Friday, August 11, 2023

Sonnenberg Gardens (8/11/2023)

Friday, August 11, 2023
We visited the Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion, where our Tyler Arboretum membership provided free admission. Sonnenberg (German for Sunny Hill) was the summer home of Frederick Ferris and Mary Clark Thompson. Frederick was founder and director of the First National Bank of the City of New York (precursor of Citibank) and Mary was the daughter of the governor of New York. The gardens were redesigned in 1903 by Ernest Bowditch, and continued after 1907 by the assistant to Bowditch, John Handrahan. At this time there was a transition from classic Victorian landscapes to eclectic styles characteristic of "country place" estates in the era of 1890-1940.
The Gardener's Cottage (1905) (KSS)
The Conservatory and Greenhouse Complex (1903,
by Lord and Burnham) (KSS)
There were several of these 4- to 5-foot tall Crassula ovata/
Jade Plants in one of the display greenhouses
Orchid House: Epidendrum
Cactus House (KSS)
Euphorbia milii/Crown of Thorns
Conservatory Wall Rock Garden
Conservatory Palm House
Grapery
One of many specimen trees along Deer Park
The Deer Barn housed the European Fallow Deer
that grazed in Deer Park
Japanese Garden (1906) ws the first privately
owned Japanese Garden in North America (KSS)
Torii at the north entrance of the Japanese Garden (KSS)
Sonnenberg Mansion seen across the Italian Garden (KSS)
Part of the Belvedere (1905-1906)
Ruins of the Temple of Diana (1905)
Sub-Rosa Garden (1907) was the "secret garden"
I thought this was the Belvedere because
it gave you a good view of the Rose Garden!
Rose Garden (1905-1906) and Belvedere
Old Fashioned Garden (1905) pergola (KSS)
Old Fashioned Garden (1905) (KSS)
Old Fashioned Garden selfie (KSS)
Peacock House (c 1902) was one of five aviary buildings
Sonnenberg fire-fighting apparatus
Carriage House (c 1887)
Moonlight Garden with white sweet pea
flowers; the flowers in this garden were
all white to reflect at night in moonlight
Pansy Garden was to showcase Mary Thompson's
favorite flower, now just seedlings
Marble summer house of the Blue & White
Garden (1911)
Blue & White Garden oval pool with statues of water sprites (KSS)
The boy riding a dolphin is a genuine antique (c 1600)
Rock Garden (1910-1920) steps
Rock Garden Lily Pond (another area awaiting restoration)
Heading into the limestone "canyon" (KSS)
Moss (KSS)
Stone arch in the limestone canyon
Rustic summerhouse with people on the roof
East Grove with more specimen trees
such as this Fagus sylvatica 'Pendula'/
Weeping Beech (KSS)
Ulmus glabra 'Camperdownii'/Camperdown Elm
North Pond
North Pond Reflections (KSS)
A view of the mansion across the South Lawn
Bridge constructed of boulders
Next: Sonnenberg Mansion.

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