Walking Through Wyck

Have you ever been to a place that you know for sure you have not been to before and yet as soon as you pull up in the driveway you have an overwhelming sense that you have walked that pathway, entered through that gate?

Welcome to Wyck

Check out the neighbours!

This happened to me quite a few times when I was in Philadelphia visiting with my friend, Eva Monheim last August. Eva and I would smile at each other in a funny kind of knowing way, without any need for words and later on I would say to her, “I’m sure I have been there before” which seemed kind of silly really because I know for sure that I have not been to Philadelphia in the past 54 years of this lifetime.

Which leads me to a garden in Philadelphia called Wyck. Eva and I pulled up in her car and there was not another soul there, it was all very quiet, we walked through the gate and suddenly, not like a bolt of lightning, more like a warm blanket enveloping my whole body, I felt it, a sense that I had surely been there before. How funny that no-one else was there on the day that Eva and I were visiting, as if everyone had left just so that I could be there alone.

Wyck is a US National Historic Landmark house and was home to one Philadelphian family, the Wistar and Haines generations from 1690-1973. It is a 2.5-acre property and working small farm, right in the heart of Germantown on the outskirts of Philadelphia. The house itself is in the Quaker style, something that we don’t see in my hometown of Perth, Western Australia.

Architecture in Germantown, Philadelphia

As well as the goodly-sized, white, historical home there are also outbuildings, sheds, and a large chook pen, this is where I had another “funny” feeling. The feeling was not at all unnerving, rather kind of comforting, in an odd way.

Hello to you, chooks!

I walked over towards the chook pen to say hello to the girls when a pretty marmalade cat came running up to me as if to say ” Hey, Andrea, haven’t seen you in a while, where have you been?” That cat stayed close by me as I wandered around the rest of the farm garden. I must say that when it comes down to it, cats don’t usually have much regard for me, nor I for them. I always say that I’m a dog person more than a cat person but this one was incredibly curious and very endearing.

The cat from Wyck

The rose gardens at Wyck are some of the oldest in the USA and on this rather damp, drizzly day had reached the end of their blooming and were just about ready for a prune, I honestly was not at all sad that I had missed the blooms, the bones of this small but interesting rose garden offered heaps of interest for me.

Rose in the rain
Dainty rosebuds

The production garden grows fruit and vegetables for a Farmers Market and an outdoor classroom for regularly held events. Throughout the growing season, produce is offered for sale which helps support the upkeep of the property.

I am not sure if it was my German ancestry or quite what really but for some strange and unexplainable reasons, Wyck will always stay with me or maybe it was always there.

Have you ever had an experience like this?

If you are in the Philadelphia area, why not, take a walk through Wyck.

Northview-Such An Elegant Garden And Oh, What A Shed!

One balmy Pennsylvania afternoon, last August, I visited my GWA (Association for Garden Communicators) friend, Jenny Rose Carey, in her Philadelphia garden and am sitting here thinking about how beautiful it must be looking right now. Luckily, I took heaps of shots and am so happy to be able to share this very special garden with you.

The family home
Many gardeners forget that green is a colour and just how effective green on green can be.

 

Jenny Rose is all things horticulture, author, educator and historian but first and foremost a brilliant gardener with a great eye and is the Senior Director at The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Meadowbrook Farm in Jenkintown (more on that stunning property later).

A quiet place to sit
Begonias just beautiful begonias
great use for a stump!

A Bit about Northview….

On Jenny Roses’ website, she writes “Northview’s 4½ acre site was originally part of Wilmer and Anna Atkinson’s 1887 100-acre Victorian Model Farm. Some of the trees planted by Mr. Atkinson (the Founder and Editor of the Farm Journal) remain, including a beautiful 150-year-old Japanese maple.  The current property includes the original 1887 farmhouse and carriage house.”

I climbed up to the top to enjoy the view
such a pretty feature

This delightful garden, like many private gardens, I am lucky enough to visit, is a reflection of the gardener who created it, Jenny Rose, it’s an elegant garden that’s for sure. This garden offers both form and function and is so respectful of gardeners who have worked that land. There’s lovely, tasteful pieces of artwork scattered throughout, some whimsy pieces, just for fun, long vistas for the mind to rest and drink in the verdant green lawns and breathe the air around old trees and really experience the many places to sit and just be.

How delightful

Hydrangeas in full bloom

Step through the gate to see what treasures await

Picture perfect arbor
Even the birds get a very cool place to hang out here
You can’t help but breathe deeply as you walk under this canopy
Perfect afternoon light to capture this beauty
I love a good stumpery, look at the beautiful lichen and fungi
Nature has an open invitation to visit this garden

OK, so, I will freely admit that I am a sucker for potting sheds and places where people work behind the scenes (I’m a bit of a sticky beak) in gardens and Jenny Roses’ potting shed is, I think No.1 on my list…it is a thing of beauty in itself, such organization, so many pots, so gorgeous, I could see myself sitting in one of those wicker chairs, looking out over the garden and sipping a hot cuppa…could be my dream Air BNB, in fact! 

The Potting Shed..from the outside, but the real magic is on the inside.
for those times when you need to sit outside your lovely shed
I would like to sit here and drink tea, wouldn’t you?
a lovely garden path

I could sit in that shed for months, looking out at that garden and writing a book…ahh what would I write?…what would I call it? This Philadelphia Life, perhaps……

Jenny Rose and her family generously host visitors to her garden and you can request a visit by contacting her on http://www.jennyrosecarey.com/northview-gardens. It would be a fabulous place to go with a group of like-minded garden-loving pals on a Spring or Summers day. 

Thank you, Jenny Rose, for so generously sharing your garden with me.

Why not…GIve it a try?

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