Linwood Gardens

 Have you ever gone to a new place and wondered how it could be that you have never gone there before? That's exactly how I felt when J and I visited the Linwood Gardens on Saturday. Linwood Gardens is located in Pavilion, NY and is a short drive from Rochester.

The Linwood Gardens are located on a former country home created by William Henry Gratwick II, of Buffalo, in 1901. In 1933, WH Gratwick III moved his family to the estate and set up the Rare Plants Nursery. The Japanese Tree Peony became a feature of the nursery and the gardens. Oh, how I would have loved to visit that Nursery! We only have one tree peony in our garden. That would be the plant I spent $50 on, and every year I hold my breath to see if it will come back. But after spending a beautiful summer afternoon with these beauties, I asked J to consider taking out one of our roses (that has never done very well, anyway) and replacing it with a tree peony. I think she may have thought I was kidding, but I was serious. 

View from the Italian Garden

Now the Gardens are open a few weeks of the year, and for $10 (or $15 for two), you can wander through the Gardens and enjoy what must be some of the most spectacular flowers ever. When we were finished walking through the gardens, we enjoyed a cookie and some lemonade while we listened to a group of recorder players. It was about as perfect of a day as I could imagine.