Accommodations, and Prices Are Accurate at the Time of Writing
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58-25 Queens Blvd., Woodside, NY 11377 T: (718) 280-5000; (800) 627-1244 F: (718) 204-4726 E: [email protected] W: www.classicescapes.com Nature & Cultural Journeys for the Discerning Traveler YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO JOIN THE CINCINNATI ZOO & BOTANICAL GARDENS ESCORTED BY STEVE FOLTZ ON A BOTANICAL JOURNEY TO VISIT ENGLISH GARDENS & THE CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW MAY 18 TO 25, 2019 Schedules, accommodations, and prices are accurate at the time of writing. They are subject to change. YOUR CINCINNATI ZOO ESCORT~STEVE FOLTZ, DIRECTOR OF HORTICULTURE AT THE CINCINNATI ZOO & BOTANICAL GARDEN Steve Foltz, Director of Horticulture at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, has been with the Zoo for 29 years. A graduate of the University of Kentucky with a B.S. in Ornamental Horticulture. Steve teaches the woody landscape plant classes at both Cincinnati State and at the University of Cincinnati and has taught them for the past 25 years. Steve has been a member of the Ohio Plant Selection Committee and is one of the original members of the Theodore Klein Plant Awards Committee in Kentucky since its beginning in 1995. Steve is a board member of the International Plant Propagators Society, Eastern Region and was honored with the 2016 Distinguished Contribution Award from the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association. Schedules, accommodations, and prices are accurate at the time of writing. They are subject to change. YOUR ITINERARY DAY 1~SATURDAY~MAY 18 CINCINNATI /EN ROUTE Your adventure begins as you board your overnight flight to London. (Meals Aloft) DAY 2~SUNDAY~MAY 19 LONDON ~ ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY GARDEN & CHELSEA PSYCHIC GARDEN This morning finds you arriving in London, ready to begin your garden and flower tour! En route to your hotel, you will visit two gardens. Your first stop is the RHS Garden. Wisley is the historic home of the Royal Horticultural Society and houses one of the largest collections of plants in the world. The gardens delight visitors through every season – enjoy swathes of bulbs and blossom in spring, unforgettable mixed borders and roses in summer, autumn’s bountiful colors and frost-sparkled walks in winter. The gardens offer a plethora of different flowers and other plants to tantalize and excite your senses. To name just a few, the Exotic Garden displays plants that have a tropical look and feel, yet thrive in the British Summer climate, the Trials Field features plants being assessed by the RHS Trials team for the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM), and the Orchards Field contains trees producing pears, apples, plums and damson. The famous cathedral-like Glasshouse, which covers an area of 10 tennis courts and rises 40 feet high, is home to the RHS tender plant collection. Entering the Glasshouse is like walking into a jungle – tree ferns, tall palms and dazzling flower displays offer a feeling of lushness and drama. As you make your way through this vast space, the environment and climates change gradually, taking you through a world of plants, including many which are difficult to grow, those which are rare and other species labeled endangered. Your next stop is one of London’s oldest botanic gardens. Founded in 1673 as an Apothecaries’ Garden, the Chelsea Psychic Garden is tucked away along the Thames River. Its original purpose was training apprentices in the identification and use of medicinal plants. Today, the gardens contain a unique living collection of around 5,000 different plants within its walls. The Medicinal Garden contains an extended collection of medicinal plants whose uses date back thousands of years, while the Garden of Edible and Useful Plants showcases a diverse collection of productive and functional plants, incorporating both the beautiful and bizarre. In the afternoon, check into your hotel where the balance of day is at leisure. Tonight, enjoy a welcome dinner and get to know your fellow travelers. Overnight at APEX TEMPLE COURT HOTEL. (Welcome D) https://www.apexhotels.co.uk/apex-temple-court-hotel Schedules, accommodations, and prices are accurate at the time of writing. They are subject to change. DAY 3~MONDAY~MAY 20 BRESSINGHAM & BETH CHATTO GARDENS Alan Bloom, the founder of Bloom Nurseries, began developing the gardens in front of Bressingham Hall in 1953. Bloom was devoted to a new concept of using perennials in Island Beds. After a few years abroad, including two in the United States, Bloom returned to develop more specific gardens with one whose primary focus was conifers, heathers, trees and shrubs. Today, Bressingham is a mecca for serious gardeners, with 17 acres of planted gardens containing (at last count) 8,000 species and cultivars of perennials, greases, shrubs, trees, conifers, ferns and bulbs. This is definitely a place to enjoy, dawdle and pick up a few ideas! Continue on to Colchester and the gardens of the renowned garden designer and author Beth Chatto. Beth’s is a garden for plant lovers and while it’s not the biggest, at around 7 acres, it is beautiful. The focus is on Beth’s mantra: ‘Right plant for the right place.’ What was once an orchard on the Chatto family homestead, the Beth Chatto Gardens are comprised of a varied range of planting sites totaling five acres. This includes dry, sun baked gravel, water and marginal planting, woodland, shady, heavy clay and alpine planting, and now includes the Gravel Garden, Woodland Garden, Water Garden, Long Shady Walk, Reservoir Garden and Scree Garden. Overnight at the APEX TEMPLE COURT HOTEL. (B) DAY 4~TUESDAY~MAY 21 MUNSTEAD WOOD GARDENS & WOOLBEDING GARDENS Today’s excursion outside London takes you Godalming and the former home of Gertrude Jekyll, the influential British horticulturalist, garden designer, artist and writer, who employed Edwin Lutyens to design the house. Jekyll moved to the land with her mother in 1928 and purchased the Munstead Wood across the road a few years later. Here she developed what is known as her greatest garden creation which you will have the opportunity to explore. Azaleas and Rhododendrons should be in full bloom at this time of year. The second part of your day is spent at the Woolbeding gardens. Wander around the 26 acres of the gardens and stumble upon follies, explore different garden rooms and relax on lawns. This 20th century garden of two halves, with the color-themed garden rooms surrounding the house, plus a landscape garden, is the creation of Sir Simon Sainsbury and his partner Stewart Grimshaw. This evening, enjoy a private dinner at Denbies Wine Estate. Based in Dorking, Surrey, Denbies has been family owned and run for over 30 years. The vineyard was planted in 1986 and has since become the largest wine producer in the United Kingdom, hosting members of the Royal Family, completing historical connections which date back to Prince Albert in 1851. Overnight at APEX TEMPLE COURT HOTEL. (B,D) Schedules, accommodations, and prices are accurate at the time of writing. They are subject to change. DAY 5~WEDNESDAY~MAY 22 GRAVETYE MANOR & NYMANS GARDENS Venture into the English countryside to visit Gravetye Manor. The gardens at the manor are considered a very special place and can be regarded amongst the most influential in English gardening history. The manor and gardens were once the home of William Robinson, the father of the English Flower Garden. Today, after a period of disrepair and neglect, Gravetye is a mature, charming and very beautiful garden. The tree line and the masses of naturalized bulbs show Robinsons' genius in a way that only he could have imagined over 100 years ago. The wild garden tumbles down its south facing slopes into the contrasting formal areas of the garden, and wherever you are in the garden there is always a stunning view of the surrounding countryside. Since 2010, a significant restoration has been underway, led by head Gardner Tom Coward, who once worked alongside Fergus Garrett. The focus has been on conserving and re-creating Robinson's work to honor his experimental style of gardening. Your next stop is Nymans Gardens. Now run by the National Trust, development began in the 19th century by the Messel Family. Three generations of the family have cultivated the land, which has yielded many sports, or a part of a plant that shows morphological differences from the rest of the plant. Despite restoration due to damage of the Great Storm of October 1987, Nymans remains a stop on the English garden circuit, as you will find delightful collections of magnolias, camellias, eucryphia and heathers. William Robinson even advised on the herbaceous borders, which are punctuated with topiary, and Arthur Hellyer remarked that it is ‘a collector’s garden, yet it also is a designed garden.’ Overnight at the APEX TEMPLE COURT HOTEL. (B) Schedules, accommodations, and prices are accurate at the time of writing. They are subject to change. DAY 6~THURSDAY~MAY 23 CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW The Chelsea Flower Show, sponsored by the Royal Horticultural Society, is the most famous flower show in the British Isles and one the most famous in the world, attracting visitors from almost all continents. The RHS has run a flower show since 1862 and the exhibition moved to its current home in the early 1900’s. Every year, the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea are transformed with stunning horticultural displays. World renowned gardeners, plant specialists, florists and nurseries come together to show off cutting edge garden designs and inspirational floral exhibits. As you stroll through the show, taking in award winning gardens, you will discover rare flowers and plants, creative floral works of art; spot emerging gardening trends, and browse horticultural products for sale, ranging from gardening gadgets to sculptures and plants.