Lots of folks have encouraged me to visit New London’s Tracy Library garden which I never seemed to get around to doing. When I came across John Lennon’s quote “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans” I scolded myself. As writer of this blog and an avid flower photographer, what was I waiting for?
I finally went a month ago and have been back three times since. Now that I know where it is (half way between Colby-Sawyer College and Tuckers Restaurant, but across the street and behind the library), I’ll make a point of stopping by whenever I’m in New London. Every time I go, there are different flowers and plants to see. A month ago, the garden was surrounded by lilac bushes of various hues. Right now 45 rose bushes are in bloom. The difficulty in putting together this blog was deciding which flower photos to omit because I couldn’t possibly include them all.
In 1926 Jane Tracy summered in New London and had the foresight and finances to have a library built and, for the icing on the cake, the design and planting of the garden behind it. She hired the Olmsted Brothers’ landscape architectural company to design the garden. Their firm also designed gardens in Acadia National Park and Yosemite Valley not to mention the entire park systems of Portland, Oregon, the City of Roses.
Originally the garden park consisted of four beds of flowers around a children’s wading pool. The stonewall perimeter enclosed a variety of shrubs, vines and trees. When Mrs. Tracy died in 1944, the garden beds were grassed over, the pool was filled with dirt, and the hedges removed. Then in 2000 when the Tracy Library was renovated, it was the right time to bring back the garden. The New London Garden Club and the library joined forces and raised $175,000 to restore this half-acre plot of land and rebuilding began in May of 2002. A bronze water fountain made by well known sculptural metalsmith Dimitri Gerakaris replaced the wading pool. The garden is lovingly maintained by a head gardener and an army of volunteers and is a sight to behold.
I finally went a month ago and have been back three times since. Now that I know where it is (half way between Colby-Sawyer College and Tuckers Restaurant, but across the street and behind the library), I’ll make a point of stopping by whenever I’m in New London. Every time I go, there are different flowers and plants to see. A month ago, the garden was surrounded by lilac bushes of various hues. Right now 45 rose bushes are in bloom. The difficulty in putting together this blog was deciding which flower photos to omit because I couldn’t possibly include them all.
In 1926 Jane Tracy summered in New London and had the foresight and finances to have a library built and, for the icing on the cake, the design and planting of the garden behind it. She hired the Olmsted Brothers’ landscape architectural company to design the garden. Their firm also designed gardens in Acadia National Park and Yosemite Valley not to mention the entire park systems of Portland, Oregon, the City of Roses.
Originally the garden park consisted of four beds of flowers around a children’s wading pool. The stonewall perimeter enclosed a variety of shrubs, vines and trees. When Mrs. Tracy died in 1944, the garden beds were grassed over, the pool was filled with dirt, and the hedges removed. Then in 2000 when the Tracy Library was renovated, it was the right time to bring back the garden. The New London Garden Club and the library joined forces and raised $175,000 to restore this half-acre plot of land and rebuilding began in May of 2002. A bronze water fountain made by well known sculptural metalsmith Dimitri Gerakaris replaced the wading pool. The garden is lovingly maintained by a head gardener and an army of volunteers and is a sight to behold.
Bellflowers
Tea rose
Peony
Solomon seals
Lilacs
Enkianthus campanulatus