Garden Beds
The garden beds range from full sun to shade, with varying soil types and levels of moisture, similar to the various habitats we find in nature.
Butterfly Garden (Main Bed)
The main bed, also called the Butterfly Garden, is most like a traditional garden bed with sun to shade , deep soil amended with Sweet Peat (adjust for a more neutral pH), and average moisture. The plants in this garden are mostly plants you might find in a meadow. A few of the plants here (such as Blanket Flower) are more typical further to our west, where this habitat is more common (in Connecticut meadows are very quickly taken over by brush and trees). But most are native to Connecticut or native just a bit further south or west.
Species:
Common Name | Botanical Name | Where From | Native to |
Butterfly Weed | Asclepias tuberosa | Earth Tones | CT |
Common Milkweed | Asclepias syriaca | Earth Tones | CT |
Bluets | Houstonia caerulea | Earth Tones | CT |
Coreopsis | Coreopsis verticulata? | Allison's Garden | MD |
New England Aster | Aster novi-angliae | Earth Tones | CT |
Bee Balm | Monarda didyma | Teresa's garden | NJ |
Wild Blue Lupine | Lupenis perennis | Twombly | CT |
Sneezeweed | Helenium autumnale | Earth Tones | CT |
Ox Eye, False Sunflower |
Heliopsis helanthoides | Earth Tones | CT |
Garden Phlox Summer Phlox |
Phlox paniculata | Earth Tones | NY |
Jacob's Ladder | Polonium reptans | Earth Tones | NY |
Beardtongue | Penstemon digitalis | Earth Tones | CT |
Woodland Phlox Wild Blue Phlox |
Phlox divaricata | Teresa's Garden, Earth Tones |
CT |
Black Eyed Susan, Eastern Coneflower |
Rudbeckia fulgida | Teresa's Garden | PA |
Purple Coneflower | Echinacea purpurea | Earth Tones & Teresa's Garden |
MI, KY |
Lurid Sedge | Carex lurida | Earth Tones | CT |
Wild Bergamot | Monarda fistulosum | Earth Tones | CT |
Blanket Flower, Common Giallardia |
Giallardia aristata | Earth Tones | midwest |
Sun Drop Evening Primrose |
Oenothera 'Cold Crick' | Earth Tones | CT |
Creeping Phlox Moss Pink |
Phlox subulata | Earth Tones | Long Island |
Foamflower | Tiarella cordifolia | Earth Tones | CT |
Wild Geranium Wood Geranium |
Geranium maculatum | Earth Tones | CT |
Doll's Eye, Baneberry | Actaea pachypoda | Earth Tones | CT |
Eastern Blue Star | Liatris scariosa | Twombly | CT |
Prairie Phlox | Phlox pilosa | Earth Tones | CT |
Blue False Indigo | Baptisia australis | Earth Tones | PA |
Connecticut Hill Top
The hillside directly behind and above the main Butterfly Garden is full sun to part shade - a typical Southern New England upper slope. Plants found in this environment are adapted to a dry, rocky or sandy microclimate, often with acidic soils. Hikers will recognize the classic heaths of our New England hilltops: blueberry, bearberry and crowberry, alongside the aromatic sweet fern, a small shrub often found growing amongst the blueberries.
Common Name |
Botanical Name |
Where From |
Native To |
Sweet Lowbush Blueberry | Vaccinium angustifolium | Earth Tones | CT |
Bearberry | Arctostaphylos uva-ursi | Earth Tones | CT |
Black Crowberry | Empetrum "Compass Harbor" | Earth Tones | Northern New England |
Harebell | Campanula rotundifolia | Earth Tones | CT |
Stiff-Leaved Aster | Aster linariifolius | Earth Tones | CT |
Wild Pink | Silene caroliniana | Twombly | CT |
Prickly Pear | Opuntia humifusa | Twombly | CT |
Sweet Fern | Comptonia peregrina | Roadside | CT |
Field Pussytoes | Antennaria neglecta | Earth Tones | |
Wild Stone Crop | Sedum ternatum | Earth Tones | |
Wood Iris | Iris cristata | Earth Tones | |
Wintergreen | Gaultheria procumbens | Earth Tones | |
Virginia Strawberry | Fragaria virginiana | Earth Tones | |
Wild Live Forever | Sedum telephioides | Earth Tones | |
Dwarf Cinquefoil | Wild on site | ||
American Pennyroyal | Wild on site | ||
Connecticut Low Slope
The base of the shaded rock wall as you move to the south has rich, black soil and water seeps from the hillside above - a "low slope" habitat. Ferns, such as marginal wood fern and sensitive fern, grow there naturally, along with some horsetails that grew in the poor fill just below and were transplanted. Woodland plants such as Green Dragon, doll's eye, maidenhair fern, and sharp-lobed hepatica have been added.
Connecticut Mid-Slope
The partly shaded terraces directly above have not been planted, but after they were cleared of brush native hayscented fern has really been taking over. The upper terraces are our "mid slope" habitat - somewhat dryer and sunnier than down below. The hayscented ferns looks attractive for now but have a reputation for becoming invasive in regions of high deer population since the deer won't eat it.
The southern most shade bed is somewhat dryer and sunnier than expected. We are experimenting with what types of natives are best suited for this bed. At this time we have some transplants, including Christmas fern, white wood aster, blue wood aster, round leafed pyrola, spotted pipsiswa, Jack in the pulpit, and red trillium, Dutchman's Breeches, dwarf ginseng, spring beauties, and Solomon's Seal. Black Cohosh and bloodroot have been added.
See a map of the beds
Click here to see a map of the flower beds.
Species List
Species list as of January 2009:
Ferns:
Marginal Woodfern
Sensitive Fern
Spinulose Woodfern
Ostrich Fern
Royal Fern
Lycopodium (Princess Pine)
Equisetum (Horsetails)
Perennials:
Brown-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida)
Bee Balm
Beardtongue (Penstemon Digitalis)
Bluets
Butterfly Weed
Black Crowberry
Bear Berry
Coreopsis
New England Aster
White Wood Aster
Blue Wood Aster
Spotted Pipseswa
Wild Ginger
May Apple
Swamp Azalea
Merry Bells
Jack in the Pulpit
Wood Poppy
Shrubs
Mountain Laurel* (dominant)
Spicebush
Sweet Fern
Trees
Red Oak
White Oak
White Pine
Spruce
Larch (Tamarack)
Hemlock
Black Birch
Native Plants Prior to Planting
The thing about native plants is that they are adapted to our environment and some are pretty good at establishing themselves without any human help. Here are some native species that found their own way to the garden during the time it was abandoned:
FERNS & ALLIES:
Marginal Woodfern (growing in the stone retaining walls)
Interrupted fern
Polypody
Lycopodium (Princess Pine)
Equisetum (Horsetail)
Sensitive Fern
Spinulose Woodfern
Christmas Fern
Lady Fern
Hayscented Fern
WILDFLOWERS
Asters (sp?)
Goldenrod (sp?)
Spotted Pipsissiwa
Round-Leaved Pyrola
Pink Lady Slipper
Dwarf cinquefoil
American Pennyroyal
Partridgeberry
Sarsasparilla
Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta)
SHRUBS AND VINES:
Huckleberry
Lowbush blueberry (sp?)
Mountain Laural
Highbush blueberry
Sweet Fern
Spicebush
Virginia Creeper
Poison Ivy
Exotic & Invasive Plants Removed
These plants originated from the earlier gardens and had to be removed as
they are not native:
Forsythia
Andromeda
Foxglove
Pulminaria
Black Swallowwort (horribly, horribly invasive - this covered much of the site)
Note there is a large stand of hayscented fern around the ruins of an
outbuilding. This fern is native, but becomes invasive in areas with high
deer populations because the deer will not eat it.