Trade Secrets 2013: Plum Creek

Plum Creek owners Lea Davies and Larry Powers fell in love with the abundance of 18th century stonewalls strewn throughout the property they bought 30 years ago. Right away they built and positioned a lovely center-hall colonial to sit amongst these stonewalls to look as if it had been there for centuries!

Plum Creek welcomes guests with a beautiful meandering drive with two lovely bridges. In the 1980s, two ponds were added. The upper pond with its geyser is lined with a bank full of “Fran Hals,” and includes an exquisite curtain of water cascading to the lower pond with its luscious shrub and perennial borders that include rhododendron, the spring-blooming spirea, wiegala and creeping phlox, a variety of day lilies, hydrangeas, nepeta, sedums, iris, Russian cypress, and much more.

This inviting property boasts numerous perennial beds and walkways, native woodland growth, a formal rock garden with exquisite statues and urns, a formal foundation planting of taxus with topiaries, lovely tranquil seating areas with nature all around, walking paths, a three-tiered formal garden, and an abundance of flowers. Spring brings on the flowering crab apple trees, woodland phlox, creeping phlox, spirea, daffodils, snowdrop anemones, dicentra (bleeding hearts), azaleas, and more.

While these gardens are at their showiest in mid-summer, they offer year-round artistry and even a special lace-like charm in the winter snows.