Reimagining a Historic Garden Space

Perched above the shores of Lake Champlain with expansive views of the Adirondacks, the formal flower gardens at Shelburne Farms reflect the vision of their creator, Lila Vanderbilt Webb (1860-1936). Since Lila’s first designs in the 1890s, her gardens have undergone many changes. Most recently, horticulturist, garden designer and volunteer head gardener Paul Wieczoreck has redesigned the gardens’ northern edge––once home to a large, oval reflecting pool––as a new garden space.

Join Paul for a discussion of the specific aesthetic, historic, and site considerations that influenced the current design, including plant selection and Lila’s early interest in parterre gardens. The goal of the readaptation was to create a minimum input, low maintenance garden utilizing a mixture of native and exotic pollinator-friendly plant material. Participants will also have time to explore the rest of the gardens and learn about the history, on-going maintenance, and future plans that shape them.

This tour is a walking experience, and the terraced garden spaces are accessible by a series of stairs.