum, azaleas and rhododendrons, dogwoods, crab apples and ornamental cherry and others. Late tulips and columbines were out, plenty of contrasting foliage plants and far too many other types to list.
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- Doublefile viburnum
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- Columbines in the woods
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- Jack in the pulpit
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- House with wisteria anchored
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- One of many fountains
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- Enclosure with topiary
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- Mil, our new member
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- Topiary swan
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- Undulations
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- Full tulips
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- Contrasts in texture
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- Start of the azaleas
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- Huge purple azaleas
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- Terry, Nancy H and Kelly
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- White garden area
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- More of the white garden
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- Brenda and Nancy
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- Neat color combo of tulips
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- Jan
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- Bridge over ravine
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- Fountain of wisteria
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- Kelly and Terry at the lilacs
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- Folly on the hill
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- View back toward manor house
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- Topiary fun
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- Stream with lots of chartreuse plants getting maintained
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- Brenda in the archway
Afterwards we adjourned to the Oregon Grille in Hunt Valley for tasty luncheon, then headed home.
