Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Vanderbilt Mansion Gardens

After touring the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, NY, it was time to walk the grounds and the gardens.  We were a bit disappointed in the gardens because they are under renovation and are at the moment a work in progress. It was still easy to see how astoundingly beautiful they would have been back in the day!



The above is a view across the Hudson from near the Mansion.  The house across the river has been for sale for some time.  The cost of the estate is $800,000 but the taxes yearly are $60,000!  You can see why a person would think twice before purchasing it!





After we took a few pictures of different views of the Hudson, we walked over to the Vanderbilt Formal Gardens.





You can see from these pictures that the plantings are just getting started in this area.


Frederick Vanderbilt's interest in and love of horticulture caused him to develop several large gardens on the Vanderbilt estate. These lavish gardens incorporated the formal “Italian” style. This means that the beds were arranged in such a way that if you draw a line across the middle, either horizontally or vertically, one side of the line will mirror the other side. These formal gardens also consisted of multiple tiers, which depended on the type of plants. Each level was different. 


It was REALLY warm today and we felt sorry for these volunteers out weeding and planting in the heat!



This area hasn't been planted yet but there are volunteers out there working on it.







You can see from this area just how gorgeous this once all was!




 The Rose Garden

Frederick  added the rose garden which contained almost 2000 “vintage” rose bushes along with other kinds of roses. The Rose Garden is now being totally revamped.  The roses that are still there and in bloom are just too overgrown and the new ones are barely out of the ground.   




Some of the areas were very lovely!



At one time the Vanderbilt gardens were grand and exquisite and the volunteers here are working to see that it becomes grand and exquisite again!

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