DelawareScene: Bank to Bend @ Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

Bank to Bend

Celebrate the early-spring garden and bulb display on the beautiful March Bank with a day of events. The event gets its name from the du Pont family custom of walking the path from the March Bank to Magnolia Bend at this time of year looking for the first flowers in the garden.

Admission includes access to the plant sale of snowdrops, cyclamens, and perennials (Member-exclusive presale, 9:00–10:00 am), the guided Director’s Garden Walk, and guided and self-guided walking tours of the garden.

10:00 am–3:00 pm: Plant Sale of cyclamens, perennials and unusual snowdrops. Members’ preview sale, 9:00–10:00 am.

1:00 pm: Director’s Garden & Estate Walk: Snowdrops and Other Minor Bulbs

1:30–3:00 pm: Library Collection Open House

For an additional fee of $10 you can also attend the lecture. Registration recommended.

11:00 am–12:00 pm: “The Wild Garden in Our Time” lecture presented by Rick Darke

William Robinson’s 1870 classic The Wild Garden challenged the tradition of arranging plants in fixed patterns by suggesting that naturalizing plants in self-perpetuating communities would prove most conserving and effective in creating durable, resilient landscapes. Henry Francis du Pont embraced Robinson’s ideas in his plans for the March Bank, and the ethic of managing authentic wildness remains a core principle of the garden at Winterthur. In this lecture, Rick Darke will illustrate the dynamic nature and continuing relevance of wild gardening in a wide range of modern global landscapes.

Rick Darke is a design consultant, author, and photographer based in Pennsylvania who blends ecology, horticulture, and cultural geography to steward living landscapes. His projects include public parks and gardens, transportation corridors, and residential landscapes. His books include The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest; The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden, co-authored with Doug Tallamy; and Gardens of the High Line: Elevating the Nature of Modern Landscapes, co-authored with Piet Oudolf. He also wrote an introductory essay and contributed photos to The Wild Garden: Expanded Edition, a newly-designed edition of Willam Robinson’s book.

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