Lost Gardens of New England

Will Spring ever come?  After a full day of snow showers that did not cling to the lawn or roads yesterday, we awoke this morning to a coating of snow all over. It quickly melted as the sun came up and stayed shining for the whole day.  It was not much above freezing, but we ventured out to New London to the Lyman Allyn Art Museum to see a traveling exhibit, "The Lost Gardens of New England".

It was an interesting display of art, some photos, architectural renderings and landscape architects' plans.  Several gardens in Connecticut were included. I have visited  Roseland Cottage in Woodstock and the Harkness Mansion in Waterford. Both are being restored, but many historic gardens are now gone. There are parking lots or front entrance landscape beds where once lovely, planned estate gardens once thrived.

The exhibit also shows the history of garden styles in America and European influences upon their design. The gardens evolved over time to reflect architectural trends and changing American ideals. The exhibit did a nice job of showing all these aspects.

Here's a link to the exhibit in a multimedia presentation by Historic New England.

Sorry, I have no photos of my own.  A sign said they were not allowed, but a woman took photos of everything while she chomped on her chewing gum beside me!