A Gardening Year

The adventures and misadventures of an heirloom gardener

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Straw Hats go to Deep Cut Gardens

Deep Cut Gardens, located in Middletown, NJ, were commissioned by Vito Genovese to be reminiscent of his birthplace in Naples, Italy. The gardens are a mixture of English and Italian styles. Work on the gardens was ended prematurely when Genovese left the country and the house burned down. The property passed through a series of owners before being willed to the Monmouth County Park System. The 54 acres of gardens and greenhouses are planned as a living catalog of cultivated and native plants to be observed through the seasons.

Between the parking lot and the Horticultural Center (a house that was built to replace the one that burned down) is a lovely lily pond filled koi of all sizes including enormous ones similar to the fish we saw at the Chinese Scholar’s Garden last year.



Surrounding the Horticultural Center are pretty little gardens.




The building rests on a hill. The main gardens descend the hill along a stone staircase with incredible trees and cascading pools.





A special feature that Genovese insisted upon, is the Mt. Vesuvius rockery.


A fire is built inside and the smoke coming out of the top is supposed to make it look like Mt. Vesuvius.

At the bottom of the hill is the parterre Rose Garden, currently undergoing renovation.


At the far end of it, barely visible under the vegetation is a round pergola.


We doubled back and strolled through the Shade Garden.


On our way to the Display Greenhouse, we passed the Bonsai Display.


Inside the greenhouse were more bonsai as well as cacti and succulents.



In the next room were orchids and other tropical plants.



Outside of the greenhouse is a Japanese themed garden filled with plants from that island nation.


I especially liked this shrub.


Another short walk brought us to the Display Garden featuring AAS winners.



Behind the Display Garden is a production greenhouse, a shadehouse and a compost demo area.




Then it was back to the van for a quick lunch and then off to our next destination, Barlow Flower Farm in Sea Girt.

More pictures of our trip to Deep Cut Gardens can be seen on Flickr.

4 Comments:

At 7:14 AM, Blogger Colleen Vanderlinden said...

What a great place to visit! The lily pond looks beautiful, and I love that shot you got of the evergreens arching over the path. I think I could have gotten happily lost there :-)

I love it when you let us come along on these Straw Hat visits!

 
At 4:16 PM, Blogger Sweet Home and Garden Carolina said...

You've got great taste. That evergreen is the Queen of all evergreens-chamaecyparis gracilis, or Japanese cypress. I have one and absolutely adore it.

Thanks for leading us on a tour of the beautiful gardens. It's nice to dream. More Straw Hat visits please !

 
At 1:24 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Head Hatter here...
I love reliving our little excursions through you and your camera... I will be sending this on to my friend, a head gardener at Deep Cut. I am sure he will enjoy our trip too!!!

The Head Hatter

 
At 7:32 PM, Blogger OldRoses said...

Colleen, it is a wonderful place to get lost in.

Carolyn Gail, I always thought that they were highly stylized in paintings. I was surprised (and excited) to see that they really do look like that.

Head Hatter, gee I hope I got all the details right!

 

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