I was recently lucky enough to be invited along to tour The Gardens at Elm Bank at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Wellesley headquarters, located at 900 Washington St. in Wellesley (a major part of the site is located in Dover). It had been a long time since I’d wandered the 36-acre property, listed since 1987 on the National Register of Historic Places, so I jumped at the chance. The Gardens at Elm Bank are leased from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, which maintains the 175 acres that include the Gardens, the woodland along the Charles River, and fields.
Tour highlights included a turn around Mass Hort’s Trial Garden; the Goddesses Garden; the kid-friendly Weezie’s Garden; the Italianate Garden; and the Bressingham Garden, created by British design powerhouse Adrian Bloom in 2007.
Here are some pics:
The tour started off at the Trial Gardens, a cooperative effort between Mass Hort, the Massachusetts Flower Growers’ Association, and the University of Massachusetts. In this space, a wide variety of annuals, perennials, and vegetables are grown as a trial to see how they will do in the New England climate. New, unreleased, and old standard types of each variety are grown side-by-side and judged on how they perform. Results can be found at All-American Selections.
Mass Hort’s Hartley Botanic Victorian Lodge has been a centerpiece of the Trial Gardens since 2017. The 19′ x 11′ handmade aluminum structure was made possible in part by a generous donation from Mass Hort Trustee Scott Bierney’s. Bierney wanted Mass Hort to have a place where for visitors where flowers would brighten gloomy days in winter and give hope that spring was on its way.
Weezies Garden, installed in 2004. The active garden space designed for outdoor place-based youth education includes an Enchanted Woodland, a Tea Party Garden, a Pollinators Garden, Sandbox Archaeology area, green arbors and plant tunnels, water features, and more. Kids of all ages love this area, which was extensively renovated in 2015.
The Elm Bank manor house, viewed from Bressingham Garden. The garden was installed in 2007 and installed over two very hot summer days by over 200 volunteers. Designed by plantsman Adrian Bloom of Bressingham, England, it is a four-season garden that uses mass planting techniques to create visual impact.
Bressingham Garden
The Italianate Garden’s Copper Beech hedge provides the “walls” of the garden.
The New England Unit of the Herb Society of America maintains this teaching garden.
Autumn interest in the herb garden.
Ceres and Pomona, two of the three Roman goddess statues that stand guard at Mass Hort.
Elm Bank can always use volunteers looking for a meaningful and rewarding experience. They need help with everything from weeding and mulching to helping out in the library and the office. You don’t need a green thumb — the staff trains and guides volunteers.
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