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Our Display Gardens


The Delaware Valley Hosta Society (DVHS) has installed several Hosta Display Gardens in our area. Here are three articles from our newsletters about some of our display gardens. We will be adding more information and pictures about them in future months.

DVHS Seeking Display Garden Sites
By Eli Cohen
From DVHS Newsletter - Spring 2001

Setting up Hosta Display Gardens in the Delaware Valley is one of the major educational activities of the Society. They are one of the best ways we have of demonstrating the varied uses of this wonderful plant as groundcovers, dramatic drifts of foliage, architectural plants to define garden structure, beautiful specimen plants (or "drifts of one" according to Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery in North Carolina), bright spots in shade, and on and on. Last year we installed what we believe may be one of our most important display gardens at the Morris Arboretum in Northeast Philadelphia. We are looking for additional sites in the Delaware Valley, which comprises Southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, Northern Maryland, and the southern half of New Jersey.

There are some general criteria used in deciding, whether to install a hosta display garden:

  • The site should be one that is regularly visited by the public.
  • The site must agree to prepare the area for planting prior to installation.
  • The site should agree to maintain the display garden after it has been installed. This means not only keeping the area free from weeds and debris, maintaining paths, if any, and maintaining trees and other plants in and about the garden, but also assuring that the garden will be watered as necessary in order to assure the continued viability of the display garden.
  • The site must agree to provide for acknowledgement of the DVHS's role in creating and installing the display garden.

The DVHS will design and install the garden without any cost being charged to the site sponsor. The Society provides all plant material, labor, and design work for the garden.

If you have any ideas about site sponsors, please get in touch with Eli Cohen, DVHS Chair of the Display Gardens Committee (which includes Barbara Tiffany and Inta Krumbolz).

Gardens the Society has installed include:

  • Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia, PA
  • Ladew Topiary Gardens, Monkton, MD
  • Scott Arboretum, Swarthmore, PA
  • Delaware Valley College, Doylestown, PA
  • Haverford College, Haverford, PA
  • Rutgers University, NJ
  • Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
  • Woodlawn Cemetery, Philadelphia PA


Morris Arboretum Hosta Garden
Letter from Mike Tuszynski of the Morris Arboretum
From DVHS Newsletter - Fall 2003


Dear Eva Jones,
Hello, How are you? I wanted to drop you a letter and let you know that the Hosta Garden that was installed at the Morris Arboretum by DVHS in July of 2000 has established itself and thrived. Thanks again for all of your organizations generosity, the garden is a popular spot for people to visit and we receive numerous compliments on the plantings. The garden is doing so well that a TV spot was even filmed in the garden earlier this summer by our Director Paul Meyer. He talked about a few of his favorite Hosta varieties and how to use them in the landscape.
Hosta Garden at Morris ArboretumThis planting is very successful in part because of good design, placement, plants and installation. The other part (and major reason) this garden area has thrived is because of the dedication of George Reichard (a DVHS member). George comes in every Friday morning to volunteer in the Hosta Garden and has done so since the garden was planted. His knowledge, expertise, and dedication to the garden has really made the difference in the level of display and beauty of the garden.
Another View of the Hosta Garden at Morris ArboretumI strongly feel and recommend that you consider putting the Morris Arboretum Hosta Garden on a garden tour as part of the American Hosta Society National Convention in 2006. The Hosta Display Garden here at the Arboretum may not be the largest in the area or even have the rarest varieties but it is the perfect demonstration on how public gardens and plant societies can work together to promote and demonstrate the use of plants in the landscape.
Another view of Hosta Garden at Morris ArboretumI look forward to hearing from you and encourage you to visit the Hosta garden here at the Morris Arboretum whenever you might be in the area. Just drop me an email at mtuszyns@pobox.upenn.edu or call me at 215-247-5777 x 114.
Sincerely,
Mike Tuszynski

Ladew Topiary Gardens Moves Hosta Display Garden
By Eva Jones
From DVHS Newsletter - Spring 2001

A couple of years ago, DVHS donated a hosta garden to Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton, Maryland. Last year they moved it.

Ladew is an old estate. There is a large 2000-gallon fuel tank buried right next to the garden. The county tagged the tank to be removed. So, the hosta display garden had to be moved. It is now near the "Spring House." When you visit Ladew Topiary Gardens, ask where the Spring House is and enjoy the hosta display.

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