Early American Garden Resources and Destinations
Note: This section is a work in progress, which will be updated throughout 2026.
This is the resource list for "Early American Gardens: Designs and Destinations" first presented at the Philadelphia Flower Show on February 28, 2026. My intention is to have this resource as complete as possible by April 1st - which I view as the unofficial start of garden touring season in the mid-Atlantic. While most of the 40 gardens in "America's Garden Capital" are year-round, those that are seasonal generally open from April 1 until frost. While I am thorough in my research and garden visiting, I expect friends and colleagues (near and far) will make recommendations to add to these lists and I'll come up witn new categories as I develop additional lectures, tours and workshops. Please feel free to email recommendations through the Contact form. Thanks!
RECOMMENDED READING (available in PHS McLean Library)
The Brother Gardeners, Wulf (2008)
Founding Gardeners, Wulf (2011)
Flowers and Herbs of Early America, Griffith (2008)
The Pleasure Gardens of Virginia: from Jamestown to Jefferson, Martin (2017)
The Philadelphia Country House: architecture and landscape in Colonia America, Reinberger and McLean (2015)
American Home Landscapes: a design guide to creating period style gardens, Adams and Birchfield (2013)
American Gardens in the Eighteenth Century, Leighton (1976)
McMahon’s American Gardener, M’Mahon (1806, 1976)
Recommended Seed and Plant Sources
Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants (sold through www.monticelloshop.org)
Burpee (offering four seed bundles specifically created for the 250th) www.burpee.com
The Roughwood Center for Heritage Seedways (Dr. William Woys Weaver, 5000 heirloom seed varieties) www.seedways.org
Brent and Becky’s, (100 years in the bulb business) www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com
Early American Gardens in the Philadelphia Region
Andalusia Historic House, Garden and Arboretum, Bucks County -
Bartram’s Garden, Southwest Philadelphia - www.bartramsgarden.org
Benjamin Rush Medicinal Plant Garden, at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia - www.collegeofphysicians.org/our-work/benjamin-rush-medicinal-plant-garden/
Goodstay Gardens at the University of Delaware (Wilmington Campus) www.goodstaygardens.org
Grumblethorpe, Germantown - www.philalandmarks.org/grumblethorpe
Morven Museum and Garden (Princeton, NJ) - www.morven.org
Pennsbury Manor, Bucks County - www.pennsburymanor.org
Stenton, Germantown - www.stenton.org
The 18th Century Garden at Independence National Historic Park - www.nps.gov/inde/planyourvisit/18thcenturygarden.htm
The Benjamin Rush Garden Independence National Historic Park - www.nps.gov/places/benjamin-rush-garden.htm
The Physic Garden at Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia -
www.uphs.upenn.edu/paharc/timeline/1751/tline9.html
Wyck Historic House, Garden and Farm, Germantown - www.wyck.org
Early American Gardens Destinations
Colonial Williamsburg (Virginia) - www.colonialwilliamsburg.org
"Founding Gardener" Presidential Landscapes:
George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Northern Virginia - www.mountvernon.org
The Old House at Peacefield - Adams National Historical Park - www.nps.gov/adam/learn/historyculture/places.htm
Thomas Jefferson's Monticello - www.monticello.org
In Bloom at Monticello - www.monticello.org/in-bloom
Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest (Lynchburg, VA) - www.poplarforest.org
(While in Lynchburg, also visit the Home and Garden of Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer - www.annespencermuseum.org)
James Madison's Montpelier - www.montpelier.org