Ladew Garden Festival

Influenced and Inspired

Harvey S Ladew

Written by Helen

We are fortunate to live in an area with such a beautifully rolling landscape. We are also so blessed to live just five miles from world renowned Ladew Topiary Gardens. If you are from the area, you most likely have wandered these gardens…if you haven’t, you should.  My life was influenced and inspired by the gardens of Harvey Ladew from a very early age.  My brother, sister, best friend and I would ride our ponies for miles (about 8 miles) across the countryside of northern Baltimore and Harford counties, and down the (now treacherous ) Jarrettsville Pike so that we could peer over the tall wooden privacy fence at life-sized topiary fox hunt scene. Topiary is the art or practice of clipping shrubs or trees into ornamental shapes. Sometimes started on wire frames to give form, the perennial plant is patiently grown and meticulously clipped over time to create a living art form. The plants used in topiary are evergreen, mostly woody, and have small leaves or needles that produce dense foliaged and have compact growth habits.  As young children, we were wide-eyed and in awe at the magnificent presence and beauty of these topiaries. 

Few more colorful figures embellish American cultural history than the late Harvey S. Ladew (1887-1976). As traveler, artist, foxhunter and creator of an extraordinary garden, Ladew filled the nearly 90 years of his life richly, creatively, and above all, with great wit. Ladew was born into privilege in Manhattan, New York City on April 6, 1887. As a child Ladew spoke French before he spoke English and was treated to boyhood drawing lessons from curators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Ladew family traveled extensively, often visiting relatives in Europe. It was during Mr. Ladew’s early travels that he became inspired by the gardens of Europe, and in the early 1920’s, he discovered the art of topiary in England when he saw a clipped hunt scene atop a hedge in Gloucestershire.

In 1929, the fox hunting scene drew Harvey Ladew to the Maryland countryside where he purchased purchased the 200+ acre Pleasant Valley Farm which conveniently bordered The Elkridge- Harford Hunt Club. The old white farmhouse was in primitive condition- it had neither heat, electricity nor plumbing. Ladew said of his “new” house – “It was in shambles and the only garden consisted of a couple of old lilac bushes.” After renovating the house,  Mr Ladew turned to transform what had been farm fields, into 22 acres of exquisitely designed gardens. From his trips to England and Italy he knew what sort of garden he wanted. It was to have two cross axes to allow for the long vistas he had seen in Italian gardens with "garden rooms" off each axis. The axes meet in Ladew's oval swimming pool, placed in the center of the Great Bowl. He designed topiaries depicting a fox and hounds, a Chinese junk with sails, swans, and a giraffe, among others. 

Ladew was determined to preserve his garden for all, and so established the Ladew Topiary Gardens, Inc., a non-profit organization whose mission is "to maintain and promote the gardens, house and facilities in keeping with the creative spirit of Harvey S. Ladew for the public benefit and for educational, scientific, and cultural pursuits." The house, gardens, and grounds were opened to the public in 1971

This upcoming Saturday,  the second of May would be the 12th annual Ladew Gardens,  Garden Festival.  For the past 12 years this has been one of my favorite days of the year. The festival consists of 75 vendors coming together under tents large and small to launch the gardening season by selling all things garden inspired. Plants, pots, trellises, baskets, garden ornaments and statues, benches, soaps and salves… it is a unique collection of enthusiastic, passionate people excited to share what they have to enhance your gardening experience.  Everything was bursting with spring and there was such excitement in the air as people flooded the gates of Ladew Gardens to wander the tents, to get inspired to take home treasures to enhance their garden moment. The canvas behind this lively event, were the outstanding gardens of  Harvey Ladew.  On the first Saturday of May, these gardens are bursting with the fresh life of spring, begging to be enjoyed by all admirers.

Due to the current “situation”, the garden festival as we know it is cancelled. In support of the festival vendors and in support of Ladew,  beginning Wednesday, April 29 will be the start of the first (and hopefully last) socially distancing garden festival. Star Bright Farm will be an active vendor for the virtual festival. 10% of all online sales from Wednesday - Saturday will be donated to Ladew. We are also offering 10% off of all sales over $75 use code LADEW2020 . Since we are a farm and are considered “essential” and we will be open this Saturday . We will be demonstrating good “social distancing” practices with darling  linen face masks and continually sanitizing surfaces. We have beautiful mowed paths to walk or wander out into the farm fields and a beautiful garden to sit in.  We will allow up to 4 people in the barn at one time .  There is also the option of shopping online and we will prepare your bag for you and leave it on a table out front and you can do a quick pick up. We also ship to anywhere in the US.

Looking forward to seeing you however that may be!

Get Gardening!