Soothing places of surprise and Sanctuary in the U.S. and Canada
Celia Thaxter's Garden
Appledore Island, Maine
Poppies pop up from the cutting plots that poet Celia Thaxter cultivated and immortalized in her 1894 book An Island Garden, illustrated by impressionist painter Childe Hassam. Tiny Appledore Island, a 95-acre Eden in the Isles of Shoals, ten miles off the coast of Maine, is a vision of 19th-century flower power: Sweet peas, hollyhocks, asters, and a clematis called Traveler's Joy rule this emerald isle. Visitors have included Mark Twain and Ralph Waldo Emerson, who stayed at the summer hotel that Thaxter's father built here (lost in a 1914 fire). There is no place for a sleepover these days, but tours of Thaxter's garden are offered on Wednesdays June-August.
Naumkeag
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
The Choate family's 44-room summer "cottage," designed in 1885 by McKim, Mead, and White, is an attraction. But gardeners love the garden "rooms"—themed outdoor spaces—that literally make mansions from molehills. The Chinese Garden, Tree Peony Terrace, Afternoon Garden, Arborvitae Walk, and Evergreen Garden occupy much of the estate's eight landscaped acres. Forty acres of woodland and meadow surround this "haven of peace"—the Native American meaning of the word Naumkeag.
Madoo
Sagaponack, New York
Landscape painter Robert Dash believed that gardening must appear effortless to succeed. Although the flat fields along the eastern end of Long Island are better known for producing potatoes, Dash managed to coax subtle annuals and perennials, mounds of tall grass, and allées of clipped privet from his two-acre canvas. Madoo comes from an old Scottish term for "my dove," and these gardens impart a corresponding sense of tranquillity.
Innisfree
Millbrook, New York
"Cup gardens," a Chinese garden design in which enclosure is used to frame a specific feature, are the key to this unique American garden. Set around a glacial lake and incorporating native plants and rocks, Innisfree is a dreamy collection of outdoor spaces. Streams, waterfalls, terraces, retaining walls, rocks, and plants define areas. Motion is embraced as a garden element with jet fountains and a mist waterfall that sends vapors over rocks and trees. Water lotuses, smoke trees, and a hemlock grove give Innisfree a paradise-lost feel.
Chanticleer
Wayne, Pennsylvania
This 35-acre estate garden west of Philadelphia attracts the plant passionate. Bulbs bloom in spring, followed by orchards of flowering trees and native wildflowers. Espaliered fruit trees demonstrate the art of horticulture near a water garden surrounded by fragrant herb plants. Waves of wheat form an undulating "sculpture" around boulders, and whimsical courtyards mix perennials with tropical plants for a lush effect.
Franciscan Monastery Gardens
Washington, D.C.
The existence of this monastery tucked into the northeast quadrant of the nation's capital is a surprise even to many locals. More than 20 acres of hillside gardens, woods, and meadows honor the Franciscan order's long tradition of providing garden sanctuary to all—including birds and other wildlife. High-lights include a garden planted with herbs mentioned in the Bible; rose gardens; spring plantings of hibiscuses, lantana, caladiums, and palms; and replicas of the Garden of Gethsemane and shrines from the Holy Land. Walkways allow visitors to wander the wooded landscape in contemplative silence.
Mckee Botanical Garden
Vero Beach, Florida
One of Florida's earliest public gardens opened as McKee Jungle Gardens in 1929, 80 acres showcasing a notable collection of orchids and water lilies—including Amazonian lily pads large enough to hold a small child—and subtropical ferns, palms, and rubber trees. With the opening of Disney World in Orlando in the 1970s, however, the "jungle" faded and closed. Reopened in 2001 with a more manageable 18 acres, this Florida landmark has been restored to full tropical bloom, with bromeliads, heliconias, and lotuses decorating ponds and trails.
Afton Villa Gardens
St. Francisville, Louisiana
Allées of live oaks dripping with Spanish moss greet visitors to this old plantation that today encompasses two acres of gardens, 25 acres of parkland, and the remains of a Gothic mansion. Begun in 1849, this terraced garden represents the best of antebellum landscape architecture. Evocative garden features include a maze outlined with boxwoods, and tall cedars cloaked in wisteria.
Dow Gardens
Midland, Michigan
More than 1,700 hardy varieties of plants blanket the 110 acres of this vast garden created by Herbert Dow, founder of Dow Chemical, in 1899. His company may be better known for Styrofoam, but Dow's horticultural oeuvre today helps educate plant lovers on natural miracles. Trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and flowers were landscaped to accord with Dow's wish to "never reveal the gardens' whole beauty at first glance."
Lyndale Park Gardens
Minneapolis, Minnesota
When Minneapolis isn't freezing, it's blooming. At this gem tucked into a city full of greenery, it's blooming roses—more than 60 beds of them, covering almost two acres. America's second-oldest municipal rose garden (after Elizabeth Park, in Hartford, CT) is one of four gardens in Lyndale Park, on the shore of Lake Harriet. Also here: a Peace Garden of alpine plants and dwarf conifers landscaped with rocks; an Annual Display Garden; and a Perennial Trail Garden.
Betty Ford Alpine Gardens
Vail, Colorado
Alpine plants are the stars at this spectacular park—at 8,200 feet, the world’s highest botanic garden. More than 2,000 species of flowers and shrubs make up a living collection of high-elevation plants from around the world. Set in the Rockies, this alpine oasis was founded in 1985 and named after former First Lady Betty Ford. Paths lead to streams, pools, and benches, with Colorado blue spruces, penstemons, and dianthuses providing inspiring backdrops. The garden offers mountain hikes, docent-led tours, and classes.
Peckerwood Garden
Hempstead, Texas
Spiky yucca punctuates this conservation garden visitable by appointment. More than 3,000 rare and unusual plants display the botanical wealth of the borderland between Texas and Mexico. Plant preservation highlights include cycads—primitive plants that flourished when dinosaurs walked the Earth—and magnolia hybrids.
Tohono Chul Park
Tucson, Arizona
This garden's name means "desert corner" in the native Tohono O'odham language, and the 500 species of plants from the Southwest and Mexico attest to the regional specialty of this 37-acre park. Loop trails lead visitors past towering saguaro cacti to demonstration and hummingbird gardens that display water-conserving (xeriscape) plantings, and an ethnobotanical garden of Native American crops. A children's garden invites playful exploration.
Lotusland
Santa Barbara, California
In 1941, flamboyant Polish opera singer Ganna Walska and husband number six, an American, created this 37-acre wonderland from a former nursery. A lover of exotic and dramatic plants, Walska collected ferns, bromeliads, succulents, and other tropical treasures, which she planted in idiosyncratic plots. The centerpiece is a world-class collection of 400 cycads, joined by fern, aloe, Japanese, butterfly, cactus, and water gardens, and entertaining topiaries of animals. Tour reservations required.
Ruth Bancroft Garden
Walnut Creek, California
More than 2,000 succulents, cacti, trees, and shrubs native to Africa, Australia, California, and Chile populate this small garden, which focuses on water-conserving landscape techniques. The vision of Californian Ruth Bancroft, the garden showcases the horticultural wealth of deserts with its piñon pines, agaves, aloes, euphorbias, and other arid-climate plants. A water-lily pond offers an oasis in the sun.
Shore Acres
Coos Bay, Oregon
Surely one of America's most beautiful state parks, Shore Acres began as the private estate of lumberman and shipbuilder Louis J. Simpson. Perched on a scenic bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, this formal six-acre garden is loaded with tulip and daffodil bulbs, which effuse through April. Hundreds of fuchsia and white rhododendrons and azaleas bloom through mid-May, while 600 rose bushes and some 5,000 flowering annuals and perennials call forth a riot of color through the month of September. Monterey cypress and Sitka spruce frame the garden, and fall foliage displays are spectacular. Trails meander above the Pacific, and hikers can picnic at rocky Cape Arago while viewing marine mammals and tide-pool life.
Japanese Garden
Portland, Oregon
Some 40 years ago a Japanese idea was planted in Portland's West Hills. Since then, this seed has grown into one of America's most authentic Japanese gardens. Little more than five acres now contain five formal gardens: the Strolling Pond Garden, the Natural Garden, the Sand and Stone Garden, the Flat Garden, and the Tea Garden. The combination of plants, stones, and water represents ancient traditions based on Shinto, Buddhist, and Taoist philosophies. A magnificent vista across Portland toward the Cascade Mountains and Mount Hood is just one of the serene, and yet always changing, aspects of this placid Asian retreat.
Ohme Gardens
Wenatchee, Washington
Native evergreens, western red cedar, and Douglas fir create shady spaces for ferns, phlox, creeping thyme, and other alpine plants, which thrive on a hill once covered by sagebrush. The gardens feature trees, stones, and water more than flowers—and magnificent panoramic views of the Columbia River and the Cascade Mountains.
Nani Mau Gardens
Hilo, Hawaii
Gardeners love rain, and at Nani Mau they get a lot of it: Annual rainfall here is 120 inches, which guarantees a bumper crop of floral beauty. The tropical plants on display include orchids, hibiscuses, anthuriums, and the Wanga palm, which can grow to 160 feet high. The 53-acre garden includes a fruit orchard where star fruits, litchis, soursops, Hawaiian oranges, and the medicinal noni fruit can be picked and tasted. Floral fragrance permeates this large Big Island garden.
National Tropical Botanical Garden
Kauai, Hawaii
Kauai is Hawaii's "garden island," home to four glowing sites managed by the National Tropical Botanical Garden. Allerton Garden, once on a private estate, is a series of "garden rooms" of unusual plants that provide spaces for contemplation. The McBryde Garden, blessed with an important collection of native Hawaiian plants, calls itself a "Noah's Ark of tropical flora." Limahuli Garden, a luxuriant 17-acre stretch of native tropical forest, has been dubbed America's best natural botanical garden. An isolated, 472-acre Kahanu Garden boasts lava formations and the world's largest collection of breadfruit cultivars.
Jardins de Métis
Grand Métis, Quebec
Situated at the confluence of the Métis and St. Lawrence Rivers, on the northern coast of the Gaspé Peninsula, this plant showcase is symbolized by its specialty, the radiant Himalayan blue poppy, which blooms in July. From spring to fall more than 3,000 species—including 500 native and exotic perennial species—grow here in a fiery profusion of blossoms in six ornamental gardens, thanks to a shield of white spruce trees that creates a warming microclimate.
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
Vancouver, British Columbia
Classical gardens of the Ming dynasty, originally designed by Taoist poets to create a place for contemplation and inspiration, were retreats from daily life. This garden folded into Vancouver's Chinatown is the first full-scale classical Chinese garden built outside China. Four primary elements—water, stone, plants, and architecture—advance the Taoist theory of yin and yang: a sense of harmony created by opposites in balance. The garden is neatly enclosed and incorporates bonsai plants, Ming-style ornamentation, and stones from China.
Our Expert Consultants
Dr. Marc Cathey, President Emeritus, American Horticultural Society; former director, U.S. National Arboretum.
Gordon Hayward, garden designer, author, and lecturer, Horticulture, Fine Gardening.
Nathan Heavers, head gardener, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.
Jack Ruttle, garden writer and columnist, Garden Design.
Jim Yoch, garden designer and author, Landscaping the American Dream: The Gardens and Film Sets of Florence Yoch.
Published in the March 2005 issue of National Geographic Traveler.