The Gardens at Mill Fleurs

This was the last garden I visited during the Philly Garden Fling in 2023, but I wanted to save Paxon Hill Farm for my last post (on Friday) so today we're visiting The Gardens at Mill Fleurs. The contrast between Paxon Hill and Mill Fleurs could not have been greater. At Paxon Hill we got off the bus and there was nobody to great us, to tell us where to go and what to expect. At Mill Fleurs we were greeted and toured, no stepping out of line here! Someone in our group dared to go down a path the wrong way and they were quickly corrected. 

After getting off the bus and scurrying across a busy street this the first thing I saw. Not bad! No dawdling however, we needed to march on to the starting point.

This extra-wide pathway is also a driveway.

Complete with a charging station for their car. I know this only because while we were touring with Barbara her husband Robert "Tiff" returned and we all waved.

The rock wall is rather impressive.

The gardens are on a steep, rocky, site right along Tohickon Creek (which was raging in the background during our visit). The buildings on the site include a 1790's Lumber Mill and a 1742 Grist Mill that now are the Tiffany's home.  

There is also an ice house...

Which we met at (the upper floor, visible in the above photo) for cookies and cider, it was the trade off point where our two groups switched tour guides. Karl Gercens (our Fling organizer) covered the lower garden while Barbara led us through the upper garden.

Did I mention it was raining?

That's Karl in the flipflops.

And Barbara with the purple umbrella. 

I have no doubt I would have loved this entire garden on a better day (Barbara is a foliage gardener who loves variegation and plants with an eye to massing and color), but on this grey day the colors in the garden area around the house really stood out.

Barbara was undaunted by the weather and worked her away around the garden pointing things out and telling stories.

Aristolochia gigantea in a pot.

The flowers...

The pleated rhododendron foliage showed well in the rain.

And we're back at the top of the garden with the greenhouse...

... and the agaves!

There's a small nursery space with plants for sale, and it looks like they might also teach classes?

Or maybe the chairs are just meant to encourage you to gather 'round the pond?

This Disporopsis pernyi looked like a winner (that's Heather in the back ground) but I wasn't about to try and get it on the bus and back home successfully under these adverse conditions.

Time to get back on the bus, but not before I spied this cool lower level greenhouse.

What's up with that!?

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All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

The Great Migration, a time to appreciate the details

The Great Migration is underway, tender plants moving from outside to inside. Looking at my work deadlines, and the forecast, I decided I needed to take advantage of any sunny dry afternoon and attack the plant moves in small bite sized chunks. Working in front of my computer for a few hours, then getting up, out, and moving plants. It's surprising how much I can get done (both versions) in just two or three hours. This photo was taken on October 4th...

Before any of the plants come into the house I look them over for small critters (slugs, spiders, mealy bugs) and clean up any dead leaves and debris. It's a great time to really appreciate the details and how much things have grown over the summer. This Aglaomorpha coronans threw out so many new fronds.

I hadn't noticed the stripes on this NoID nepenthes before. 

Any experts that can make an ID? (I bought it without one)

The top of the pitchers have a little alfalfa cowlick.

Quesnelia arvensis, a gift from Steve at The Rainforest Garden way back in 2010! Easily the oldest bromeliad in my collection.

The Tillandsia xerographica at it's base came from another friend, the center was showing signs of rot back when he gave it to me, but look... it's sending out a pup!

October 16th now and more plants are inside. After reading a post on Martha's annual migration the day before I was feeling pretty stoked about what I accomplish on my own, with no staff, equipment, or pricy greenhouse facilities.

My spiral cactus (Cereus forbesii) reflects the strange life it's had going from living with Gerhard in Davis, CA, to traveling up to Portland and living a split life between the basement garden and the outdoors. I love it's odd form.

My golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii) started growing pups off the top of it's head (looking like a spiky man-bun) a couple of years ago. When I went to bring the pot indoors it was obvious the big barrel was dying so I carefully removed the babies and planted them up. We'll see how long it takes them to outgrow this pot.

Kumara plicatilis, Aloe erinacea, and Euphorbia platyclada.

Deuterocohnia lorentziana

Deuterocohnia brevifolia

Side by side

Agave pelona in the front.

Agave stricta

Echeveria 'Trumpet Pinky' and friends.

Echeveria setosa got quite wet before I brought it in, I hope it doesn't mind.

My Mexican fencepost cactus (Lophocereus marginatus) made a baby this summer.

I brought the three mama plants (it was a group effort I'm sure) back from Truth or Consequences, NM, in 2013 they were so small then!

These Pachypodium lamerei are even older.

Buds on the schlumbergera.

Ditto for the Lockhartia hercodonta, an orchid.

One of it's tiny buds opened, it's a minute orchid flower.

Right on queue this epiphyllum came in budded up.

The flowers are already opening.

The pots of bromeliad and rhipsalis that live on top of the tall metal cylinders in the SW corner of the garden grew tremendously this summer. That necessitated a rethinking of the bromeliad storage area.

I caught a flash of color one day and managed to appreciate this small bromeliad flower.

So many nepenthes pitchers on the Nepenthes 'Miranda' and N. lowii x ventricosa (in the same container).

The garbage can lid bromeliad plantings are spending the winter on top of large terracotta planters. It's kind of amazing how many bromeliads I've accumulated.

The basement garden as it is today...

And a new area for hanging tilladsia, over the washing machine. Trust me, all of that space will be full soon...

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All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.