Garden Descriptions
Our GardensIf you're interested in getting an in-depth look at our gardens first hand then please join one of our staff-led garden tours. Our garden staff will take you to each of our main gardens, explain their contents, and answer your questions. For scheduled tour times and meeting locations please inquire at our front desk.
The Lodge Gardens
The window boxes hung on the exterior of the Lodge are planted with a mix of vinca vine, zonal geraniums and supertunias. The hanging baskets are planted with supertunias and ivy geranium. The brick planter outside the Library is planted with a mix of nonstop begonias, calibrachoa and supertunias.
The Family Cemetery
Walk across the lawn in front of the Dining Room to the Family Cemetery. This garden is a mix of annual and perennial plants as well as some small trees and shrubs. The annuals are planted in blocks that are taken out in the fall and planted with tulips for spring bloom. When the tulips go by the bulbs are dug out and replaced with the annuals for the summer season.
The Croquet Court
From the cemetery, proceed to the Croquet Court Garden’s mixed border. All of the plants in this garden are perennials or biennials. There are also many spring and summer blooming bulbs including daffodils, hybrid Darwin tulips, frittilaria and alliums. At the end of this garden just before the stone steps is where you will find the edelweiss plant. Walk across the lawn and go through the opening of trees at the end of the stone wall and enter The Rock Garden.
The Rock Garden
The Rock Garden, designed and planted by Maria von Trapp, is the oldest garden on the property. It’s designed that the colors tone down as the weather heats up to create a cooling effect. This is essentially two gardens in one with one half for shade plants and the other half for sun loving plants. Shade plants include helleborus, hosta, brunnera, primrose, and sweet woodruff under the apple tree and sun plants including heather, candy tuft and sedum on the opposite side of the garden steps.
The Cutting Gardens and Greenhouse
Take a short walk down the road (away from the Lodge) to the Cutting Gardens and Greenhouse on your left. The annual and perennial plants are used for all our fresh flower arrangements in the Lodge as well as the dried decorations. The fruits, herbs, and vegetables are used by our Executive Chef for ingredients and/or garnish. The Greenhouse is used for starting seedlings, growing houseplants for the Lodge and forcing bulbs for winter bloom.
Edelweiss
As one of the world’s best known European mountain flowers Edelweiss is renowned for its simple beauty and symbolic nature. As a result of growing in inaccessible mountain regions the flower is often associated with mountaineering, courage, purity and nobility (in fact, the name Edelweiss is a combination of the German words for “noble” and “white”.) Given the beauty of these white flowers it's no surprise that the von Trapp family decided to plant them in the gardens around their home in the verdant mountains of Vermont to remind them of their homeland. We welcome guests and visitors at the Trapp Family Lodge to take a little piece of Austria home with them in the form of their very own Edelweiss.
To buy an Edelweiss plant please stop by our greenhouse (open 8:30AM – 4:00PM Mon. through Sat.) and ask one of our gardening staff to direct you to our available plants. Edelweiss are available May through October and need to be purchased on property. If you have any questions about transporting or caring for you Edelweiss please consult our garden staff.
