06 November 2023
In my last post I showed you half of Jenny Rose Carey’s garden, Northview, which I toured during the Philadelphia Area Fling in September. Today I will show you the rest. Let’s start with her fruit and flower garden, where this Tin Man sculpture welcomed me with open arms.
Stock-tank flower garden
A garden after my heart — full of seedlings! Galvanized raised beds are filled with cut flowers such as cosmos, gomphrena, amaranth and dahlias.
Every space in Jenny’s 4.5 acre garden is cozy with tables and chairs. This pink table was even decorated with a small bouquet of pink flowers.
Tropical Storm Ophelia bent the plants, but they still held their flowers.
Outside that walled garden, a circular lawn with wheel planters (and an old basket in the background) makes for a peaceful palette cleanser.
This scene captured my imagination – two golden bushes choking the garage door of the carriage house. It’s like a hidden tower with golden guards.
Rain Garden
Nearby is a rain garden with native plants, which today had a job to soak up all the waste from the storm.
Lake garden
Then I walked down Jenny’s long driveway toward her lake garden, passing this twisted Japanese maple along the way. It has already shed its autumn leaves, revealing its calligraphic form.
A semicircular mound built with stacked stone…
…creates the perfect conditions for a rocky dry garden at the top, with plants such as guara and dianthus.
A waterfall flows from a mound into a large lake – marked as a lake on Jen’s garden map, perhaps to distinguish it from her pond; see Part 1 — with seating along one side.
Stone slabs at water level lead across the pond to a round courtyard with Gothic chairs. It is beautifully designed. And by the surface of the water hole, you can see how much it rained! Picture me huddled under an umbrella, poncho and raincoat, trying to keep my camera dry. But there was so much more to see, so go ahead!
Stumpery
From the sunny pond, the garden enters a shady forest, where the logs of fallen trees are stacked in the garden wall.
And where the smaller logs are anthropomorphized into Northview Logheads, as a sign naming them.
Fun!
Walking along the log wall, I noticed that some of them were hollow, and one framed the view…
Magical! The largest hollow log frames the view of the teapot fountain and tree stump table and chairs. Let’s find them.
Shade garden with tea fountain
This might have been my favorite moment in all of Northview. The fountain is charming, and the whole space encourages a sense of childlike wonder, set in a mossy glade surrounded by Japanese maples just turning.
The glass beads around the teapot and cup probably hide the mechanics of the disappearing fountain as they look like spilled liquid.
Nearby, a children’s tea party set with a small bouquet and even a brass lamp (does it glow at night?), a tree stump table and chairs add to the whimsy.
The chairs appear to be artificial, but they fit perfectly with the old tree stump table.
So charming!
Jen’s grandchildren (or whoever the children are in her life) are very lucky to have such lovely garden rooms to play in. Further along the tea party path, I came across a small play set (not pictured) and this balancing elephant sculpture. Decorated gazebo in the background…
…puts away a small table and chairs, brightly painted…
…where fairy magic happens.
View from the gazebo
There is also a small playhouse in the fireplace and a large pencil with the words “Jenny’s Garden Designs”.
Children are clearly encouraged to play in this garden. I spotted this crow’s nest house built on top of a massive tree stump in the Dry Garden (which unfortunately I didn’t get good pictures of).
Adults are welcome too, with lots of creative garden rooms to explore and places to sit and all.
Another old tree stump that Jenny turned into a face bears a sign with the garden’s name.
Gathering Circle
Finally, I will show you Jenny’s house, which was built in 1887 and is surrounded by large trees planted at that time. Other old trees were lost to age and the tornado spawned by Hurricane Ida in 2021—hence the collection of trunks in stumps and lining some of her garden beds.
In front of the house, a low curved wall encloses a “gathering circle,” where I imagine Jenny begins her rounds in her garden on sunny days.
Jenny has been gardening in Northview for 25 years, and it is a truly charming place after so many years of her skill and creativity applied to it. Check out Jenny’s website and her books, Glorious Shade and The Ultimate Guide to Floristsif you want to know more.
Next up: Barbara Tiffany’s Mill Fleurs hillside garden. For a review of part one of Jenny Rose Carey’s Northview Garden, click here.
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