The more than 100 fragrant peony plants in the Formal Garden at the Lincoln family's home draws visitors from far and wide. The garden was designed by President Lincoln’s granddaughter, Jessie Lincoln, for her mother, Mary Harlan Lincoln.
Archival documents suggest that Robert Lincoln collaborated with his daughter in bringing the garden to life. The pattern is that of a stained glass window; the privet representing the leading, the flowers the glass. As a young woman, Jessie had seen such windows in the cathedrals of Europe as well as the parterre design in gardens.
Proof that some of Hildene’s peonies are heirloom, came with the discovery of correspondence from Robert Lincoln dated November 9, 1905 and bearing the following directive, “There is at the express office, Manchester Depot, a box addressed to me from Paris, France. It contains peony roots.”
Research also revealed that while Mr. Lincoln handled the financing, it was daughter Jessie, who was primarily responsible for the design, placing orders and planting the garden. Jessie Lincoln’s plant list, which included many peonies, further confirmed the age of the garden. The prestigious American Peony Society designated two of Hildene’s peonies, 'Hildene' and 'Jessie Lincoln,' as previously unidentified cultivars.
Hildene gardeners do not use synthetic pesticides and avoid the use of chemicals whenever possible. Guided by an Integrated Pest Management Program (IPM), the goal is to create healthy plants in healthy gardens. In addition to not relying on chemicals and applying compost in the formal garden, more plants are intentionally left over the winter to create habitat and food for winter birds and insects.
Among the ornamental plants in the formal garden, you will find flowers especially attractive to bees and butterflies.
Cutting & Kitchen Garden
While spectacular mountain views surround the formal garden, the family also enjoyed the gardens located down the terraced hillside and behind the carriage barn for recreation and relaxation.
Historical records show that the Cutting and Kitchen Gardens behind the Lincolns' carriage barn, now the Welcome Center and Museum Store, provided the family with a variety of vegetables, berries, and fruits.
Hildene's Giving Garden, butterfly, cutting, and pollinator gardens are located here, as well as a cold compost bin. For over 20 years, garden volunteers have grown hundreds of pounds of vegetables annually for the local food cupboard in the Giving Garden.
Additionally, the Cutting Garden supplies fresh flowers for the volunteer flower arrangers who create weekly arrangements for the Lincoln home and Welcome Center.
A Butterfly Garden
Also located in the Kitchen and Cutting Garden is the Butterfly Garden featuring a variety of nectar plants, food for adult butterflies, and host plants, food for caterpillars. With this variety of both nectar and host plants, continuous blooms are ensured throughout the season and the complete life cycle of butterflies can be observed.
This Garden has milkweed for Monarchs, dill for Eastern Black Swallowtails, and mallow for Painted Ladies. There are sunning spots for basking, puddling areas, and shrubs and bushy flowering plants for shade and shelter.
This Garden is a key element of one of our fall school programs, Mighty Monarchs. Children in grades K-3 explore the habitat, life cycle, and migration of Monarch butterflies. The Garden is also an educational resource for our summer camp programs.
We have created pollinator meadows and pathways, and dandelion lawns across Hildene to provide habitat for all of our native pollinators.
The Apple Tree Allée
The Apple Tree Allée is a wildflower meadow designed and planted to enhance pollinator habitat. In addition to the commonly found pollinator and butterfly plants, milkweed and golden rod, garden browsers will find lupine, Echinacea, Agastache Giant Hyssop, and more.
The Hawthorne Allée
The Hawthorn Allée is the historic division between the home’s formal and informal area, referred to as the Cutting and Kitchen Gardens. In the Lincolns’ time, the allée was a path that led cattle to a pasture beyond and also circled back to the cutting and kitchen garden to a children’s play area which included a reflecting pool and playhouse. The allée is now the site of Hildene’s Friends Walk where volunteers, who have given extraordinary contributions in time and effort to making Hildene what it is today, are honored.
