New Jersey Gardens

 Acorn Hall: 68 Morris Avenue, Morristown, NJ 07960 (973)267-3465.

This 1853 Italianate mansion, home of the Morris County Historical Society, features gardens restored by the Home Garden Club of Morristown to reflect the period, including more than 30 varieties of Victorian roses, a traditional knot garden and a fern garden.

 Avis Campbell Gardens: 60 S. Fullerton Avenue (Behind the United Way Building), Montclair, NJ (973)746-9614.

These gardens are maintained by volunteers from the Garden Club of Montclair and include a Rose Garden, an Herb Garden, and a formal English-style walled garden with central fountain.

 Bamboo Brook Outdoor Education Center: 170 Longview Road, Chester, NJ 07930 (201)326-7600.

Now undergoing extensive renovation, the formal gardens at Bamboo Brook were developed over a thirty-year period by Martha Brookes Hutcheson, one of the first women to be trained as a landscape architect in the U.S. The 100 acre site also offers include fields, woodlands, water features and a White Cedar allee.

 Branch Brook Park: Lake Street off Bloomfield Avenue, Newark, NJ 07109 (973)268-3500.

Branch Brook Park was the first county park to be opened for public use in the United States. It features an extraordinary 2,700 cherry trees, the first donated by the Mayor of Tokyo.

 Brookdale Park Rose Garden: Grove St. between Summit and Wildwood Ave., Upper Montclair, NJ (973) 268-3500.

This public park offers 43 acres of beautifully designed landscape by the Olmsted Brothers plus a more recent rose garden with 750 bushes of over 100 species donated by the North Jersey Rose Society.

 Cedar Brook Park & Shakespeare Garden: Park Avenue past Randolph Road, Plainfield, NJ 07060 (908) 527-4900.

A Shakespeare Garden of Cedar Brook Park in Plainfield is maintained by the Plainfield Garden Club.

 Colonial Park Arboretum and Gardens (Follow link to “Gardens”): Colonial Park, 156 Mettlers Road, Franklin Township, East Millstone, 08873, (732)873-2495.

This 144 acre arboretum specializes in trees and shrubs that thrive in Central New Jersey including dwart confiers, flowering shrubs and over 200 lilacs. The Rudolf W. van der Goot Rose Garden offers a formal display of more than 3,000 roses of 285 varieties. The Mettler Garden showcases a central fountain surrounded by miniature roses and hybrid tea roses. Grandmother's Garden exhibits antique roses, The circular Fragrance and Sensory Garden features raised beds for accessibility. The Perennial Garden features a gazebo surrounded by flowering bulbs, perennials, annuals, and flowering trees and shrubs.

 Cross Estate Gardens: Old Jockey Hollow Road, Bernardsville , NJ 07924.

The early twentieth-century landscape of the Cross Estate, characteristic of the Arts and Crafts period, includes a formal perennial garden, a wisteria-covered pergola, a mountain laurel allee, and a garden of native plants.  This garden is a project of the New Jersey Historical Garden Foundation.

 Davis Johnson Park and and Lissemore Rose Garden: 137 Engle Street, Tenafly, NJ 07670 (201)569-7275.

A former estate, the 7 acre park displays an award-winning rose garden recognized by the American Rose Society as well as topiary, an herb garden, a sunken garden, a greenhouse and a collection of dwarf conifers.

 Deep Cut Gardens: 352 Red Hill Road, Middletown, NJ 07748 (732)671-6050.

The Monmouth County Park features 52 acres of gardens and greenhouses as a living catalog of cultivated and native plant materials

 Delbarton: 230 Mendham Road, Morristown, NJ (973)538-3231.

A private boys school occupies this former banker's estate with an Italian garden with pergola and statuary. The school web site.

 Dey Mansion: 199 Totowa Road, Wayne, NJ 07470 (973)696-1776.

The grounds of this Georgian mansion feature a blacksmith shop, herb and vegetable gardens, a formal garden, a plantation house and a picnic area.

 Duke Farms: 80 Route 206 South, Hillsborough, NJ, 08844 (908)722-3700.

The Gardens were founded in 1960 when Doris Duke donated eleven acres of her estate, with existing greenhouses, to the Foundation. Eleven wonderful gardens, all under glass, include the Chinese garden, the Japanese garden, five English gardens, the French parterre garden, the Italian Courtyard, the Indo-Persian garden, the Colonial garden, the Edwardian garden, the American Desert, the semi-tropical garden and the tropical rain forest.

 Durand-Hedden House and Garden: 523 Ridgewood Road, Grasmere Park, Maplewood, NJ 07040 (973)763-7712.

This 18th century farmhouse currently undergoing restoration showcases an award-winning herb garden (maintained by the Maplewood Garden Club) which includes one of the largest herb collections in the northeast.

 Edith Duff Gwinn Gardens: Barnegat Light Historical Society Museum, 5th Street and Central Avenue, Barnegat Light , NJ 08006 (609)494-8578.

These lovely island gardens surrounding the Barnegat Light Museum are maintained by the Garden Club of Long Beach Island.

 Florence and Robert Zuck Arboretum: Drew University, 36 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ 07940 (201)408-3000 ext. 3358.

Drew's 186-acre campus and forest preserve includes the Zuck Arboretum, situated on the southwest part of campus. This wooded area includes two glacial ponds, a mix of native and introduced trees, and a variety of flowering plants and shrubs. Open to the public by appointment.

 Frank C. Helyar Woods:  Rutgers Gardens, Cook College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, 98103 (908)932-9631.

These woods offer an old growth forest, a swamp forest, and a Christmas tree demonstration project.

 Frelinghuysen Arboretum: 53 E. Hanover Avenue, Morristown, NJ 07962 (973)326-7600.

This 127 acre arboretum, headquarters of the Morris County Park Commission, offers woodlands, meadows, beautiful gardens and distinctive collections of trees and shrubs surrounding a Colonial Revival Mansion, including a Braille nature trail, a rose garden and a lilac collection.

 Garden for the Blind and Physically Handicapped: 1081 Green Street, Iselin Library, Iselin, NJ 08830 (732)283-1200.

This Sensory Garden with Braille signs is partitioned into summer, primrose, rose, spring, rock, perennials and annuals sections. A circle of senses showcases plants at waist level.

 Glenmont: Edison National Historic Site, Main Street and Lakeside Avenue, West Orange, NJ 07052 (973)324-9973.

This 15 acre estate, located in the first planned private residential community, showcases grounds with gardens and greenhouses.

 Greenwood Gardens: 274 Old Short Hills Road, Short Hills, NJ (973)376-3587.

 Grounds for Sculpture: 18 Fairgrounds Road, Hamilton, NJ 08619 (609)586-0616.

The arboretum-like grounds of this 22-acre sculpture park and museum offer 2,000 trees representing more than 100 species and cultivars including plantings of unusual conifers, blossoming crabapples and dogwoods, weeping beeches, berms covered with thousands of pink, red, and white rosebushes as well as various ecosystems such as woodlands, marshes, and ponds.

 (Cora) Hartshorn Arboretum and Bird Sanctuary: 324 Forest Drive S, Short Hills, NJ 07078 (973)376-3587.

This 17 acre arboretum displays over eighty native wildflowers and common flowers which can be seen from an extensive system of trails.

 Herrontown Woods Arboretum: Snowden Lane near junction with Herrontown Road, Princeton, NJ  08540.

This arboretum displays a pine forest, shrubs and over 30 species of trees.

 Historic Morven: 55 Stockton Street, Princeton, NJ 08540 (609)924-8144.

The mansion, the former home of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, is surrounded by lawns and trees and a colonial revival garden. A Garden Conservancy Garden.

 Holmdel Arboretum: 44 Longstreet Road, Holmdel Park, Holmdel, NJ 07733 (732)946-9562.

Located in a 343 acre County Park, this arboretum features hundreds of cultivars, the Jane Kluis Memorial Dwarf Conifer Garden (specimens of green, blue, gold, and pink), the Alvarez Synoptic Garden (plantings labeled in alphabetical order) and ornamental trees and shrubs such as hawthorns, dogwoods, pine, spruce, fir, and others.

 Hunterdon County Arboretum: 1020 Highway 31, Lebanon, NJ 08833 (908)782-1158.

Formerly a commercial nursery, this 73-acre arboretum includes an All-America Selections Display Garden, the Edmund Laport Greenhouse (house and garden plants), gazebos, a pond, and groves of single tree species.

 Israel Crane House: 108 Orange Road, Montclair, NJ (973)744-1796.

This restored 1796 Federal style home features a craft school, a barn, and a kitchen/herb garden. Threatened with demolition in 1965, the house was rescued by the Montclair Historical Society and moved to its present location.

 James A. McFaul Environmental Center: Crescent Ave., Wyckoff , NJ 07481 (201)891-5571.

This 81 acre environmental center showcases woodland gardens (including a dwarf conifer garden) and habitats of a wide range of animals. In the spring, 25,000 daffodils and rhododendron and azaleas create a lovely scene.

 James Rose Center for Landscape Architectural Research and Design: 506 East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450, (201) 446-6017.

This is the former home and garden of James Rose, one of the founders of the modernist movement in American landscape design, showcasing his ideas about sculpting interlocking indoor and outdoor spaces.

 Jay Pratt Azalea Gardens:  Country House Road, Sharptown, NJ.

This private garden, open for viewing in May, features 400 azalea varieties.

 Leamings Run Gardens: 1845 Route 9 North, Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 (609)465-5871.

The gardens of this 30 acre site are devoted entirely to annuals, making it the largest annual garden in the United States. 25 theme gardens are scattered along a mile long path that alternates woodland and flowers. Features include bridges and ponds and other scenic elements. In August, hundreds of Hummingbirds flock to the garden.

 Leonard J. Buck Garden (Click on picture of garden at top): 11 Layton Road, Far Hills, NJ 07931

(908)234-2677.

This 33 acre rocky stream valley offers a series of alpine and woodland gardens with extensive collections of azaleas and rhododendrons, wildflowers, ferns, exotic alpines and rockery plants.

 Lewis W. Barton Arboretum and Nature Preserve: Medford Leas Retirement Community, One Medford Leas Way off Route 70, Medford, NJ 08055 (609)654-3000.

The landscaped grounds of this retirement home showcase 36 unique courtyard gardens, private patio gardens, wildflower meadows, a Pinetum (with native and exotic plants), a collection of rhododendrons, an experimental planting of chestnut trees, and 55 acres of natural woodlands.

 (Sister) Mary Grace Burns Arboretum: Georgian Court University, 900 Lakewood Avenue, Lakewood, NJ 08701 (732)987-2373.

The extraordinary former estate of the son of a railroad tycoon who dealt with the sandy character of the soil by bringing in 5000 carloads of loam. The results were well worth the effort. The four gardens are the Italian Garden (with a Fountain of Apollo, statuary, columns and urns), the Sunken Garden (with lagoon, marble fountain and staircases, statuary and a bridge), the Formal Garden (an elliptical flower garden with boxwood hedges), and the Japanese Garden (with teahouse). Founders' Grove exhibits trees donated to celebrate the establishment of the arboretum).

 Macculloch Hall Historical Museum and Gardens: 45 Macculloch Avenue, Morristown, NJ 07960 (973)538-2404.

An 1810 brick Federal style mansion was acquired in 1949 by a Mayor of Morristown who restored the house and gardens and opened them to the public. A two acre garden is planted for seasonal bloom and displays 45 species of old-fashioned roses. The wisteria covering the back-porch was brought from Japan by Commodore Perry.

 New Jersey State Botanical Garden (Skylands): 1304 Sloatsburg Road, Ringwood State Park, Morris Road, Ringwood, NJ 07456 (973)962-7527.

The central 96 acres surrounding the Tudor-style manor house at Skylands is the State's official botanical garden. Nine formal gardens, featuring statuary and maintained according to their original design, include the Azalea Garden, the Lilac Garden, the Crab Apple Vista, the Magnolia Walk, the Annual Garden, the Perennial Border, the Peony Garden, the Rock Garden, and the Winter Garden. The Garden also offers woodland paths.

 Oakeside Mansion at the Bloomfield Cultural Center: 240 Belleville Ave., Bloomfield, NJ 07003 (973)429-0960.

This 3 acre garden, including a formal rose garden, water and terrace gardens, and a solarium, is being restored with help from the New Jersey Historic Trust.

 Osborn Cannonball House Museum: 1840 Front Street, Scotch Plains, NJ 07076 (908)232-1199 (weekends) or (908)322-6700x314 (weekdays).

The grounds of this 18th century house include brick walls, an authentic colonial herb garden, an arbor and formal gardens enclosed by a white fence.

 Presby Memorial Iris Garden: 474 Upper Mountain Avenue, Mountainside Park, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043 (973)783-5974.

This important collection displays only 6 species (all iris, of course) but over 4,000 varieties of irises, some dating back to the 1500's, in beds historically arranged and along a stream.

 Prospect Garden: Princeton University, Princeton , NJ 08544 (609)258-3455.

The 1849 Italianate-style mansion, once home to the Princeton University presidents, is surrounded by landscaped grounds including tulip trees over 100 feet high, a redwood tree, and many more native and exotic trees and shrubs surrounded by a wrought-iron fence. A flower garden at the rear of the house in the shape of the university seal was laid out by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson.

 Quietude Garden Gallery: 24 Fern Road, East Brunswick, NJ 08816 (732)257-4340.

This 4 acre sculpture park exhibits over 150 works of outdoor sculpture.

 Reeves-Reed Arboretum: 165 Hobart Avenue, Summit, NJ 07901 (908)273-8787.

The 13 acre estate's grounds, featuring 19th and 20th century garden design, include a daffodil collection, arose garden with connecting rock-pool garden, a patterned herb garden, and a woodland trail.

 Rutgers Gardens: 112 Ryders Lane, Cook College Campus, Rutgers University,  New Brunswick, NJ 08901 (732)932-8451.

This fascinating 30 acre research and display garden showcases 1,200 kinds of plants. Special collections include hollies (the largest collection of American Hollies in the world), yews, rhododendrons and other ericaceous plants. Gardens include an All American Selections Display Garden, the Rutgers Children's Garden, the 1920s Shrub Garden, the Evergreen Garden, the Small Tree and Shade Tree Collection, the Rhododendron Garden, the Ella Quimby Water Conservation Gardens, the Garden for Sun and Shade and Dream Turf Plots. Gardens planned for the future include the Holly House Garden, the Native Plant Society Garden and the "Youth-at-Risk" Greenhouse.

 Sayen House and Gardens: 155 Hughes Drive, Hamilton, NJ 08690 (609)587-7356.

The garden showcases hundreds of rhododendron and azaleas and other rare collections as well as offering nature trails, ponds, and abundant wildlife.

 Schuyler Hamilton House: 5 Olyphant Place, Morristown, NJ 07960 (973)267-4039.

The former home of Revolutionary War doctor who, with his son, organized the first horticultural society of New Jersey.

 Shakespeare Garden: College Of St. Elizabeth, 2 Convent Road, Morristown, NJ 07960 (973)292-6300.

A 1920s garden with a bust of Shakespeare originally displaying only plants mentioned in Shakespeare's works is situated next to the Botany Greenhouse.

 Thompson Park Rose Garden: 805 Newman Springs Road (Route 520), Lincroft, NJ 07738 (732)842-4000.

This 655 acre county park features an All-America Rose Selections Display Garden, the Lambertus C. Bobbink Memorial Rose Garden.

 Trailside Nature and Science Center: 452 New Providence Road, Mountainside, NJ 07092 (908)789-3670.

This nature center features Herb, Wildflower and Butterfly Gardens and 13 miles of nature trails.

 Van Vleck Arboretum: Montclair Art Museum, 3 South Mountain Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042-1747 (973)746- 5555.

The Museum grounds are the Van Vleck Arboretum, a collection of native and exotic trees.

 Van Vleck House & Gardens: 21 Van Vleck Street, Montclair, NJ 07042 (973)744-0837.

This garden, comprising a full city block, displays an extensive collection of rhododendrons and azaleas, 50-year-old Chinese wisteria, and formal gardens extending from a 1916 Italianate villa.  A Garden Conservancy Garden.

 Wagner Farm Arboretum: 197 Mountain Avenue, Warren, NJ 07059

Currently under development, this will include formal gardens, leased garden spaces, a greenhouse, handicapped accessible gardens, a butterfly garden, walking trails and other related gardening activities.

 Wallbridge Rose Garden: Taylor Park, Milburn, NJ 07041 (973)564-7058.

This park includes rose gardens, boxwoods, sorrel trees, holly, and a gazebo.

 Warinanco Park Garden: St. Georges Avenue, Roselle, NJ (908) 298-7845.

This formal garden with 14,000 tulips and summer annuals is a memorial to Henry Chatfield and  is tended by the Union County Parks Dept.

 Well-Sweep Herb Farm: 205 Mt. Bethel Road, Port Murray, NJ 07865 (908)852-5390.

An 120 acre herb farm an Educational Display Herb Garden, a Formal Garden with 80 types of geraniums, knot gardens and more. Plants include 36 types of basils, 60 different lavenders, 80 varieties of thyme and over 100 scented-leaved geraniums. .

 Wick House Herb Garden: Tempe Wicke Road, Jockey Hollow, Morristown National Historic Park, Morristown, NJ 07960 (973)539-2085.

  William Trent House: 15 Market Street, Trenton, NJ 08611 (609)989-3027.

This 1719 Georgian brick house was built by the man whom Trenton is named after.

 Willowwood Arboretum: 300 Longview Road, Chester, NJ 07930 (973)326-7600.

The 130 acre arboretum has 3,500 types of plants including historic collections of oak, maple, willow, magnolia, lilac, cherry, fir, pine, a Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia) now more than 98 feet tall, ferns and field and forest wildflowers. Two small formal gardens grace the grounds of the residence.