ENCHANTING BEAUTY
The gardens at Chanticleer in Pennsylvania reflect a quiet sense of drama that is both elegant and restful
A tour of the grand gardens at Chanticleer in Pennsylvania
It’s hard to define what makes a good garden spectacular, but when you see it, you know it. You rush around gauging if that first impression can be sustained and all too often you’re disappointed, but occasionally you come across a garden so beautiful it leaves you feeling you have regained paradise. Chanticleer in Pennsylvania is one such garden. The instant you see the entrance to the old house half hidden behind large, perfectly planted pots, you have to force yourself to slow down and take it all in. each area of this north american garden has had thought and time lavished upon it. The least you can do is return the compliment.
The entrance to the garden is discreet. no fanfare, no curtainup, just a winding path enclosed by thoughtful planting until it slowly opens up, drawing you in as you decide which route to take. unlike many public gardens, where you jostle for space trying not to feel irritated, Chanticleer absorbs you. The noise of others is subdued by the space, the trees, the limitless sky. You’re suddenly tuned into birdsong and breeze, your attention captured by the small delight of insects and seed heads. You feel the extraordinary subtlety of things.
It’s not just the unfamiliar plants – at least to south african eyes – or the balance between flowers and foliage, although all that is carefully judged, but in this country, where everything
is bigger, brighter, better, Chanticleer exhibits a restraint: ironic considering the garden’s name, that of a fabled, crowing cockerel. Its 14 hectares are divided into different areas, each one planted and maintained by a member of the seven-strong horticultural team. They lead the design, crafting the garden with precision. It’s as if you’ve come into a family home; each room is defined by a different personality, but you can sense the whole character, too. The Terrace garden is lush, planted with tropical and subtropical plants; the Cutting garden is exuberant and jungly, its flowers visited by hummingbirds and butterflies; whereas the ruin garden – a gothic folly, part garden, part art gallery, with marble sculptures by
Californian artist Marcia donahue – is like a glimpse of a watery dream.
Chanticleer retains the atmosphere of its origins as an early-twentieth-century summer residence for the wealthy rosengarten family, who came here in 1912, built the house on top of a hill, planted trees and developed a pleasure garden. The garden echoes that era in its names – the apple house, the Tennis Court, the swimming Pool Terrace. The family, like the garden, expanded. Their son, adolph rosengarten Jr, was keenly influenced by the spirit of British gardens such as sissinghurst and Bodnant, with their romantic, interlinking garden rooms. When he died in 1990, he left Chanticleer for the enjoyment and education of the public, and it’s run by a foundation with the family still deeply involved.
You won’t find many plant labels cluttering up the garden. The foundation’s executive director, Bill Thomas, who’s also the head gardener, wants you to scrutinise a plant and the way it’s placed, not just tick off the name and move on.
If its beauty weren’t enough, strategically placed around the garden are adirondack-style chairs made from fallen trees placed at the exact point you’d want to sit with a sundowner, relax and take a deep breath. Chanticleer is a difficult place from which to uproot yourself.
The garden’s genius lies in the fact that it trusts its gardeners, who are considered artists as well as horticulturists, providing a human imprint that is often absent in public gardens. Bill Thomas says, ‘They’re my chamber orchestra and I’m the conductor.’ he’s established a gardening exchange programme with great dixter in east sussex, now run by head gardener Fergus garrett. ‘Fergus is someone we’d all want to understudy,’ says Bill, and it’s to the credit of both gardens that they want to share that spirit.