Visit Mount Cuba Center

Osmunda regalis; Royal Fern; Mount Cuba Center, DE; plus turtles

So many things to do in Spring. You should make one of them a visit to the Mount Cuba Center in Delaware.

One of the DuPont properties become garden-visit destinations, like Longwood Gardens and Winterthur, this one has become a premier native plant garden and research facility. The woodland garden is spectacular in spring, with many species of trilliums and other ephemerals in bloom.

Strolling through the garden (well, if a stroll includes a stop every five feet to take a photo), I kept saying, “Wow. I wish my garden looked like that.” You might stop for awhile along the trail at Hobson Pond, admire the ferns, and smile at the turtles.

A visit in summer or fall should include a look at the trial gardens, where cultivars of native perennials are planted out and evaluated for performance under Mid-Atlantic growing conditions. Reports of trials for Coreopsis, Echinacea, Amsonia and others are on the website.

Stephanie Fleming

Stephanie Fleming was raised at Behnke’s Nurseries in Beltsville. Her Mom, Sonja, was one of Albert & Rose Behnke’s four children. She was weeding from the moment she could walk and hiding as soon as she was old enough to run, so many weeds, so little time. Although she quickly learned how to pull out a perennial and get taken off of weed pulling duty.