Today Kevin Kelly is taking us along to visit a fantastic public garden.

I recently took a trip to Mt. Cuba Center, which is located in Delaware. It opened to the public in 2013, but its roots began about 80 years ago. The center’s mission is to inspire an appreciation for the beauty and value of native plants and to protect the habitats that sustain them. This is a bucket-list garden for anyone to visit. Here are just a few photos from my visit.

The pond is a wonderful place to sit, relax, and take in all the beauty around you. Currently in bloom is Packera aurea (golden gagwort, Zones 3–8). Its basal evergreen foliage forms a great ground cover for shady, moist to dry woodlands.

Trillium foetidissimum (Mississippi river wakerobin, Zones 5–9). Mt. Cuba Center has an outstanding collection of North American trilliums. More than a third of the native species are threatened with extinction due to habitat loss and overgrazing by deer and feral pigs.

This is a spectacular specimen of our native Cornus florida (Zones 5–9).

With Podophyllum peltatum (mayapple, Zones 3–8), only plants that have two leaves will develop a single flower in the axil of the leaves.

Trillium flexipes × sulcatum

Houstonia caerulea (Quaker ladies, Zones 3–8) in a moss bed

This is a picture of the pond from the other side. The scene is so peaceful, and the bench looks so inviting.

Orontium aquaticum (golden club, Zones 5–10). This is an East Coast native that grows in shallow water in swamps, marshes, ponds, and bogs.

This Trillium cuneatum (Zones 5–8) has such gorgeous leaves.

These tulips are planted on the side of a large fountain (which is just off the bottom of the picture). Cornus florida makes a wonderful focal point on the hill.

Have a garden you’d like to share?

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