Hillside Garden

The hillside garden and its impressive cantilevered waterfall are the apex of the Botanical Garden experience, gilded by a diverse collection of specimen trees and shrubs and broad swathes of perennials and meadow bulbs.

A semi-circle pathway climbs the hillside, passing by Hamamelis (witchhazel), Cladrastis (yellowwood), Cerciscanadensis (redbud) Cornus controversa ‘June Snow’ (June Snow giant dogwood) to arrive at a scenic overlook.

The hillside garden also features notable colonies of bulbs in spring — an assortment of white and cream daffodils, Corydalis solida (fumewort), Mertensia virginica (Virginia bluebells) and Hyacinthoides hispanica ‘Excelsior’ (Spanish bluebells).

Home to four of the five original trees still standing on the first seven acres of the property, Pinus strobus (eastern white pine),the hillside garden is a curatorial centerpiece of the Garden’s permanent collections, blending woodland and prairie ecotypes into a naturally inspired garden draped across stark topography.