Existing comment:
Trial Garden:
The first Trial Garden was a temporarily display that tested new varieties of vegetables and annual plants for use in home landscapes. The permanent Trial Garden (pictured far right after completion) continues with this mission, but with more emphasis on annual plants than on edibles.
The fountain bed depicted in the photo to the right was removed after it began to crumble. It was replaced by the current sundial bed; this new design softened the original Trial Garden design by replacing a very hard feature with more plant material.
During its early years, Brookside Gardens accepted plant donations from local citizens -- often trees that had outgrown their home landscapes. The large Norway spruce (Picea abies) to your right above the Trial Garden was donated by a neighbor who had used it as a Christmas tree in his home. The dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) located above the Rose Garden is another tree donated by a citizen after it became too large for its intended landscape. These two trees and others like them remind us of the surrounding community's strong link to and support of the Gardens. |