November 05, 2023
It was a soggy late-September midday at the Philadelphia Area Fling when we visited author and horticulturist Jenny Rose Carey‘s garden, Northview Garden, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. My bus of 50 (garden bloggers, Instagrammers, and YouTubers) was invited first to have a sit-down lunch in the carriage house before setting out to explore the 4-1/2-acre garden.
Herb Garden
I was smitten by Jenny’s colorful, playful garden, where I wandered for an hour and still managed to miss an entire section behind her house. Dang it — next time! But I found so much to enchant me elsewhere that I didn’t realize I was overlooking anything.
Near the house, a long straight path runs through a fenced herb garden. In the center, four columnar evergreens surround a mossy table with a green umbrella for sunnier days.
Castor bean’s starfish-shaped leaves
Mossy chairs tucked into the garden
A rustic gate has a sign proclaiming Jenny’s Garden…
…and a trowel pull handle. Such details are fun to discover.
Pond Garden
After the herb garden, I found myself in a sunny (well, if not rainy), open space set up for a crowd, with several yellow tables and chairs on a stone patio…
…overlooking a pond and blue-trimmed garden shed.
A waterfall trickles into the pond from a rocky shelf half-hidden by a weeping conifer.
A charming view
“Frog parking only. All others will be toad,” reads a punny sign.
It was a good day for froggy fun.
Potted pansies in terracotta pots find a sympatico companion in a terracotta rooster.
The wide view
Goldenrod, rudbeckia, and asters were in full flower in Jenny’s early fall garden.
Rose Cottage garden shed
The garden shed, which Jenny calls Rose Cottage, is far more than a workaday shed…
…starting with its porch, where hanging conical planters and other potted plants and a cushioned chair invite you in.
Inside, it’s clear this is a she-shed, with comfy chairs for sitting and watching the pond garden through windows.
Green glass — are these bulb vases? — line the windowsill, along with dahlia posies and pretty collected objects.
Like iron mice and rabbits
And brass and ceramic birds
And gnomes, roosters, and gourds!
Outside, a stone sink with a glass-bead mosaic spelling out Northview stands ready for watering pots or washing up.
Rose Gate potting area
Behind Rose Cottage, a picket fence with carved and painted roses encloses a greenhouse…
…and a tidy potting area adorned with a collection of potted plants…
…and a metal bird’s-nest chair.
Shady path
A path shaded by tall trees and shrubs, adorned with a copper mirror and bucket…
…leads past a collection of fir cones…
…to stone gateposts.
Castle Garden
This is the Castle Garden, enclosed by a crenellated evergreen hedge…
…with a stone table and benches inviting you in for a quiet moment between colorful flower gardens.
A mossy arbor beckons you onward.
Cutting Garden
A fenced cutting garden of cleome, cosmos, sunflowers, black-eyed Susans, and dahlias is made more colorful with purple-painted flower stakes.
A yellow-and-blue birdhouse on axis with the path draws you forward.
White cosmos
And lots of pretty dahlias
Blackberry lily fruits
Jenny has a knack for finding charming metal garden chairs.
One more ruffled dahlia
And a bee-attracting cosmos. I have much more to share from Jenny’s garden, but it will take another post. Stay tuned for Part 2.
Up next: Part 2 of Jenny Rose Carey’s whimsical and colorful Northview Garden. For a look back at Stoneleigh’s native-plant public garden, click here.
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