As a born and bred New Yorker, I did what most of us do in our own hometowns; I failed to ever visit the Statue of Liberty, didn’t visit the Empire State Building until I brought a graduate school buddy from Ohio, and never set foot in the World Trade Towers. At Yew Dell, we had a Louisville couple visit this spring after learning about our Crestwood treasure on a visit to another botanical garden in Florida! Why is it that we tend to overlook the opportunities in our own back yards?
To remedy that situation a bit, and assuming that our members have taken advantage of all the Louisville area has to offer, we took a group of enthusiastic Yew Dell members to visit our gardening friends to the north; Indianapolis, Ind. An easy jaunt up I-65 just over 100 miles, put us squarely in the middle of some of the very best gardening this part of the country has to offer.
Our first stop was the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Which is in the final stages of a $78 million expansion. Possibly of particular interest to some of us garden folk is that $10 million of that project was spent on the landscape! And the funds could not have been entrusted to better and more capable hands. Mark Zelonis, director of Oldfields and the IMA gardens and grounds, and the outstanding horticulture staff, have done masterful work restoring some of the original historic gardens and planning and planting the new and extensive gardens that have all been part of this impressive expansion.
The variety of plants used, the detail of their care and the creativity of the garden presentations gives the immediate impression that this is a group of talented and committed gardeners. Indeed, during past visits I have had the pleasure to spend a little time in the house that the horticulture department calls home on the grounds. As soon as you walk in the door, you can feel the garden spirit. Every desk, table, chair and other reasonably horizontal surface is covered with a dizzying array of plant catalogs, reference books and anything else related to the garden. It is not a scene of disorganized chaos, like my desk. Rather it is passion and creativity at its best. It is obvious that these people eat, sleep and drink plants and gardens.
The gardens themselves offer an excellent class in combining the best of the tried and true, with the best of the weird and new. They constantly scour nurseries for something different and fun. The gardens range from shady, naturalistic borders of bold sweeps to the wonderfully restored 1920s ravine garden (originally designed by Percival Gallagher of the Olmsted firm), to the more contemporary entrance plantings that front the stunning new museum addition. The latter of these gardens is especially impressive in that much of it is grown in structured soils that overlay the underground parking garage. The gardens are every bit as creative and inspiring as the treasures that are displayed inside the museum buildings.
Our group was treated after lunch to a rare and special opportunity; a tour of the private garden of Mr. and Mrs. Gil Daniels. The Daniels garden is just a hop and skip from the museum, but strolling the garden and grounds felt more like being far away from the din of the city.
Of course one of the treats of visiting any garden is to have running commentary by the gardeners responsible for its creation. And this visit was no exception. Our stroll of the garden was lead by Mr. and Mrs. Daniels and their able and enthusiastic gardener who shared freely, their lessons learned, favorite plants and historical highlights. Favorites included; Nymphaea ‘Helvola’, a fabulous dwarf yellow-flowering water lily thriving in a tiny water pool outside the kitchen window (placed there so Mrs. Daniels could look out the window and see if it was raining!), Convallaria majalis ‘Variegata’- the variegated lily of the valley, the fabulously magenta-flowered Callirhoe involucrata and its white-flowered cultivar C. alcaeoide'Logan Calhoun'.
The gardens consist of a series of spaces that all feel comfortable and cozy, all have their own personality, and blend effortlessly. Bold sweeps of hostas and other shade plants give way to broad undulating lawn space. A considerable lily pond provides space for bog plants including Iris kaempferi, some of the happiest Primula japonica I’ve seen anywhere in this part of the country, and various Juncus species and other water gems. On a rise beyond the pond sits an original Jens Jensen limestone council ring that was moved from a neighboring property; a perfect venue to sit, enjoy the garden and contemplate our connection to those who have planted, weeded, designed and created before us.
Both gardens offered a healthy helping of food for thought and fueled long discussions on the bus ride home. Stay tuned for our next members trip coming up in the fall!
