Chanticleer Friday: the Teacup Garden

Welcome back to Chanticleer Friday, today we'll be looking around the Teacup Garden.

"With playful verve, the Teacup Garden takes on a different personality each year. One year it adopts the tropicalismo look, replete with subtropical and tender plants that thrive in our sultry summer nights. Angel trumpets dangle like Christmas ornaments, coleus drip with kaleidoscopic colors that only Jackson Pollock would have dreamed of, and bananas and palms nonchalantly flaunt their gargantuan leaves. Another year it will dramatically transform into a xeriscape of cacti, succulents, and grasses. The only constant is the namesake fountain, whose sound of trickling water elicits a merriment that matches the seasonal plantings. We believe the Rosengartens purchased the fountain in Florence, Italy, in the 1920s." (source) 

I first saw photos of the Teacup Garden—and learned of it's changing themes—when it was in a blue period, maybe with a Mediterranean bent, there most definitely were agaves. I don't think I could tell you exactly what this year's look was meant to evoke, other than lush beautiful plantings. 

On my right when I entered the garden was this low table. I was quite taken with the planting of Dietes grandiflora 'Variegata' in the turquoise container with a moss top dressing. Simple perfection.

A pulled back view of that area.

Here's the planting in the center of the courtyard, where the teacup fountain is located. Don't worry, I'll go in depth here a bit later.

The lefthand side...

I couldn't resist climbing the stairs to look down on the garden...

Once I was at the top I was distracted by an agave that looked like it had just landed 

Throughout my Chanticleer coverage you'll notice photos of the same area, but the quality of the light will be different. In this instance I first shot at 10:30 in the morning (above), but now I'm walking back through the area around 4:30.

I just had to capture how much personality this Agave americana variegata had.

Looking towards the Teacup Garden again...

There is the namesake fountain in the center.

You may be wondering what the garden looks like during the winter, I know I was. According to the USDA Zone Hardiness Map, Wayne, Pennsylvania, is a Zone 7a, with wintertime temperatures sometimes falling to the 5 to 0F range (brrr!). The garden is closed now (opening day is March 27, 2024), but I came across a video from the week of November 10th that shows the gardeners breaking down these (and other) plantings and beginning to winterize the garden. It was fascinating to watch.

Another view of the stairs that led up to the agave, and more lush plantings.

This staircase leads out into the rest of the garden, and we'll go there shortly, but I have a few more photos of this area to share first.

Looking through the central planting and back out to the entrance space I shared in last Friday's "kick-off" post.

It's fun to think this little fountain is the feature around which this entire section of the garden is designed each year.

I was prepared to not like the fountain itself (a teacup, really?), but it won me over.

Senecio vira-vira and Gomphrena globosa ‘Audray White’.

With this view back towards the stairs I think I've now shown the fountain from all four sides.

One more look backwards, before...

...we start down the stairs out of the Teacup Garden. But wait! We must stop to take a closer look at this pairing beside the stairs.

I love the fern (is that a Hart's tongue fern/Asplenium scolopendrium?) and aspidistra pairing in the large urn.

And of course my eyes were drawn to the Pyrrosia lingua growing epiphytically on a decaying piece of wood.

Looking back, so beautiful!

I've just turned that corner and I'm headed towards the Tennis Court Garden, which will be the subject of next Friday's post.

But before we wrap up today, there are hanging orbs to appreciate...

A close-up.

And another shot in better light...

I thought it might be helpful to share a map at the end of these posts, so you can see where we've been, and what's up next. The area covered in today's post is circled in orange, up next Friday is the Tennis Court Garden.

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