Name, Address & URL of the Public Garden
Chanticleer
http://www.chanticleergarden.org/
786 Church Road, Wayne, PA 19087
610-687-4163
What this Garden Especially is Known For.
Their tag is “...a pleasure garden” and I couldn’t agree more. Even my husband, a non-gardeners who’s been to more gardens than he’d probably like, was in awe of Chanticleer. Chanticleer was a private residence that opened as a public garden in 1993. The focus is on combinations and views. A lot of times when a garden says it has 20 or 30 acres of gardens, most of the space is taken up with trees and paths. There are plenty of both at Chanticleer, but it’s also chuck full of some of the most amazing plants and designs.
Two of the particularly intriguing gardens at Chanticleer are the Minder Ruin Garden and the Terrace garden. The Ruin garden combines architecture and horticulture with a wink and a chuckle. Built on the site of a former house, there are crumbling floors, partial walls and intermingled plants. It’s a fabricated ruin, but it’s hard to tell.
I think the other thing that visitors are immediately hit by is the eye catching way plants are combined and grouped and no where is that made cleared then in the dozens of containers placed throughout the terrace gardens. Trees, fruits, succulents and plants I’d never seen before all vie for your attention. I took over 300 photos. I’m not doing this garden justice. It’s positively sumptuous.
Advice
- Give yourself plenty of time. You could easily spend the day there, but don’t try to cover it all in less than 3 hours. Take your time and don’t forget to look up occasionally; the views are wonderful too.
- Seriously, walk the whole garden. The woodland garden, the Teacup and Tennis Court gardens, the vegetable and cutting gardens... Each area has it’s own personality, but they all flow into each other effortlessly. The gardeners are in the gardens working and more than happy to answer questions.
