Upper Moreland Historical Society Garden Tour - Mom and Ellen also enjoyed it on this 80-degree but not humid day

 Five houses. Five spectacular gardens. All different. All in Upper Moreland Township... trespassing with impunity.



Picked up Mom and Ellen at 10:15 and off we went. Mom sat in the front with her cane.

Below foto: I liked the old Impala in the drive, next to the Caddy.

 Hastas were popular.

 Bob Young and family have a heated pool. I told Bob it reminded me of the late Liddon Pennock's pool at Meadowbrook Farm.

 Hanging out on the patio. The grandchildren sit in the lil chairs.

 Zelcova is a species of elm.

 Paperbark birches.

 Many of the gardens featured antiques like these wagon wheels. We're looking at two side/by/side houses.

 Everything was bloomingly beautiful.

 Doris served pink lemonade and cookies. She's from Maryland and buys most of her fleurs down there at an auction run by the Mennonites, methinks. In Maryland, she gets to visit with her family.

 Can you see the painting on the Upper West Side? Actually, the upper left side. She didn't like two windows so she had workmen plaster the openings and then friends painted decorative works. Such great ideas.

 Near Doris's fish pond which had a splashing waterfall.

 These fish eggs will hatch in only four days. They're tiny opaque circles on the clump at the right.

 I bent down to smell a daylily - which did not smell - and Doris gave me a napkin to wipe off the stamens on my nose. See the lil gnome straight ahead?

 This could be you reading beneath a tree.

 Now we're entering the Japanese garden of Michael Italian last-name who owns a garden nursery.

 When he and his wife Ellen bought the house 30-some years ago, the garden was filled with the usual grass. How boring! There's not a blade of grass left now.

Lots of bonsai.

Dyou know Iris Innes, I asked. Sure enuf, he does. I toured her spectacular garden years ago. Afterward, I brot her a homemade pumpernickel as a gift.

Dyou know The Swiss Pines in Malvern, I asked him. Yes, but they're very run down he said. They don't have the money to take c/o them. I went once or twice with Simon. Spectacular Japanese garden there.

According to the web, they're closed indefinitely.

Michael mentioned Shofuso of Fairmount Park, which we visited a couple of times.

 Exciting materials to house plants such as this blood grass.

 A type of driftwood someone gave him. "He knew I'd like it," said Michael, who was gracious in answering all of the visitors' many questions, as we oohed and ahhed.

 Found objects, which he plops down and uses as display tables. 

 Above is an azalea bonsai. Late-blooming.

 Contrasting greens.

 Different shaped planters adds variety.

 Have a seat on this cooling stone bench. My, it's hot outside! Lo 80s.

 Nooks n crannies. One held a meer.

 Gazebo of relaxation. It even has a carpet.

 Tibetan house of some sort. Birds don't build nests inside.

 Huge roses grow athwart a tree.

Below are succulents.  sometimes called fat plants, are plants having some parts that are more than normally thickened and fleshy, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. Succulent plants may store water in various structures, such as leaves and stems. (Wiki)

Begonia, one of many species.

Now we're on the front porch. Coleus galore.

"Tall Timbers" on Pennypack Road. Owner is "Doc Dobbins," a high school science teacher and affable man who told us about his 3-acre property.

Former barn. Remember, this used to be farm country.

I liked the clean white lines of this former barn.

These stone ruins were a barn. The previous owner burned some leaves in windy weather and the entire barn burned down. Like Mr Fotheringham on Glenmore Road when we were growing up. Burned down an entire field on Green Road.

This is something Carl Yeager would photograph.

Scott and I drive down this street all the time on our way to walk on a Pennypack Trust trail. Now we got to see at least one property.

Chuck, the retired postman at the Bryn Athyn PO, just sold this house in May for $390,000. Wonder where he and his GF moved to?

Here's Chuck's house.

I parked in the shade and Mom stayed in the car. She was able to look at the fleurs at the first house we stopped at. Some of the UMHA volunteers gave her bottled water to drink in the car.

I

This house - "Overlook Farms" - was accessed via Greenhill Road, five minutes away from me. It's on Edgehill Road, which has no parking.

Chuck, co-owner, told us this farm is the oldest house in UM Twp, completed in 1750 - is that right, Ellen?

They have a plethora of animals. Pets. And egg-layin chickens.

Hello, little pet pygmy goats.

Grace, what does a chicken say.


Grace, two and a half, was at the June Fete today.  I cribbed the foto off FB and it won't go any smaller.

Exploring the property.

Pleasant area to sit and chat around a bonfire.

We thanked one and all for their generosity in sharing their homes and gardens with us.