I live north of Boston, not far from you, and I believe I can help you. As I don't want to put my personal info on a public site, if you want to get in touch, you can click on "My Page" at the top of this message on the "Garden Restoration" forum. Then click on "Send me an email". If you send me your email or phone, I will send my email or phone and we can talk about the historic trees and garden at the Jeremiah Lee Mansion.

Native redbud (Cercis canadensis) would be historically correct, as would be fruiting apple or pear trees. They don't get over 20-25' high and have year-round interest.

Ginny, I'm glad you can help her! I grew up in M'head and lived there until I bought my house in a neighboring town 12 years ago. The Jeremiah Lee mansion has a charming but "space challenged" garden and really does need small trees.

Hi Cady--I never heard from her so perhaps she found a solution--hope so. I have been to the Jeremiah Lee mansion and the garden is rather small. I'm not sure how many trees it could support. Plus, shade would eliminate a lot of sun-loving plants that would be historically correct for that garden. And any designer would need other information, such as the date they are trying to interpret--1768 or some other period in the history of the house/garden. And what existing documentation do they have. And so on. You know the drill.

That's the way it goes. :) She may have gone to the Mass. Hort. people or a local nursery for more direct help.

It is a small space, as you note, and also it gets part sun. Native dogwood would work there (I have vague recollections that they did have one at the mansion when I was a child, and it may have fallen victim to the "dogwood plague" that has decimated Cornus florida around the eastern United States.

But if they were interested in "appropriate to the period", as she indicated, then they wouldn't find much help at Mass Hort and definitely none at all at a local nursery. They need to consult a landscape historian/preservationist. It's not a large profession but there are a number of practitioners in the field in greater Boston and southern New England. Hope they found a qualified person.

I would love to ssee a few pictures of this garden. I have never been to Boston and would love to see it. Cheryl

You can see some nice photos and read about the garden by going to www.marbleheadmuseum.org Then click on "Lee Mansion". Then scroll down a bit and click on "Gardens". Very nicely done! It's a very typical Colonial Revival garden and probably not much like what would have been there in 1768--but most attractive nonetheless.

Maybe I'll put a battery in my camera and stop by sometime in the next couple weekends. I'm only a few minutes' drive. Of course, then I have to figure out how to upload the photos... lol

On the New England forum, there is a thread currently on the first page, "How do you post a photo?" with all necessary info, Cady. Now you're committed!! :)

This thread made me want to visit this historic house and its garden again, as it's been a very long time since my last visit. I went today. The house is interesting from an architectural point of view but there is unfortunately very little garden and what there is needs attention.

The house never had much land around it and the guide was unaware of any original plans or records of the landscape. The plantings are minimal and most of the grass has just been killed by a large function held on the property. That is supposed to be fixed shortly.

There were a few perennials and a tiny boxwood garden and that was about it. I hope the garden club can do some work here--it needs it. If I had come a long way to see the garden, I would have been very disappointed.