Like dreamy floating flowers, butterflies entering our gardens invite one to pause and take note. We gaze upward to see where our sojourner is headed, what has tempted the intrepid traveler and how we can make their venture into our garden worthwhile. Butterflies bring to our gardens the dimension of transient movement and beauty evanescing.
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Willowdale Estate, presently a fully operational special events facility, was the former mansion of the prominent Boston attorney and industrialist Bradley Palmer. Located within the Bradley Palmer State Park in Topsfield, Massachusetts, Willowdale is surrounded by over 700 acres of woodland forest, gently rolling meadows, and vibrant wetlands. I became acquainted with Briar Forsythe, the proprietor of Willowdale, when she and her site director, Emily Goss, commissioned me to design and build a butterfly and songbird garden to enhance the courtyard where weddings and special events are held.
As stewards of this special estate, and because Willowdale is located in a natural woodland setting, we have taken extra care to grow only plants that are regional to the northeast or are exceptionally well-behaved ornamentals. We would be loathe to introduce or exacerbate existing problems with invasive species. The butterfly courtyard at Willowdale flourishes spring, summer, and autumn—flowering, fruiting, and luring pollinators of all sorts. Growing Native at Willowdale
Butterfly Courtyard Blooming
New notes of fresh scents. Black earth, alive, revealed! The ground becomes awash in a sea of aquamarine striped squill. Warming winds and sun showers—all of New England rejoices in May’s heart song— and the nascent bud opens her grace to the garden.
Delicious pink and white flowering dogwoods and crabapples billow into blossom. The earth between affords a spring carpet of true-blue forget-me-nots, ‘Spring Green’ tulips, and warm, buttercream fragrant jonquils, woven with dashes of the Red of Riding Hood’s tulips. The much-awaited Eastern redbud arrives fashionably late in her brilliant Persian pink dotted dress. Ostrich ferns unfurl their fiddleheads and wildflowers violet, rockbell, bloodroot, and bleeding heart dance the spring fête. Lily of-the-valley takes hold the senses and the fragrance of lilacs and viburnums envelope the courtyard. So begins the seasonal revelry of sultry scented blossoms and kaleidoscopic hues.
As the summer unfolds, sweetbay and Oyama magnolias exude their lustrous satiny perfume—the fragrant festival swells—and aromatic, butterfly-attracting blossoms begin their florescence. The air becomes impregnated with the scent of lavender, rose, lemon lily, and peony. Coral honeysuckle twines round the entryway and there, you may capture a gleam from the hummingbird’s ruby throat. Buttonbush for swallowtails, meadowsweet for azures, a butterfly, or two, or three is spied! Coneflower and cardinal flower, poppy and phlox, moonbeam and catmint, balloon flower and buddleia—yield nectar punch for intrepid travelers. A tableau vivant to bedazzle royal Monarchs, the milkweed and gayfeather feast is arrayed. With whisper soft steps, we catch a glimpse of the clearwing moth nectaring at the verbena, and a sphinx at the wand flower. Never quieting to the dog days of August, a Mexican mariachi of cosmos, nasturtiums, zinnias, and lantana continue to regale. Rose-of-Sharon throws another blossom and Rudbeckia ‘Autumn Sun’ stretches ever taller still.
Late summer has arrived, and still the stalwarts flower. Now the moon vine and morning glories embower the courtyard entryway. Hazy, slanting rays gild the late season glory in the garden. Autumnal hues and fragrances are due in part to copious members of the aster family. New England and New York asters bloom in shades of pink and purple, smooth aster and ‘October Skies,’ in shades of lavender blue. The potent perfume of Montauk daisies is surpassed only by that of the apricot-pink washed Korean daisies. Not to be ignored is the divine scent of the peacock orchids, hailing from the banks of the Nile River, and the purple polka dots of toad lily and tissue paper petal-dress of anemone, both of Japanese fame.
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Willowdale offers free community activities open to the public, and cultural events are planned throughout the year. For information on booking Willowdale for an event and a complete calendar of upcoming public events, please click on the link below.
Read more:
Willowdale Estate
24 Asbury Street
Topsfield, MA 01983
978.887.8211
willowdaleestate.com