Terrace Garden

Lovely Welcome

Terrace Garden

Explore and experience this display garden that provides an inviting welcome to the Penn State Extension Offices (located in the Lewis House) and home to Delaware County Master Gardeners. This alluring landscape highlights the large front terrace area with various trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals creating an enchanting tapestry of rich color, depth, dimension, form, and texture.

Would you like to create a welcoming landscape to accentuate your home? Consider taking away some ideas from this enticing garden.

Growing Conditions

Most of the gently sloping garden receives partial to full sun although about one-third of the garden is shadier. Plants thrive in the well-mulched fertile soil.

Description

The garden's diverse trees feature a younger Eastern redbud in the Southeastern corner, several conifers and cypresses, and a holly tree. The North side of the garden features a large variety of shrubs including fothergilla, spirea, ilex, Oregon grape holly, oakleaf hydrangea, weigela, roses, and a yucca plant.

In the shady South end of the garden, perennials include ostrich ferns, painted Japanese ferns, a variety of hellebores, and a ground cover of wild ginger. Deer-resistant amsonia fills in the North end of the garden, and lamb's ear can be found in the Northeast corner. Daffodils are planted around the driveway to add spring color.

Other perennials, such as Shasta daisies, coneflowers, dianthus, and black-eyed Susan, are scattered throughout the garden for accent color. Annuals vary from year to year and are selected based on their appealing color and form.

Background

This garden began as a Penn State Extension trial garden in the late 1990s. Penn State sent plants to the regional offices around the Commonwealth to be planted and monitored by Master Gardeners to see how the trial plants would grow in different regions. Penn State gathered the data to evaluate whether to cultivate the trial plants in the future.

The Terrace Garden no longer functions as a trial garden. Over the years, the garden has evolved with Master Gardeners maintaining many of the original plants and selecting additional plants to provide visual interest. The current garden presents a welcoming atmosphere for visitors to the Penn State Extension offices.