HEAD FOR STOCKBRIDGE MASS TO THE BOTANICAL GARDEN IN THE BERKSHIRES

It was a lovely trip from New York to the beautiful Berkshires and the botanical garden.We arrived via the New york thruway I-90 to exit B-3 followed Rt 22 for .08 miles and turned left on to Rt 102 and follow it for 5.9 miles to the entrance of the gardens. There are many other ways to get to this spot and I suggest if you are making a tour of the Northeast from anywhere to make this one of your destinations.

The quaint town of Stockbridge,which is just beyond the garden entrance,has interesting shopping,home to the Berkshire Theatre,and the famous Red Lion Inn.Even you if you do not stay at the inn,a trip is not complete without a visit to the front porch or dine in one of its restaurants.

The botanical gardens is a self guided tour with a nominal entrance fee of $7.00 for adults,$5.00 for seniors and students, Children under 12 are free. They have a nice gift shop which offers many books on gardening,gardening ornaments,lots of garden accessories,and herb products. The garden is situated on both sides of Rt 102 comprising nearly 115 acres. The flower gardens are across the road from where the parking lot is situated and the parking side handles many acres of vegetable gardens.

The vista garden Has many full size and dwarf conifers and broadleaf evergreens spread through out this area of the botanical garden. This section also has been interplanted with Spring and summer blooming shrubs and trees. You are provided with a vista garden information sheet which corresponds with visibly placed numbered signs. It provides the botanical garden name for each plant as well as the common name. This is some very useful information which allows the tour to be more entertaining and educational.

I am not going to cover every tiny little detail of this garden but just the highlights of what I think was most interesting. If you visit,you may find other things to be more of an interest to you. However make sure you are equipped with a good camera

We might have scheduled our visit earlier in the summer because things like daylilies had already peaked but we did find a a Sandra Elizabeth daylily circa 1983 still in bloom as picture here.

THE BOTANICAL GARDEN ROCK GARDEN

This botanical garden rock garden was of enormous size as far as rock gardens go.Many of the groupings had signs attached to the area describing the creation of the particular section. Since the pictorial view of the sign would not be readable in the size required to upload here,I have extracted a few excerpts from the rock garden commentary.

This is the Timmy and Line Foster memorial garden.The rock garden was created by the Berkshire Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society during the period of 1992-1994. The plants are usually from rocky places of the earth and especially focused on mountainous regions above the tree line and other deserts and woodlands.Rocks can be used as mere decoration or not used at all when raised beds and containers are used. A knowledge of soil types,compost formation,mulches and drainage requirements can be useful in creating the botanical garden. These plants are usually not available from commercial sources and must be raised from seeds.

A very worth while pause on the tour to view and take in the variety of plants that were used in the creation of this rock garden. Now we must move on to the next location and the creation of a pond.

THE BOTANICAL GARDEN POND

The pond garden at the botanical garden is depicted as a woodland garden and includes plants that do well in moist shady conditions such as the battered bride which is a beautiful example of a flowering bush prevailing in a moist area. Ferns and other plants like hostas can survive here as the shade plant has larger leaves that compensates for the lack of light in a shady spot. A prime example of that flourishing is well represented by the large leaf area with the botanical name of Petasites Hybridus Asteraceae. This is quite breath taking but,as shade plants go,it gives a rather stunning show in large groupings. This is a prime example of what can be accomplished with a setting that sports a pond that is not all that large but surrounded by a myriad array of flowers,waterplants,and grasses giving it the appearance of a much larger area.

As we toured further through these beautiful gardens there many things used as formal or informal backgrounds. The use of a house with well position plants as a peaceful side view. A barn with a very interesting rustic arch which no doubt held some type of flowering vine earlier in the season. The use of a wooden arch just loaded with a covering vine giving it a picturesque look.

We were even able to capture a photo of a butterfly enjoying a late summer meal on a flowering bush. There were also several interesting species which had not yet met the end of summer flowering. The turtle head and the castor bean were still going strong as well as one of the grasses roseae. It was worth the trip just see the arrangements of plants,using a variety of backgrounds to make a focal point.

The trip was just about over as we breezed through the vegetable portion of the garden with its giant tomatoes,kale,spinach,corn,and many other varieties of vegetables. There were two things of noteworthy to mention.A small shed, which in our garden,could have been a tool shed,with an open side displaying flowers and hanging garden tools. The other was the potting shed where much of this garden was started from its earliest beginnings in the Spring.

The Berkshire Botanical Garden a destination in your garden touring. It is worth the trip and I only briefly touched on the highlights of this garden. It also has summer and fall activites which you may want to investigate. There is more information to be had at www.berkshirebotanical.org. It is well worth the trip from anywhere.