Once surrounded by a dense hemlock hedge, the old tennis court has been transformed into a dynamic garden. The first area to be developed after Mr. Rosengarten's death, it was orginally designed to showcase herbaceous plants for summer and fall. The original rectangle of the tennis court was divided into five beds, each with a complex but informal floral arrangement.
A bank of red daylilies, now fading under the weight of shrubbery, was planted for summer color. Tall yellow flowering plants such as perennial and false sunflowers were added, making a brassy arrangement of colors. The garden has softened and changed over the years, its season extending from opening day in April to the closing of our gates at the end of October.
The center bed is the most focused with a symmetrical arrangement of barberries, lamb's ears, and yuccas. From this center, beds with subtle color themes fill the garden. An arbor covered in the rambling roses, Rosa 'Dr. W. van Fleet' and Rosa 'New Dawn', anchors one end while a grand staircase completes the other.
	Love-in-the-mist, an annual with fine foliage and light blue flowers, seeds under a white false indigo, itself surrounded by the tiny white daisies of the snow tansy. Poppies fill the garden in early summer and bearded irises of a dangerous hue fight with the lipstick red flowers of Weigela.
All images and text copyright ©2007 The Chanticleer Foundation