Hortulus Farm in Newtown, PA

On one of the hot summer weekends, we headed out to Hortulus Farm in Wrightstown, Pennsylvania after having read about it earlier being an off-the-beaten-path attraction. It's close to an hour's drive from Philadelphia. I couldn't have picked a more blistering day to visit the farm with temperatures averaging 104F that day. 

Hortulus is really a farm, nursery, and museum all rolled into one. There's an entrance fee ($12) to visit the sprawling estate and an additional fee for touring the museum (by appointment only). The historic 18th-century 1000-acre homestead was previously in disrepair until garden designers/writers Renny Reynolds and Jack Staub turned it around back to its former glory in the 1980s. It is now a public garden managed under a foundation to ensure that it can be enjoyed by one and all for the future.

 

Armed with a protective hat and sunscreen, we started from the nursery and walked along the woodlands trail around the lake towards the historic Isaiah Warner house and farm out-buildings. There are still some hints of farm life here with geese, chickens, and more exotic pets kept on the property. Surrounding the house are the French garden, vegetable and herb gardens, and a cut flower bed which are still lush and colorful this late in the season.The plantings suggest though that spring would have been the ideal time to visit Hortulus.
 

Further past the house and farm buildings, we were led along the perennial border to the pool garden, Italian fountain, the pine and dogwood allee, and a specimen arboretum. All these within one estate - isn't that fantastic? It feels like one is traversing through time and also across the continents between English, French, Italian, and American landscapes and garden designs.

The last stop was back at the nursery, which stocks various regular suspects as well as more exotic cultivars of perennials, annuals, and succulents. I got myself a nice potted graptopetalum plant to include in my collection. And last but not least, we headed back to the cool comfort of the car.