Mount Vernon Upper Flower Garden with the re-created greenhouse at the back
Mount Vernon – The Upper Flower Garden with old-fashioned tulips and greenhouse

The Upper Flower Garden at Mount Vernon in Spring

Mount Vernon was the home and garden of America’s first president, George Washington. It is open to the public and is particularly lovely to visit in the spring with flowering trees such as redbud and dogwood. On my recent visit it was an overcast day with alternating rain showers and bursts of sunshine. The weather, the flowers, and the vociferous birds were all in harmony in a spring garden that was fresh and bursting with life.

The Upper Flower Garden at Mount Vernon is a delightful garden within the larger estate. I like to wander along the graveled paths and consider the plants and people who have inhabited this space over the centuries.

A gravel-lined path and a wooden bench in the Upper Flower Garden at Mount Vernon
Graveled paths and wooden benches allow visitors to enjoy the garden as they have over the centuries
Mount Vernon Garden House in the Upper Flower Garden
The little garden house at the corner of the Upper Flower Garden is one of my favorite garden structures
Mount Vernon spring flower bed with red and yellow tuliups
Spring flowers pack the bed between the walls and the low boxwood hedge at the front

Historic Tulips at Mount Vernon

The old tulips that are grown in the gardens at Mount Vernon are different from the ones that are available today. They are shorter than our tall 21st Century hybrids and come in a limited color range. Within a group the color patterns may have varying amounts of each color.

Tulips in a box-borderd flower bed at Mount Vernon, Virginia
White and pink Lady Tulips (Tulipa clusiana) mingle in this border later blooming daylilies
Lady tulip (Tulipa clusiana) showing the pink and white stripes
Old-fashioned red and yellow tulips like ‘Helmar’ are stars of the spring garden at Mount Vernon
Keizerskroon Tulip is red and yellow and dates from 1750
Keizerskroon Tulip dates from the mid 1700’s

Old-fashioned Daffodils

The old types of daffodils that are grown at Mount Vernon are similar to the wild or species type daffodils that were brought into gardens from the wild. They have what I call ‘wayward grace’. I grow historic daffodils in my garden for their charm and sense of continuity with generations of gardeners who have also loved them in their gardens.

Tazetta daffodils called severnteen sisters - they have many daffodil heads on one stem
Seventeen Sisters daffodil is a popular tazetta daffodil that is found in old southern American gardens
An Early Louisiana Jonquil type yellow daffodil
This little daffodil may be the Early Louisiana Jonquil

Other Spring Bulbs in the Upper Flower Garden

Apart from tulips and daffodils there are other bulbs in the Mount Vernon Flower Garden. Petite trout lilies have a distinctive curved back petal shape, bell-shaped fritillaries, and white summer snowflakes.

White trout lilies with swept back petals
Trout lilies (Erythronium) are a low growing plant for the mid-front of a spring flower bed
Snakes head fritillary in purple with a checkerboard pattern
Snakes head Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) is a slender with a checkerboard pattern
Persian Fritillary is tall and dusky slate in color with many dangling flowers up the stem
Persian Fritillary (Fritillaria persica) is an upright plant with flowers that hang down
A view across the garden at Mount Vernon with a fruit tree underplanted with flowers
The partly shaded position under the fruit trees is perfect for the summer snowflake

Spring-blooming Biennials and Perennials

In the Upper Flower Garden at Mount Vernon flowers are grown in an intermingled, flower-packed manner. The bulbous flowers are underplanted with biennials and perennials that add in a vraiety of flower shapes and colors.

Candytuft is a white flower that looks good along a path
Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) is a lovely low-growing perennial for edging a path
Ragged Robin is a pink slender flower
Ragged Robin (Silene flos-cuculi) is a lovely perennial to grow with tulips
Honesty plant with purple flowers at Mount Vernon
Honesty (Lunaria annua) is a biennial that later has silvery seed pods
Red and Yellow Tulips combine with old cowslip primroses also in red and yellow in the Upper Flower Garden at Mount Vernon
This red and yellow cowslip is a type of primrose called Primula veris

A visit to the historic gardens of Mount Vernon is a wonderful chance to see a collection of old-fashioned flowers. Try growing some in your own garden because they are good plants that have survived for centuries.

Bye for now gardening friends, Cheers, Jenny Rose Carey

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