Pennsylvania Gardens

 American College Arboretum: 270 South Bryn Mawr Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 (610)526-1228 or (610)526-1100.

The 35 acre campus which encloses a wood stream valley, a pond, and gardens of annuals, perennials and even vegetables, is a designated arboretum and displays 600 labeled trees of a variety of species.

 Appleford/Parsons-Banks Arboretum: 770 Mount Moro Road, Villanova, PA 19085 (610)527-4280.

This charming stone manor is set in 22 acre arboretum with streams, woods, tracts of rhododendrons, stone walls, and a series of formal gardens.

 Arboretum of the Barnes Foundation: 300 North Latch's Lane, Merion, PA 19066 (610)667-0290.

This 13 acre arboretum displays collections of crabapples, magnolias, peonies, and more than 250 varieties of lilacs and a woodland. Flower gardens include a formal garden, an annual garden, and a restored rose garden.

 Arboretum Villanova: Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085 (610)519-4426.

A continuing program of tree planting and labeling fulfills this campus arboretum's mission of education and campus beautification. Flowering pear, crabapple, cherry and horse chestnut trees (some of the 1,500 trees) and 35,000 daffodils are highlights of the self-guided tours.

 Awbury Arboretum & Historic Estate: Francis Cope House, 1 Awbury Road, Philadelphia, PA 19138 (215)849-2855.

This 55 acre estate displays 140 species of trees in an English-style landscape around a stone cottage. The lovely landscape was created by William Saunders, who designed the U.S. Capitol grounds.

 Bartram's Garden: 54th Street & Lindbergh Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19143 (215)729-5281.

Known as "America's Oldest Surviving Botanic Garden", this garden is the former estate of a colonial (and royal) botanist and displays plants he and his son collected. Features include a kitchen garden, a butterfly and hummingbird garden, historic trees, a wildflower meadow, a water garden, a river trail, and a wetland.

 Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve: 1635 River Road (Route 32), P.O. Box 685, New Hope, PA 18938-0685 (215)862-2924.

Some 800 species of native wildflowers, ferns, vines, shrubs and trees are displayed in natural habitats including eastern deciduous woodland, open meadows, streamside and barrens habitats plus a pond and a bog. Two dozen trails wind through the preserve.

 Brandywine Conservancy: Brandywine River Museum, U.S. Route 1, P.O. Box 141, Chadds Ford, PA 19317 (610)388-8327.

Wildflower and Native Plant Gardens display native flowers, shrubs and trees in a natural setting. Visitors may also stroll on a trail along the Brandywine River.

 Bryn Mawr Campus Arboretum: 101 N. Merion Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-2899 (610)526-5000.

The 135 acre campus, designed by Vaux and Olmsted, features an English-style landscape design complementing the historic Collegiate Gothic buildings.

 Chanticleer: 786 Church Road, Wayne, PA 19087 (610)687-4163.

This delightful 31 acre estate "pleasure garden" showcases spring bulbs, orchards, and native wildflowers as well as a cut-flower garden, a vegetable garden, espaliered fruit trees, courtyards wtih tropical plants, a perennial garden, a woodland garden, and a water garden.

 Chatham College Arboretum: Woodland Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15232 (412)365-1157.

The college's lovely Woodland Road Campus is a registered arboretum.  Originally designed by the Olmstead Brothers for the Andrew Mellon estate, the 32 acre campus features 100 different varieties of species, including Japanese Flowering Crabapple, River Birch and Kentucky Coffee Tree.

 Cliveden National Historic Site: 6401 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19144 (215)848-1777.

This 1767 Georgian manor house offers 6 acres of park-like landscape.

 Cooper Cabin: Cooper Road (just off Route 356 near Cabot), P.O. Box 414, Butler, PA 16003 (724)283-8116.

This pioneer museum, originally a farmstead, displays an herb garden.

Crozer Arboretum: 1 Medical Center Blvd., Upland, PA 19015 (610)447-6311.

This Arboretum, affiliated with a medical center, showcases the 25 acre Leona Gold Gardens and the Crozer Greenhouse.

 Curtis Arboretum: Cedar Crest College, 100 College Drive, Allentown, PA 18104-6196 (800)360-1222.

This campus arboretum displays more than 135 varieties of trees and shrubs and is named for a former college president who planted many of the trees himself. A Nature Trail Guide is available for self-guided tours.

 Curtis Hall Arboretum: Greenwood Avenue, Wyncote, PA 19095 (215)884-7675.

This arboretum surrounds Curtis Hall, the ballroom of the Cyrus Curtis Mansion.

 Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion: 200 West Tulpehocken Street, Philadelphia, PA 19144 (215)438-1861.

This 1859 Victorian house museum depicting 19th century domestic life is surrounded by a recreated Victorian garden.

 Elfreth's Alley Museum Houses: 124 and 126 Elfreth's Alley, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2006 (215) 574-0560.

America's oldest continuously occupied residential street is a national historic landmark and includes city gardens.

 Elmwood Park Zoo: 1661 Harding Boulevard (Off Route 202S), Norristown, PA 19404 (610)277-3825.

This 16 acre zoo features 150 North American wild animals. of 50 species in natural habitats, including Deciduous Forests, Grasslands, Wetlands, Desert and an indoor Bayou.

 Erie Zoo (now the Zoological Park and Botanical Garden of Northwest Pennsylvania): P.O. Box 3268, 423 W. 38th Street, Erie, PA 16508-0268 (814)864-4091.

This 15 acre park with naturalistic habitats is home to 300 animals representing nearly 100 different species from six continents plus thousands of plants from 450 different species.

 Fallingwater: Route 381, P.O. Box R, Mill Run, PA 15464 (724)329-8501.

This renowned Frank Lloyd Wright house, situated in the 5000 acre Bear Run Nature Reserve, demonstrates the integration of architecture and landscape.

 Frick Art and Historical Center: 7227 Reynolds St., Pittsburgh, PA. 15208 (412)371-0600.

The 6 acre site showcases an art museum, a car and carriage museum, and a greenhouse, on beautifully landscaped grounds.

 Governor's Mansion Gardens: 2035 North Front Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102 (717)787-1192.

 The Grange Estate: Myrtle Avenue and Warwick Road, Havertown, PA 19083 (610)446-4958.

This historic country estate exhibits 18th century gardens within protective stone walls.

 Graver Arboretum of Muhlenberg College: Bushkill Center Road off Bushkill Drive (off Route 512 North) Moorestown , Bushkill Township, PA 18104-5586 (610)759-3132.

This recently enlarged 60 acre arboretum displays wildflowers, ferns, mushrooms, mountain laurels, rhododendrons, azaleas, giant grasses, and native and rare trees including 200 species of conifers.

 Grumblethorpe: 5267 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19144-2328 (215)925-2251.

This 1744 summer residence displays a re-created historic garden.

 Hartwood: 200 Hartwood Acres, Hampton, PA 15238 (412)767-9200.

The beautifully landscaped grounds with formal gardens on this 629 acre estate (now an Allegheny County Park) include outdoor sculpture.

 Haverford College Arboretum: Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Avenue, Haverford, PA 19041 (610)896-1101.

This 198 acre campus was designed by an English gardener in 1834 and the current Arboretum Association continues his efforts at campus beautification. The Ryan Pinetum offers a restored conifer collection begun in the 1920s.

 Henry Foundation for Botanical Research: 801 Stony Lane, P.O. Box 7, Gladwyne, PA 19035 (610)525-2037.

This 50 acre garden, displaying the collection of plant collector Mary Gibson Henry, showcases its myriad and wonderful plants in hilly terrain with interesting rock outcroppings.

 Henry Schmieder Arboretum and Gardens: 700 E. Butler Avenue (Route 202), Doylestown, PA 18901-2697 (215)345-1500.

This arboretum campus displays stately trees and extensive gardens, including gardens for annuals, ornamental grasses, herbs, vines, rare conifers, daylilies, native plants, shade plants and plants with winter interest. Named gardens include the new Lois Burpee Herb Garden (culinary, medicinal, fragrance, dye, industrial and other useful plants), a Woodland Garden, the Winter Walk, and the 1920s Cottage Garden.

 Hershey Gardens: 170 Hotel Road, P.O. Box 416, Hershey, PA 17033 (717)534-3492.

The 23 acre gardens, established in 1936, offer seasonal flower displays (including 30,000 tulips mid-April through early May), collections of specimen trees and shrubs, theme gardens and an All America Rose Selections Rose Garden and over 7,000 roses, and exhibits nearly 14,000 plants of some 800 varieties.  A special treat is the butterfly house with over 300 North American butterflies.  See our colorful Photo Feature on the spring tulips!

 The Highlands Mansion and Gardens: 7001 Sheaff Lane, Ft. Washington, PA 19034 (215)641-2687.

The extensive plantings on this 44 acre estate include a lovely herb parterre garden developed over two centuries.

 Historic Fallsington: 4 Yardley Avenue, Fallsington, PA 19054 (215)295-6567.

The grounds surrounding these historic 17th, 18th and 19th century homes and buildings are replete with herb, flower and vegetable gardens. Heritage roses are a part of the historic landscape of the village tavern. An ongoing herb project includes cooking programs.

 Holtwood Environmental Preserve: Alfred Lake, New Village Road off Old Holtwood Road (off Route 372), Holtwood, PA (800)354-8383.  GPS coordinates: N39 50.033 W76 19.080.

This recreation area, arboretum and wildflower preserve are owned by PP&L (an electric company).

 Horticulture Center: West Fairmount Park, N. Horticultural Drive & Montgomery Avenue, P.O. Box 21601, Philadelphia, PA 19131 (215)685-0096.

The Horticulture Center features a 31,000 square foot greenhouse, seven formal demonstration gardens, the 22-acre Centennial Arboretum (specimen trees and shrubs) and a 13th century-style Japanese House and Garden (see Shofuso, below).

 Independence National Historic Park: 313 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106-4702 (215)597-8787.

Home of the Liberty Bell, this World Heritage Site includes an 18th century garden, a rose garden and magnolia garden (at the Todd House) and extensive landscaping.

 Jenkins Arboretum: 631 Berwyn-Baptist Road, Devon, PA 19333 (610)647-8870.

This indigenous hardwood forest was enhanced to display more than 4,000 spectacular native and exotic rhododendrons and azaleas representing 150 varieties.

 Longwood Gardens, Inc.: Route 1, P.O. Box 501, Kennett Square, PA 19348-0501 (610)388-1000.

Longwood, the magnificent 1,050 acre estate of Pierre S. du Pont, offers 20 splendid outdoor gardens and 20 indoor gardens displaying 11,000 varieties of plants. The 4 acre Conservatory displays the Cascade Garden, Roses/Hibiscus, the Tropical Terrace, Bananas, the Silver Garden, Acacia, the Orangery, Bonsai, Espaliered Fruit, the Children's Garden, the Camellia House, the East Conservatory, the Outdoor Waterlilies, the Exhibition Hall, Orchids, Insect-Catching Plants, the Fern Passage, the Mediterranean Garden, and the Palm House. Outdoor gardens include the Main Fountain Garden, the Cariopteris Allee, the Topiary Garden, the Rose Garden, the Theatre Garden, the Rose Arbor, the Peony Garden, the Wisteria Garden, the Italian Water Garden, the Flower Garden Walk, the Example Garden, the Idea Garden (Grasses, Vines and Roses, Perennials, Fruit Trees, Berries and Herbs), Heaths and Heathers, the Oak and Conifer Knoll, the Meadow, plus many water features.

 Louise Arnold Tanger Arboretum: Lancaster County Historical Society, 230 N. President Avenue, Lancaster, PA 17603 (717)393-4633.

This arboretum, designed by Gustav Malmborg, beautifies the Historical Society grounds with 104 varieties of mature plants.

 Malcolm W. Gross Memorial Rose Garden: 2700 Parkway Boulevard, Allentown, PA 18104.

In the city called "Pennsylvania's Park Place", you'll find this All America Rose Selections accredited garden.

 Marywood University Arboretum: 2300 Adams Avenue, Scranton , PA 18509 (717)348-6265.

This 115 acre arboretum campus displays over 100 species of trees and shrubs.

 Masonic Villages: One Masonic Drive, Elizabethtown, PA 17022-2199 (717)367-1121.

Extraordinary formal gardens with lawns, terraces, rare trees, ornamental shrubs, rose beds and arbors, a reflecting pond, and large water fountain of this continuing care retirement community, children's home, and community service organization.

 Meadowbrook Farm: 1633 Washington Lane, Meadowbrook, PA 19046-1132 (215)887-5900.

This commercial nursery, the life work of J. Liddon Pennock, displays a series of gardens and a greenhouse.

 Mont Alto Arboretum: Pennsylvania State Mont Alto Campus, 1 Campus Drive (Off Route 233), Mont Alto, PA 17237 (717)749-3111.

This campus arboretum displays over 200 trees, the majority of which were planted between 1910 and 1925, including an excellent collection of Asiatic conifers. Tree identification tags and 2 self-guided trails are available.

 Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania: 100 Northwestern Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118 (215)247-5777.

This 92 acre university arboretum offers a Victorian landscape ornamented with gardens (including a formal All America Rose Selections rose garden), winding paths, streams, hidden grottos, fountains, Japanese rock work, a glasshouse fernery and woodland, plus some of Philadelphia's oldest trees.

 Mt. Assisi Monastery (formerly the Charles Schwab Estate): Loretto, PA 15940 (814)472-9483.

This Franciscan monastery, the former estate of Charles Schwab (founder of Bethlehem Steel), offers lavish grounds with extensive gardens including the formal Sunken Garden and rock gardens, waterfalls, fountains, statuary, a medieval stone water tower, and a palatial mansion

 Mutter Museum Herb Garden: College of Physicians, 19 S. 22nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-3001 (215)563-3737.

This museum of medicine offers an herb garden.

 National Aviary: Arch Street, Allegheny Commons West, Pittsburgh, PA 15212 (412)323-7235.

This indoor aviary, declared the official U.S. aviary in 1993, is home to 500 birds representing over 200 species in an environment of extensive plantings.

 Old Economy Village: 1400 Church Street, Ambridge, PA 15003-2281 (724)266-4500 or (Friends) (724)266-1803.

Two gardens and a greenhouse grace the grounds of this restored and recreated nineteenth century Christian communal society. The George Rapp Garden featured lawns, arbors, and flower beds with an open Pavilion over the pool that held a well executed female statue holding a lyre, and a straw-roofed Grotto. The Baker House Garden is a re-creation of a typical Harmonist family garden with old varieties of plants and vegetables planted according to historic arrangements. The more elaborate George Rapp Garden, once featuring lawns, arbors, flowers beds, and a Pavilion over the pool with a statue, also displays historical varieties.

 Penn State Horticultural Trial Garden: Park Avenue and Bigler Road, University Park, PA 16802 (814)865-2571.

An All America Selections trial garden and a Fleuroselect (a similar program in Europe) garden, the trial gardens display a rainbow of flowers. Penn State is also planning a 395 acre campus arboretum with natural woodlands, theme gardens (including vegetable, perennial, butterfly, herb, shade, plant society specialty, parterre), collections of vines, flowering shrubs and hedges, and a 10 acre naturalistic park.

 Pennsbury Manor: 400 Pennsbury Memorial Road, Morrisville, PA 19067 (215)946-0400.

This recreated home of William Penn includes a recreated kitchen garden of fruit, vegetables and herbs and a walled formal gardens.

 Philadelphia Museum of Art Azalea Garden: 26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130 (215)763-8100.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society is working on a landscape rehabilitation project for the Museum's 25 acres of grounds as part of its Philadelphia Green project.

 Philadelphia Zoo: 3400 W. Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104-1196 (215)243-1100.

America's first zoo, this 42 acre park-like zoo offers the Carnivore Kingdom, the Children's Zoo, the African Plains, the Bird House and Bird Lake, the Treehouse, Bear Country, the Primate Reserve, plus many indoor exhibits and a monorail. 100 mammal species, 150 bird species, and 225 reptile and amphibian species are represented.

 Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Inc.: One Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3830 (412)622-6914.

This historic Victorian conservatory offers 13 indoor gardens including the Desert Room, the East Room, the Fern Room, the Fruit and Spice Room, the Gallery, the Orchid Room, the Palm Court, the Parterre De Broderie (formal French-style knotted gardens), the Serpentine Room, the South Conservatory, the Stove Room, the Sunken Garden and the Victoria Room. Outdoor gardens the Aquatic Gardens, the Discovery Garden (for children), the Japanese Courtyard Garden, the Medicinal Plant Garden, the Outdoor Garden (a perennial garden, dwarf conifers, a border of pink and whites, annual beds, a semi-shade garden, medicinal plant garden and a medieval herb garden), and the Rose Garden.

 The Physic Garden: Pennsylvania Hospital, 8th and Pine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107-6192 (215)829-3000.

Proposed in 1774, the Botanical Garden was not actually created until 1976. It features a representative collection of herbs, trees and shrubs grown for medicinal purposes in 18th century American gardens.

 Pittsburgh Zoo: One Wild Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 (412)665-3640 or (800)474-4966.

This thoroughly modern zoo is a research and conservation organization, but that doesn't diminish the fun of seeing a world of animals and birds in naturalistic habitats.

 Reading Public Museum: 500 Museum Road, Reading, PA 19611-1425 (610)371-5850.

This museum offers 25 acres of grounds with hundreds of flowering trees, shrubs and sculptural gardens.

 Renziehausen Park Rose Garden and Arboretum: Eden Park Boulevard off Walnut Street, McKeesport, PA 15131 (412)672-1050.

Among the lovely gardens at this 258 acre park are an All America Rose Selections accredited rose garden with 1,200 roses arranged in 28 beds plus 3 raised miniature rose beds of approximately 300 bushes.

Robert Pyle Memorial Rose Garden: Star Roses, Routes 1 and 796, West Grove, PA 19390 (610)869-2426 or (800)458-6559.

This rose grower, developer of All America Rose Selections winners, exhibits an All-America Rose Selections accredited garden.

 Rock Ford Plantation: 881 Rock Ford Road, P.O. Box 264, Lancaster, PA 17608-0264 (717)392-7223.

This 1794 Georgian brick mansion is surrounded by 32 acres of gardens and woodlands.

 Rodale Institute Research Center: 611 Siegfriedale Road, Kutztown, PA 19530 (610)683-1400.

This agricultural research center stressing organic production of food crops maintains trial and demonstration gardens at this 333 acre experimental farm.

 Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden: 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2953 (412)621-6566.

This fascinating garden displays more than 100 temperate and tropical plants, each labeled and with a bible verse, in a setting with a waterfall, a desert, a bubbling stream, and the Jordan River from Lake Kineret to the Dead Sea. An extensive continuing research effort results in changing programs and displays.

 Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College: 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081-1397 (610)328-8025.

This 300 acre campus arboretum with 3,000 varieties of plants includes collections of conifers, hydrangeas, hollies, lilacs, oaks, roses, tree peonies, viburnums and wisteria. Gardens include the Biostream (flowering shrubs and perennials around a rock filled drainage swale), the Rhododendron Display Garden (300 varieties), the Scott Entrance Garden (mixed plantings), the Crum Woods (200 acre woodland with trails), the Dean Bond Rose Garden (650 roses of 200 varieties), the Scott Outdoor Amphitheater (designed by Thomas W. Sears), the Harry Wood Courtyard Garden (groundcovers, broadleaf evergreens, mature river birches and bulbs), the Summer Bloom Border (perennials and annuals), the Isabelle Cosby Courtyard (plants with gold and purple foliage), the Suzanne Schmidt Memorial Garden (the cherry collection, bulbs, herbaceous perennials and ferns), the James R. Frorer Holly Collection (350 varieties), the Terry Shane Teaching Garden (an annual border, a pergola, perennials, and a water garden), the John W. Nason Garden and Outdoor Classroom (interesting textures), the Theresa Lang Garden of Fragrance, the Metasequoia Allée (dawn redwoods with underplantings), the Winter Garden (plants with ornamental bark, berries and winter flowers), the Pinetum (pines, spruces, firs and more, and the Wister Garden (early bulbs, wildflowers, ferns, tree peonies and rhododendrons).

 Shofuso: West Fairmount Park, Belmont Avenue and Montgomery Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19131 (215)763-8003.

This 16th or 17th century style Japanese home is surrounded by a period Japanese garden with statuary, rocks, koi, lovely plantings and a bamboo grove.

 Stonehedge Gardens: 51 Dairy Road, Tamaqua, PA 18252 (570)386-4276.

Six acres of lovely gardens feature the Perennial Garden, the Formal Culinary Herb Garden, an Exotic Tropical Spice and Flowering Specimen Garden, the Chile Pepper Garden, the Water Garden and the Hosta Garden.

 Swiss Pines: Charlestown Road, R.D. 1, P.O. Box 127, Malvern , PA 19355 (215)933-6916 or (610)935-8795.

This 19 acre Japanese garden and wildlife preserve displays a Teahouse and Tea Garden, a stone garden, statuary, streams, a lake, stone lanterns, and bridges set among naturalistic plantings. Plant collections include the Glendale Azalea Garden (150 kinds); the Herb Garden (100 low maintenance species), the Ground Cover Garden (28 low-growing plants), and the Pinetum (over 200 varieties of conifers).

 Taylor Memorial Arboretum: 10 Ridley Drive, Wallingford, PA 19086 (610)876-2649..

Special areas of this lovely 30 acre arboretum includes Anne's Grotto (a former quarry site with mosses, ferns, wildflowers, and azaleas), the millrace and waterfall and the Bald Cypress Pond (with cattails, rushes, and iris). Plant collections include azaleas, dogwoods, magnolias, junipers, lilacs, viburnums, witchhazels, Japanese maples, boxwoods, and arborvitae. Three Pennsylvania State Champion Trees (a giant dogwood, a needle juniper, and a lacebark elm) are also featured.

 Tyler Arboretum: 515 Painter Road, Media, PA 19063-4424 (610)566-5431.

This lovely 650 acre arboretum was systematically planted with trees and shrubs by the owners beginning in 1825. Displays include rhododendrons, magnolias, maples, cherries, hollies, crabapples and lilacs, plus oaks, tulip trees, poplars, beech and an 85 acre pinetum. Visitors can also enjoy the Fragrant Garden, the Bird Garden and the Butterfly Garden as well as the Native Woodland Walk and 20 miles of trails through the 450 uncultivated acres.

 Welkinweir: Green Valleys Association, 1368 Prizer Road, Pottsdown, PA 19465 (610)469-4900.

This 162 acre nature education center features ponds, wetlands, meadows and woods. The formal plantings surrounding the house resulted from the acquisition of an entire nursery.

 Wyck: 6026 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19144 (215)848-1690.

Unaltered since the 1820s, Wyck's garden of old roses adheres to its original 19th century plan. The 2 1/2 acres of grounds surrounding the historic home display vegetable, herb and ornamental gardens among various rural outbuildings.

 Zoo America: Park Avenue, Hershey, PA 17033 (717)534-3860.

This 11 acre zoo features plants and animals native to five regions of North America (the North Woods, Big Sky Country, Cactus Community, Eastern Woodlands and Grassy Waters) and displays 150 animals representing some 70 species amongst extensive plantings.