Sunday, May 23, 2010

Winterthur


We spent the day on Saturday at Winterthur in Wilmington, DE. Former home of Henry Francis du Pont who was an avid collector of early American furniture, antiques and very big on creating amazing gardens on the 60 acreas aurrounding the mansion. I love this place, it is quite magical!



The quarry garden is one of my favorites, hundreds of blooming primrose.


One of today's highlights was the peony walk. Hundreds of pink, white and red peopnies were still in bloom despite the rain.

Pink roses against an old rock wall are enchanting.
You can almost smell them, right?

Japanese iris at the koi pond was very fitting.

I don't know what this is, but I like it!


If I had loads of money, I would only drive vintage cars.
They have way more personality than new cars.
The swan hood ornament on this car had me swooning.




Nothing says "cool" more than a 50's era Caddy! Would ya look at those fins!




12 comments:

Theresa MacNaughton said...

Someplace new! What beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing this...i'll be keeping it in mind for a vacation destination. :) Theresa

Lin said...

I love peony season!! Oh, the scent!! Great, now I've got to go mooch some off the neighbors--thanks for reminding me. :)

Victoria said...

Gorgeous post...awesome!! thanks for the adventure!
Kiki~

Unknown said...

You guys have so many wonderful old places to visit back there, oh, and that swan ornament! It reminds me of a stylized version of the old GS Garcia Bits and Spurs.
That Peony is SO stunning, as is the whatsamacallit seed pod things!
:-)
~ Deb

Jeni said...

Oh what fun!!!! That place looks very beautiful!

Gail H. Ragsdale said...

I so enjoy our trips with you! What a lovely setting. I agree with you, the old cars have so much more character than anything out there today!

Jennifer Rose said...

those roses are gorgeous! that swan ornament is a work of art

CTG Ponies said...

Gorgeous! I've never been there but it's on my list of places to visit.

Jo Potter said...

Hi Jen,
Your post is lovely and wow, Winterthur in Wilmington is quite amazing!:)
The gardens are so beautiful with the lovely flowers.
I would have vintage cars too, if I was wealthy. The back of the black car looks like the batmobile with red rockets on the wings!;D

Linda said...

Beautiful, I believe its a Mahonia, I don't know if I've spelt it right, it usually flowers at christmas with small fragrant flowers usually yellow. Lindax

Kristen said...

That looks like an awesome place, is it a close drive for you? I can't believe still, how much further along your flowers are than ours in CT. My peonies are just small balls still. The lupins just opened this week

Rue said...

What an amazing place - truly magical! That's a huge estate house too - lots of staff needed to keep that place clean!