Composed of five different beds and the Daylily Walk, this Garden is beautiful and fragrant throughout the warm months, specifically in May when the Peonies bloom. The Peony, Iris and Lily bed travels the entire length of the garden along the arborvitae hedge. Towards the center of the peony bed is a Magnolia tree that blooms in early spring. In late summer, a host of Asiatic Lilies bloom in this bed. The remaining four beds highlight different colored flowers, including the pink, white, blue and red beds. The red bed is home to a collection of historic daylilies.
In the Color Garden, visitors enjoy a number of pieces of stone artwork. The works are made of French limestone and add an extra element to the garden, as well as winter interest. Four cherubs representing the four seasons are found in the color beds. There are three other decorative pieces in the lawn areas.
Plants of interest in the Color Garden include:
- Katsura trees (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) –TBG has two of these trees, located on the outer perimeter of the Color Garden. They are very nice landscape trees and an interesting thing to note about them is their scent. In the fall, as the leaves begin to turn and fall, the scent of burnt sugar fills the air.
- Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis) –This is an interesting perennial with blue flowers in the summer and black seed pods in the fall.
- Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro) –A nice perennial with interesting texture, if cut down after first flowering it will likely re-bloom.
- Hibiscus plants (Hibiscus moscheutos) –Three of these plants are to be found in the Color Garden: ‘Lady Baltimore’ in the pink bed, ‘Snow Queen’ in the white bed and ‘Poinsettia’ in the red bed. Hibiscus plants are slow to come up in the spring, but as the season progresses, they grow into large, woody plants. In July, they bloom with large colorful flowers that look tropical.
