Crane Estate, Part 3: The Beauty Speaks for Itself

Even after two full posts, I still can’t stop looking at the beauty of the Crane Estate. Sometimes a place is so visually rich that words start to fall short. So for Part 3, I’m letting the photos speak. Enjoy!

NO ROOM TO GARDEN EXCEPT BY MY FRONT DOOR

 

Michele's "Front Door" Garden on the Maryand Coast: What to Plant & How to Care For It!

🪴 Why a Front Door Garden?

Living in a rental with no yard meant I had to get creative. The front railings became my garden’s foundation. I ordered two black window boxes from Amazon and filled them with bright, trailing blooms and compact edibles. Then I lined up seven 1-gallon black pots and a couple fabric grow bags to expand the growing space. Altogether, it’s small but mighty—it has begun to bring me joy every time I walk outside.

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🌸 What I Planted (And Why)

1. Pink Ivy Geraniums (Window Boxes)

💖 Reason: Chosen for color, texture, and the way they spill gracefully over the railing
🌱 Growth Note: These are already flowering! They love sun and don’t mind drying out a little, which is perfect for summer in containers.

 

2. Peppers (Window Boxes)

🌶️ Reason: Compact growers, high yield in small pots, and I love cooking with them
🌱 Growth Note: Starting to bud! I’m watching for aphids and feeding them with diluted fish emulsion every 2 weeks.

 

3. Marigolds (Window Boxes)

🧡 Reason: Natural pest deterrents and pollinator-friendly
🌱 Growth Note: Thriving! Bright blooms and helping keep pests off my peppers.

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4. Basil (1-Gallon Pot)

🌿 Reason: Fresh for cooking and makes great companion plant to tomatoes
🌱 Growth Note: Bushy and fragrant! Pinching off flowers to keep it leafy.

 

5. Three Types of Tomatoes (3 Pots)

🍅 Reason: I wanted variety—likely cherry, Roma, and a patio slicer
🌱 Growth Note: All three are flowering now. I’m supporting them with simple bamboo stakes and watering daily.

 6. Strawberry Plant (Pot)

🍓 Reason: Fun and sweet, and I’ve always wanted to try growing my own
🌱 Growth Note: Small fruits are starting to form! Just protected it from squirrels with mesh.

7. Cucumber (Fabric Bag)

🥒 Reason: Chose a bush variety for container growing
🌱 Growth Note: Beginning to vine out nicely—starting to see yellow flowers!  I plan to use the  railing for gentle support.

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Caroline's Summer Roses

 The roses are all blooming now, and the garden is full of color. My red Blaze climbers, which I planted in the early 1990s from the Michigan Bulb Company, are still going strong.

 They cover the arbor and climb up the chimney. They’re the same variety my mother grew when I was a kid. She planted hers along a split rail fence in front of our house. 

I also have some wild roses that volunteer in surprising places—sometimes right where I want them, and sometimes not. I’m not sure where they came from, but they keep coming back every year. They bloom earlier in June, so by now they are all gone by. 

The pollinators are loving all the red blossoms right now! 

And then there are the pink and red fairy roses, small and low-growing, filling in the edges of the beds.

This red bush rose I can’t identify by name.  My daughter gave it to me for Mother’s Day a few years ago. It’s been a steady bloomer ever since.

It’s been a good week for roses!

LaDew, 2025 Garden Visit Video

 

Maine Garden Recap: Caroline’s June Highlights

 June brought a yard full of blooms this year. After several seasons of struggling with vegetables—thanks to ever-growing shade from my mature trees (and the ever-persistent slugs)—I've decided to shift my energy toward what’s thriving: my perennial garden and containers of cheerful annuals. But I haven't given up on edibles entirely. A large pot of herbs is growing on my deck, and a few rogue strawberry plants have popped up in unexpected places, which always feels like a nice surprise. But my focus this season is my perennial beds, flowering shrubs, and containers of annuals.

The blooms in my perennial garden this month were peonies, irises, foxgloves, roses, rhododendrons, yellow loosestrife, astilbe, and cranesbill geranium. Just this week, the daylilies opened up seemingly overnight. The mock orange bush perfumed the dooryard for at least a week.

I’ve had to keep an eye on the cranesbill, though—it’s become a bit invasive, spreading quickly into places it wasn’t invited. I’ve been pulling it up by the armful and transplanting clumps to less crowded spots in the yard. It has a strong spicy scent that reminds me of men's cologne. When transplanting it, the air is filled with its fragrance.

Around the patio and porch, my containers are full of begonias, dusty miller, pansies, petunias, and large geraniums, which I overwinter indoors each year. Some of the geraniums must be about five years old now.

It makes me happy to see those same plants spring back to life and carry on year to year.

I'm loving the light purple petunias I planted in various spots. If I can find some, I might get a flat of pale yellow petunias to complement them. I love the light scent of petunias on a hot day. 

My rhododendrons had loads of blooms and put on a fantastic show in mid-June.

The Red Blaze climbing roses are doing well, as are some wild white roses that volunteer in surprising places. The little pink and red fairy roses are just beginning to open up now. 

The house wrens successfully raised a nest of babies in one of our birdhouses, and a pair of cardinals nested atop the arbor. Their songs have provided the perfect soundtrack to weeding and watering sessions.

As June turns to July, I’m planning to keep wrangling the cranesbill and deadheading the spent blooms in my attempt to keep everything tidy and thriving.

 I may not have vegetables this year, but the beauty of flowers (and a few ripe strawberries plucked on the way to the compost bin) feels just as rewarding.

Crane Estate Garden Tour: Historic Landscapes and Movie Magic Part 1~ by Caroline

Crane Estate in Ipswich, MA is one of those destinations that should be on every gardener's bucket list. I took an early June tour of the gardens, the Great House, the grounds, and ended the day with a visit to Crane Beach.

If the place looks familiar, it's not your imagination! If you are a fan of Greta Gerwig's 2019 adaptation of Little Women, some of the European scenes were filmed in the garden. Do you recognize any of these views?

The Olmsted Brothers, known for their work on many iconic American landscapes, were first hired to plan the grounds of the Crane Estate. Later, Arthur Shurcliff—who had trained with them—designed the Italian garden, the Grand Allée, and other features of the estate.

The breathtaking gardens were lush with greenery and early summer blooms such as irises, roses, and peonies. The layout is classic and formal, with neat hedges, fountains, statues, and tucked-away corners with gorgeous views. 

Bibliography

Castle Hill on the Crane Estate – The Trustees of Reservations: https://thetrustees.org/place/castle-hill-on-the-crane-estate/

Castle Hill (Ipswich, Massachusetts) – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Hill_(Ipswich,_Massachusetts)

Crane Estate – U.S. National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/places/crane-estate.htm

Trustees Sites Featured in Little Women Movie – The Trustees: https://thetrustees.org/press-release/trustees-historic-and-cultural-sites-featured-in-upcoming-little-women-movie-released-christmas-day/

Little Women Filming Locations – Boston.com: https://www.boston.com/culture/entertainment/2019/12/24/little-women-filming-locations-massachusetts/

Conservation in Action: Crane Rose Garden – The Trustees: https://thetrustees.org/arts-culture/conservation-in-action-crane-estate-rose-garden/

More Photos from Ladew Garden Visit-Part Two

 The Ladew Gardens offer much to see and I suggest you split your visit into 2 days as there is plenty to see. If you live near by you can also get a seasonal pass which usually is cheaper.  Besides clipped formal and fun topiary and water features you can find various stone statues such as this eagle perched on a stone base in one of the gardens  and other out buildings that were used by the farm.

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This Mighty Eagle stood proudly in one of the larger gardens

 

 Plants are thoughtfully placed

 

A beautiful, tall Lillie's  were  a standout through out the garden

 

The waterlily were in bloom

The Tea House

Ladew Gardens, Maryland, Part One

A lovely rustic water feature by the Cafe

 

 

The most beautiful gardens I have seen in a while is located in Monkton, Maryland. The garden includes 22 acres of formal gardens that are divided into garden rooms.  Ladew is known for its  gorgeous, formal topiary. You can find all different kinds, from animals sprinting across the greens to more formal European clipped hedges. But it is the rooms, each with a different water feature that caught my eye.

 

The Garden of Eden

  

The property was purchased in the 1920's by Harvey Ladew who bought the Farm to peruse

his passion for fox hunting.  It was known at that time as Pleasant Valley Farms. The property included a rustic Farmhouse  that was built in the 1700's. The  property was set on 200 acres. Ladew added plumbing and electricity to the farmhouse and then designed and created 22 acres of formal gardens.

 

A large water feature that looked like a stream

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The Formal Garden Rooms  include: The Woodland Garden, Victorian Garden, Berry Garden, Pink Garden, White Garden,  Rose Garden, Garden of Eden, Keyhole Garden, Water Lily Garden, Yellow Garden, Iris Garden and many more. A nice map is included with the price of the ticket and garden seats are scattered through out the gardens if you need to rest or want to gaze longer at the beautiful view. 

The waterlily plant were flowering in many of the water features

 

 Tickets at the time of this visit was $20.00. There is a boutique cafe serving dainty  sandwiches, desserts, cold and hot drinks. They also have tables and seats outside. The garden is open  April through October 31st. Open everyday except Wednesdays. Weekdays the garden is open  9am-4pm and on weekends  9am to 5pm. No pets are allowed in the garden  and guests are welcome to take what they refer to as "casual photographs" for personal use.

   

A lovely large pond in the Rose Garden

 

   It would be a fantastic venue for any event or wedding.  For more information on having an event here you can look at their website at WWW. LadewGardens.com or call 410-557-9466 (info line) & 410-557-9570 (office). The gardens are very well kept. If you live close by, I am sure there must be lots of Volunteers needed. I hardly saw any weeds in the garden at all. There is a gift shop on the grounds near the entrance.

 

 

 

There were lots of gardens that I did not see. It defiantly is a garden that you can schedule more than a day to attend.  The gardens I missed, but will visit next time include the Cutting Garden, Wildflower Meadow, Butterfly Garden and Cottage Garden. More on the Ladew Gardens next week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Mock Orange is Blooming

One of June’s quiet little pleasures here in Maine is the sudden bloom of the mock orange bush. You might not even notice it until the scent hits you—that soft, sweet, citrusy fragrance that makes you stop mid-step and look around. It’s like nature decided to splash on a bit of perfume before heading to a garden party.

I have a mock orange near my porch that I planted back in 1993, from a little seedling that had popped up in my parents’ garden. Theirs was a well-loved old shrub, and I wanted to bring a piece of it with me. I was told it would never make it, but I planted it anyway. More than thirty years later, it’s still thriving—so much so that I’m constantly pruning it back, and still it gets huge every summer. It’s a survivor with a mind of its own.

Today, I trimmed a few small branches and stripped off all the leaves to make a little nosegay. I tucked it into a tiny purple vase, and it looks absolutely perfect on the windowsill. The scent fills the room—soft, citrusy, and a little dreamy, like a mix of orange blossom, jasmine, and vanilla. There’s something so satisfying about taking something from the garden and turning it into a moment of beauty indoors.

While there are some species of mock orange native to North America, especially out west, the kind we usually see here in New England—Philadelphus coronarius—was brought over from Europe long ago. It was a favorite in colonial gardens, passed down through generations, and mine is no exception. It’s a little piece of family history, growing just outside the door.

The blooms don’t last long—just a week or two if we’re lucky—but they always feel like a reward for making it through a long Maine winter. 

Starting a Front Door Container Garden at a Studio Apartment

This summer, I found myself in a cozy little studio apartment in the beautiful historical town of Havre de Grace. Just a few streets down from the Chesapeake Bay. It was a move that was unexpected. Basically I had one week to move to a state and town I had never been to be closer to family.

 While moving into a tiny studio apartment meant letting go of a big garden. It also meant that I could downsize and get creative.  My first thoughts on where to garden were, "Maybe I will get a community garden like in Portland. 

  After that did fell through the only choice I had was to do something at my studio apartment that is a 3 unit houses. My goal was to do some gardening and turn a tiny spot into a cozy, a coastal garden oasis! Last week I begun to transform my boring landing by adding two window boxes and just plain black pots for now. 

I added  2 black window boxes first

 

This window box has 2 Geraniums and a Sweet Pepper

🪴 My Small-Space Garden Setup:

 

An assortment of vegetable plants and annuals

Here’s what I planted right outside my door:

• 2 black  window boxes (from Amazon) — Each holds:

  • 1 pink ivy geranium 🌸

  • 1 pepper plant 🌶️

  • 1 marigold 🌼 (hello pollinators!)

• 7 black 1-gallon pots (lined up on the steps and edge):

  • 1 Basil plant 🌿

  • 3 Tomato varieties 🍅🍅🍅 (a slicer, a cherry, and a Roma)

  • 1 Strawberry 🍓

  • 1 Cucumber 🥒

  • 1 extra marigold and Pepper for good measure

• A couple of fabric grow bags for overflow 🌱

Everything was purchased from Home Depot (plants and soil) and Amazon (window boxes, pots, and fabric bags). 

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💰 Estimated Costs:

Item	Quantity	Cost Estimate
Pink Ivy Geraniums	2	$4 each = $8
Peppers	2	$4 each = $8
Marigolds	2	$3 each = $6
Basil	1	$4
Tomato plants (3 types)	3	$4 each = $12
Strawberry plant	1	$4
Cucumber	1	$4
1-Gallon Pots (Black)	7	$3 each = $21
Fabric Grow Bags	2	$5 each = $10
White Railing Window Boxes	2	$15 each = $30
Potting Soil (3 bags)	3	$6 each = $18
Total Estimated Cost		$121

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Mid-June in Maine

June has arrived in Maine, and my garden is bursting into bloom—even if it’s a bit wilder than I meant it to be. 

Between a rainy spring and a busy few weeks, I’ve fallen behind on the weeding and trimming, but nature hasn’t minded one bit. 

I’ve planted pots of herbs, lilac petunias, red begonias, and dusty miller around the edges and on the deck. 

 

The Siberian irises are standing tall in the breeze, the phlox is starting to spread, the wild rambling roses are blooming, and the peonies are opening. My old rhododendrons are having a good year too.

The overgrown look seems to suit the wildlife just fine. A female cardinal has made her nest atop the arbor, hidden among the grapevines and climbing roses. She doesn't mind when I walk by. However, the house wrens have strong opinions about me being anywhere near their corner of the garden. They scold and chirp loudly whenever I step too close—but they keep coming back year after year, so they must not mind me too much.

Just this morning, I saw a tiny garter snake near the lilac bushes. I also heard the soft chatter of wren babies, tucked safely away in their birdhouse while their parents dart in and out feeding them.

 

It’s noisy, chaotic, and full of life out there, and even though the weeds are creeping in and the garden paths are a bit less defined than I’d like, I feel grateful.

 

There’s something special about a garden that’s alive with blooms, bugs, birds, harmless snakes, and, of course, the ever-present squirrels and chipmunks.

 

Now I’ll be rolling up my sleeves and getting back to it—cutting back a few things, staking what’s falling over, and giving the garden my attention. 

But I’ll be careful not to disturb the little families who’ve made their homes here. After all, they were here first this season, and I’m just the lucky one who gets to share the space.