City Gardening

4 of 12 Great Things I Found at Raleigh

By Lorraine • Oct 3rd, 2009 • Category: Favourite Gardens, Gardens

Story tours are a popular part of Garden Writers Symposiums. We all board buses, usually at ungodly hours of the morning, to tramp through public and private gardens. It’s a real challenge to take a photo without a single garden writer in the frame, and just as difficult to stay out of the way of somebody else’s camera. Here’s one of the memorable ones on our tour of Raleigh, North Carolina: number 4 of 12 great things I found at Raleigh.

The front garden at Montrose

4. Montrose
Some of you old-timers might remember the Montrose Nursery mail order catalogue, which folded in 1993, while others of you may know about owner Nancy Goodwin from her many books, but both the Gardens of Montrose and their tender were a complete and pleasant surprise to me. On the grounds of this 19th century historical property are beds filled with colchicums (in full bloom when we visited at the end of September), hellebores (a reason to return in springtime) and brash tropicals, colourful annuals and unusual perennials and trees. With vistas galore, this garden was a treat to photograph, but our time here was all too short.