Fredonia -- The Gardens of Kelton House Farm

Object Details

GUID

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb6a0e0beed-33be-4016-a35a-5e875f5d2bc9

General

In 2003 the owner purchased 200 acres with a circa 1740 saltbox house that had been dismantled and moved to Wisconsin from Massachusetts in the 1970s, as a weekend retreat. He had collected 17th and 18th century Americana including furniture, and decorative arts from Britain and Europe that would furnish the house. He designed gardens based on research of colonial farmsteads that are planted with heirloom flowers, fruits, herbs and vegetables. The garden design favored in the colonies was symmetrical and contained by fences and hedges with terraces or "falling" garden beds planted with American native and period-appropriate species from around the world that were collected and transported to England, then to the colonies. Farmsteads grew practical plants for food, medicine, dyes and aroma, and may have included ornamental gardens for pleasure. The gardens' features include antique architectural elements imported from England. This property includes woodlands and pastures for cattle and sheep. Several acres of woodlands have been planted with spring flowering bulbs, especially heirloom varieties, that are followed by wildflowers: fern, violet, geranium, trillium, bloodroot, wild anemone, and may apples, which turn the understory green for the summer. Species tulips have naturalized in several areas, alluding to the tulipomania of the 17th century. A fenced dooryard herb garden is planted in a geometric pattern known as a quincunx. Its features include an eleventh century finial from Gloucester cathedral in England and an 18th century American mortar stone. There are serpentine border beds framing the lawns in front of the house planted with perennials, biennials, herbs and other heirloom varieties that were grown in 18th century American colonies and in England, including lots of delphinium elatum blue flowers. The same varieties grow in the rectangular falling beds on the other side of the house. Heirloom apple and pear varieties are espaliered against the barn, fences, and outbuildings, with pear trees trained over an antique English wrought iron arbor. There also is an orchard with heirloom apple varieties from England and France and a russet from Massachusetts for cider. The terraces of falling gardens are oriented on an axis with the barn for maximum sun exposure. There are three levels with cutting gardens with annual flowers at the top and vegetable gardens at the lowest level. The vegetable beds are lined with pathways of 18th century paving bricks from New England; trellises are built from saplings from the woods. A boxwood parterre that can be viewed from the cutting gardens has topiaries of myrtle, rosemary and lavender with crushed white oyster shells that contrast with the green shaped boxwood. Another cutting garden with about sixty rows of annuals is planted to attract pollinators. The entry to the front meadow has a late 18th century Regency gate, four 18th century staddle stones, and nearby a 17th century armillary sphere from Holland and a bench for viewing the falling gardens. Outbuildings include the barn, a peafowl house with heirloom variety residents, a seed house with potted citrus, an apiary and a dovecote. Antique stone troughs are planted with herbs, ephemeral bulbs, succulents and alpines or water plants with koi fish and frogs. Heritage breeds of cattle and sheep are raised on alfalfa, clover, corn, soybeans, wheat and oats grown in cultivated fields. Meadows and woods have walking paths and are studded with antique stone artifacts from America and England. There is a boggy area along the Milwaukee River with cedar and tamarack. Oak, maple including sugar maple for syrup, beech, ash, hickory, ironwood and other trees grow in the woodlands. The farmstead is populated with wild fowl, some of which were introduced, songbirds and white-tailed deer. By consulting sources that would have been known to educated colonists the owner has reimagined a working colonial farm and American pleasure garden. Persons associated with the garden's design: Joseph P. Gromacki, garden designer (2004- )

Garden designer

Gromacki, Joseph P.

Photographer

Gromacki, Joseph P.

Shigley, Scott

Provenance

Green Tree Garden Club

Collection Creator

Garden Club of America

Place

The Gardens of Kelton House Farm (Fredonia, Wisconsin)

United States of America -- Wisconsin -- Ozaukee County -- Fredonia

Topic

Gardens -- Wisconsin -- Fredonia

Colonial Revival

Heirloom varieties (Plants)

Herb gardens

Vegetable gardening

Garden designer

Gromacki, Joseph P.

Photographer

Gromacki, Joseph P.

Shigley, Scott

See more items in

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Gardens / Wisconsin

Sponsor

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Custodial History

Green Tree Garden Club facilitated the submission of this garden's documentation.

Archival Repository

Archives of American Gardens

Identifier

AAG.GCA, File WI061

Type

Archival materials

Collection Citation

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Collection Rights

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Bibliography

This property is featured in Gardens of the North Shore of Chicago by Benjamin F. Lenhardt, Jr., published by Monacelli Press, 2020, pp. 11, 162-173; "The Gardens of Kelton House Farm, a Pastiche of Gardening in Colonial America" by Joseph P. Gromacki, published in The Walpole Society Notebook, 2018, pp. 71-88; "A Little Bit of New England in Southern Wisconsin" by Judy Carmack Bross, published in Classic Chicago Magazine, Chicago, August 7, 2016; Vintage Wisconsin Gardens: A History of Home Gardening by Lee Somerville, published by the Wisconsin State Historical Society 2011, p. 89; several privately printed booklets for the Garden Conservancy and other guests.

Scope and Contents

75 digital images (2012, 2019, 2021, 2023) and 1 digital file folder.

Collection Restrictions

Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Record ID

ebl-1696950603137-1696955025622-0