Frederick County MD Gardens Open Day – Part 1
/Last Saturday was The Garden Conservancy’s Open Day in Frederick MD. I had heard about one of them (High Glen) from a Master Gardener who had enjoyed the gardens a month ago and encouraged everyone to take advantage of the Open day on June 2. I bought tickets online and then was dismayed last week when it appeared that the forecast for Saturday was a high probability of rain. The ground was soggy --- but the clouds were holding their moisture rather than dropping it. We started our walk around High Glen at 10 and managed two other open gardens before we headed home in the afternoon. I enjoyed each garden – for different reasons – and will post about each one separately. Today’s post is about High Glen.
The walk around the gardens started out well. I noticed some tiny fungus growing on the mulch in the bed just outside the welcome station in the barn. It was birds nest fungus in all stages of development. I was glad I had the clip-on macro lens for my cell phone handy.
Further into the bed were some mushrooms with caps that had split – making them look like flowers. Perhaps the splits were caused by the very soggy ground conditions? It could be what happens when mushrooms get too much water!
But the draw of High Glen is formal gardens. There was a fish pond complete with koi, water lilies, and sculpture. Are the sculpted birds green herons? The necks are not long enough to be great blues.
The vistas of the eyebrow in the front of the house, the ellipse in the back, and a garden gate…
And then pathways of mulch or stepping stones…even the rocks and plantings around the pool…all a feast for the eyes.
I took pictures of plants as well….can’t help it when I visit a garden.
The sculpture – other than the on the at the fish pond – was all over the garden and quite diverse: wire insects, wooden balls, metal spinners, and glass flowers. One of my favorite sculpture was of to children (Victorian?) interacting in a garden border.
There was a frog on an old fashioned bicycle, a large peacock (near the house and probably positioned to be nicely framed by a window when viewed from the inside), and life sized figures tucked into flowerbed and corners of walled lawns.
There was a summer house and a bocce court….lots of walking around space. It was the kind of garden I enjoy visited but would not want for my own home.
