Chanticleer Garden’s rooster theme continues with Marcia Donahue‘s cockscomb-bamboo sculptures, which mark the entrance to the Elevated Walkway garden. This is Part 4 of my visit to Chanticleer during the Philadelphia Area Fling last September.
The winding pathway spirals around a big Japanese maple, which was blushing red for fall.
Green leaves going orangey red
Moss and ferns carpet the ground under the tree, and a curious little house appears beneath the branches — an apple house, built half-underground for chilly apple storage.
Inside, an immersive mural spanning every wall and even the ceiling makes the old structure into a chipmunk burrow of a playhouse. Amid painted fallen leaves, a paper with Chanticleer’s address appears to lie crumpled on the ground.
And a hungry cat peers in at the chipmunks — and you!
One more look at the mossy-roofed apple house and guardian Japanese maple
Late September flowers
Angelica’s maroon umbels
Rattlesnake master
Even a few daylilies
The walkway looks out on a great lawn running downhill from the house to a pond…
…and it delivers you to the lawn near the bottom of the hill.
Serpentine
Here, the Serpentine wriggles into view. Two sinuous beds are planted with agricultural crops like barley or sorghum.
With a creative sleight of hand, silvery willows are pruned to look like gnarled olives, and bushy junipers are meant to evoke the verticality of Italian cypress. It’s a hint of old Tuscany in the Pennsylvania countryside.
At the end of the Serpentine, pleached ginkgos encircle a low stone wall.
What a beautiful living enclosure
‘Fireworks’ goldenrod was sizzling yellow behind the ginkgos.
Bulb Meadow
Further along, a lawn spangled with colchicums came into view. These fall-flowering bulbs look like lavender bouquets set down in the turf.
A romantic scene, with Easter-like color for fall
Up next: The Asian Woods garden at Chanticleer. For a look back at Chanticleer’s dreamy House Garden, click here.
To read about my past visits to Chanticleer’s Elevated Walkway, Serpentine, and Bulb Meadow, follow these links:
- Every passage is a destination at Chanticleer, October 2021
- Up on Chanticleer’s elevated walkway and Asian Woods Garden, June 2016
- A visit to Chanticleer: Pond Garden
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Hey, Austin-area gardeners, come learn about making a waterwise, Texas-hardy crevice garden! Register for my next Garden Spark talk with Coleson Bruce on January 18th. He’s created one of the most interesting and beautiful xeriscape gardens I’ve seen in Austin. Learn all about it and hang out with fellow gardeners who are interested in good design. Hope to see you there!
Come learn about garden design from the experts at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. The Season 7 lineup can be found here.
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