just finished our last day of phila area gardens. with an incredible

guide/new garden web friend, we were blown away by Chanticleer (as everyone

had told us we would be). we spent an entire HOT HOT HUMID day there

yesterday and we were amazed by the fact that the more we saw, the more

amazing the experience.we are real tree people and loved the vast sweeps of

rolling lawns with their backdrops of handsome unusual conifer/deciduous

trees and shrubs. Also really taken by the breathtaking and fun container

plantings and tropicals usage; the woodland areas, and that FABULOUS stone

living room ensemble and the ruins artwork. today charles cresson's

amazing place( that blue cunninghamia just made the whole day for me) and

another wonderful private garden in swarthmore and then the scott

arboretum. wow; it truly must be the most beautiful college campus in the

world. so many fabulous trees,so well grown and placed. And again, the

container plantings( done by eric) were just so varied and

spectacular.we'll look forward to morris arboretum on our next visit.the

barnes foundation, where we spent one day for the artwork, had some

spectacular trees but the perennial gardens were ratty and sad.

We arrived in Phila. after spending a day at NYBG where we were so

overwhelmed by the beauty of the perennial areas and the conservatories

that we feared we would be let down by what we found in pa. HA HA!! wrong!

longwood was most memorable for me- in the 'eye of water' feature- so soothing,( and what a spiritual allee of huge trees leading up to it)and the idea garden beds and the conservatories and water gardens. we ended our trip with the truly unique landscapes at innisfree in millbrook n.y.

never experienced anything like innisfree before and, except for the water jets, it was a truly extraordinary place.