Entwood Garden

Entwood is a seven-acre, parklike walking garden developed over 25 years from a flat potato field into a series of garden rooms, expansive views, specimen plants and trees, and features intended to make it difficult for adults and children to stay inside by providing a sense of peace, wonder, and fun. Entering through an intimate, densely planted, English-style cottage flower garden, the visitor proceeds under an arbor past the owner's 1860 cottage to view a small, Japanese-style garden and koi pond. A second koi pond lies ahead hidden by a grove of cedars of Lebanon. Crossing north through the pond on stones set in the water, the visitor enters a large arboretum of unusual cultivars of magnolia, dogwood, sweetgum, Japanese maple, redbud, dove (handkerchief) trees, conifers, and many others. From shaded paths and shade gardens around the perimeter, views reveal a contoured landscape, a gazebo in the distance, and two large ponds. Looking down from the bridge crossing the first, you notice a wide variety of mature koi, a few of which can be hand fed if you request some koi food from Ed, who has designed and maintained these ponds. Past the bridge, you will approach the gazebo which is set in a circle of maples and surrounded by a secret path intended to delight those young at heart. Turning right you step onto a zigzag bridge through the "monkey jungle," to the back entrance to the garden. Turning right on the gravel driveway, you will pass dogwood and rhododendron shaded by native black cherry and red cedar. Following the driveway, you will see a rock garden behind an orchard on your right, with steps leading up to a golf tee, which provides the highest vantage point for the garden. A brief stroll downhill brings you to another large pond with even more colorful koi and most importantly by this time, a sitting area. From there, paths lead through shade gardens, past a swimming pool, to the last of the koi ponds, and back to your starting point.