BEDROCK GARDENS
Bedrock Gardens is a nonprofit public garden that integrates unusual botanical specimens, unique sculptures, and interesting landscape design and features into an inspiring journey. This 30-acre site has recently transitioned from a historic farm and private garden to a public oasis of horticulture, art, and inspiration.
Bedrock Gardens is a nonprofit public garden that integrates unusual botanical specimens, unique sculptures, and interesting landscape design and features into an inspiring journey. This 30-acre site has recently transitioned from a historic farm and private garden to a public oasis of horticulture, art, and inspiration.
We are now closed for the season.
See you in May when we will reopen
Remember though:
- You can review all the blooms for the year on our new Blooms page HERE.
- Here are some Quick Links to Visiting, Membership, and Donate pages
- And remember that memberships also make great presents. Explore that HERE.
Explore our Calendar of Events and Programs
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Welcome to the 2026 Season!
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For all questions about events or programs, contact our education director HERE.
Join us with a Membership
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Join now, reap the benefits of membership all season long.
Joining now entitles you to benefits for the entire year. Members are valued as part of our family, contributing their talents, wisdom, and support to maintain and enrich our premier destination garden. Enjoy exclusive benefits and support our ongoing efforts. |
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New Book on the Garden
Jill Nooney has written a book on the garden called
"Bedrock: The Making of a Public Garden" .
"Bedrock: The Making of a Public Garden" .
Links
- WMUR's NH Chronicle also produced a truly wonderful piece on us on June 30, 2025. See it HERE. (There is an ad at the start that you can skip.)
- PBS's Windows to the Wild produced a great 14 minute segment on us on Sept 24, 2025. See it HERE.
- NH Chronicle produced another great segment on us, this time on the Fairy Hobbit House Festival. July 28,
2025. Watch it HERE.
- And a new wonderful short video overview of the garden by Morning Star Aerial HERE:
- PBS's Windows to the Wild produced a great 14 minute segment on us on Sept 24, 2025. See it HERE.
- NH Chronicle produced another great segment on us, this time on the Fairy Hobbit House Festival. July 28,
2025. Watch it HERE.
- And a new wonderful short video overview of the garden by Morning Star Aerial HERE:
AN OASIS OF HORTICULTURE, ART, AND INSPIRATION
Plan Your Garden VisitJoin one of our daily tours or discover the gardens on your own. No reservation required.
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Educational ProgramsWhether you're young, old, or somewhere in between, we offer classes for all gardening levels.
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Become A MemberAnd enjoy the gardens, exclusive perks and show your support for Bedrock Gardens.
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WHAT'S IN BLOOM
You can click on each image to see the Latin name, information on each plant, and where they are found in the garden.
We are also working on a longitudinal look at what is in bloom through out the year on our page: Blooms.
We are also working on a longitudinal look at what is in bloom through out the year on our page: Blooms.
Variegated Pokeweed
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Frostweed
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Veronica, Lapis Tiger’s Tail
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Shenandoah Switch Grass
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Spilt Milk Bush Clover
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White Snakeroot
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Variegated Pokeweed
Variegated Pokeweed, Poke sallet, Variegated Inkberry, Phytolacca americana “Variegata” With hot pink stems, large lime-green and creamy white leaves, and deep purple berries, variegated pokeweed is a showy, almost lurid, variant of a native North American perennial that most people would call a weed. Originally growing in pastures, open woodlands, wastelands, and disturbed areas in eastern North America, the Midwest, and the South, the native green-leafed pokeweed has been introduced in the West, and has naturalized in areas of Europe and Asia. It is hardy throughout USDA zones 4-10 and both self-sows and seeds readily enough to become invasive in some areas. It is frequently considered a pest plant by farmers and its seeds can remain viable in the soil for decades. Its toughness is due in part to the large, deep taproots (often about 12” long and 4” thick) from which it grows, which also make it difficult to remove. Aside from its eye-catching leaf variegation, most of the other characteristics of variegated pokeweed are similar to those of common pokeweed. Plants grow well in full sun to part shade in average, moist well-drained soils. It is a substantial plant - growing to 3–10' tall and 3-5' wide. Early in the growing season, plants generally have an erect central stem, which becomes more spreading and horizontal with the additional weight of leaves and berries as the season progresses. Although relatively slow to emerge from the soil in the spring, the dramatic leaves and stems of variegated pokeweed immediately become an accent in the garden. Plants produce chartreuse, pink, and yellow small flowers clustered on long narrow stems from July into the fall. The abundant purple-black berries generally appear in September to October in NH. The berries are a valuable food source for a number of birds such as catbirds, mockingbirds, cardinals, mourning doves, and cedar waxwings. Migrating birds such as tanagers, thrushes, and warblers also consume the berries since they mature in the fall as birds are passing through. Several species of bees nest in the hollow dead stems after the growing season if they remain standing. All parts of both common and variegated pokeweed are poisonous to mammals such as humans, dogs, and most livestock. The root is the most toxic part of the plant and where toxins are retained during the winter. Berries are dangerous even when still green and since they tend to attract children, they have resulted in serious poisoning. With proper cooking, shoots and leaves (not roots) can be eaten in the spring and early summer before toxins are fully translocated from the roots – the traditional spring consumption of pokeweed is the origin of one of the plant’s common names “poke sallet” and pokeweed is a traditional food in southern Appalachia. The leaves are said to taste much like spinach, and the stems like asparagus. Later in the summer as toxins increase, the plant, as well as the berries, can not be eaten. Improper preparation, consumption beyond the safe early summer “window”, the inclusion of some of the highly poisonous root with stems, or mistaking the pokeweed root for parsnip, Jerusalem artichoke, or horseradish have resulted in fatalities. The Allen Canning Co. located in Siloam Springs, AL, was the last commercial plant selling pokeweed; closing in 2000. The common name “poke” is derived from the Algonquian word “puccoon” or “pocan”, referring to the use of the plant for bleeding or its use as a red ink and dye. Both Native Americans and European colonists used pokeweed leaves, roots, and berries in a wide variety of ways medicinally due to their physiological effects. More recently, biochemicals found in pokeweed are being examined for use as a possible cancer treatment as well as in managing HIV and AIDS. Variegated pokeweed is an unusual perennial in gardens, where its large size, bold foliage, bright pink stems, and striking berries make it a focus throughout the growing season. Although it requires substantial space to grow and its ability to spread and reseed must be constrained, it is certainly a plant that demands attention. At Bedrock Gardens, variegated pokeweed can be found in the Garish (#21) garden. |
Veronica, Lapis Tiger’s Tail
Veronica, Lapis Tiger’s Tail, Pseudolysimachion kiusianum, or Veronica ovata ssp. kiusiana One of the very last perennials to come into bloom in the garden is the beautiful and rare lapis tiger’s tail. Endemic to the Korean peninsula where it grows in meadows and in forest edges, it raises its violet blue flower spikes as most of the plants in the garden are beginning to fade. Previously included within the large Veronica genus where it was considered to be a subspecies rather than a separate species in its own right, lapis tiger’s tail was recently renamed when more detailed genetic information determined it was different enough to be included with a group of 20 Asian and European species in their own genus of Pseudolysimachion. Lapis tiger’s tail grows as a branching multi-stemmed mound roughly 2-3’ tall and about 1.5-2’ wide and has serrated lance shaped leaves with red veins. In the garden it prefers partial shade and average, evenly moist soils. Lapis tiger’s tail looks generally like a number of other species of Veronica that are more familiar to gardeners as speedwell. Veronicas come in many sizes, colors, and shapes with some growing as low groundcovers that tend to bloom in the spring, while others, like lapis tiger’s tail, are much more vertical and bloom largely in the summer. Lapis tiger’s tail pushes this envelope by blooming in late September, when its tall pink-blue flower spikes bring fresh color when little else is blooming. Because they bloom so late, the flowers can be a valuable late season resource for bees and other pollinators. Later in the fall, leaves eventually turn bronze hues. Lapis tiger’s tail brings its beautiful red-violet spires of flowers to the garden at a time when they are most appreciated and relished, making it a wonderful addition that extends the growing season. At Bedrock Gardens, lapis tiger’s tail can be found in the Ping Garden, adjacent to the Allée (#6) garden. |
Frostweed,
Frostweed, Verbesina virginica Frostweed is a tall native perennial whose common name refers not to the icy white color of its flowers, but to an unusual process that the plant undergoes in late fall, at the first hard freeze. At this time, if conditions are right, the stems of frostweed split and as the sap oozes out, it freezes into dramatic icy sculptures of ribbons and curls. An amazing but very ephemeral sight to behold. Frostweed is native to Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic south to Florida and west to Texas, where it grows in meadows, forest openings, and along streams. In the garden it prefers sun to part shade and moist soils but is tolerant of most soil conditions. Frostweed grows 4-7’ tall with ridged or winged stalks with coarse, slightly serrated 7” leaves. Native American populations dried and smoked the leaves as for tobacco, inspiring one of the plant’s other common names, Indian tobacco. They also used preparations of frostweed as a laxative and to treat urinary tract and eye aliments. In the late summer and fall, frostweed bears showy 3-6” flat flower clusters at the tops of the stems. Each individual flower is made up of 4-5 white petals and 8-15 white center florets with highly contrasting dark anthers. The flowers are excellent nectar sources and are highly attractive to a variety of butterflies including Pipevines, Monarchs, and Great Purple Hairstreaks. Bloom peak is usually in about October so is timed well for Monarch migration. In November after blooming, the flowers turn pale green and then eventually a warm brown as seeds mature; small song birds such as goldfinches and warblers eat the seeds. Frostweed spreads both by seed and by shallow rhizomes and will form a colony, the usual way it is found in the wild. Once the cool weather sets in, the stage is set for frostweed’s most famous act. Conditions for its impressive display are quite specific – the ground must still be unfrozen so the plant can continue to actively draw up water; the dew point (the temperature at which water condenses) must be below freezing; and finally, the air temperature drop to below freezing must be relatively rapid. When these conditions are met, sap in the stalks cools and expands and ruptures the epidermis of the plant. When it hits the freezing air and any tiny frost crystals on the stem’s surface, the sap solidifies to ice in thin sheets and ribbons. As sap continues to flow out through the stem, it continues to freeze, pushing the existing ice outward to form delicate ribbons or sheets that can curl and twist, forming elaborate flower-like designs known as frost flowers. These “flowers” are fragile and thin – melting at a touch or as soon as temperatures rise above freezing. A fleeting creation of beauty that quickly disappears. Frostweed is an attractive late blooming native plant with important wildlife benefits and showy flowers that brighten the fall garden. It saves its most extraordinary show for the very end of the growing season, as the curtain goes down and the cold closes in. At Bedrock Gardens, frostweed can be found in the Ping Garden, adjacent to the Allée (#6) garden. |
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Shenandoah Switch Grass
Shenandoah Switch Grass, Panicum virgatum “Shenandoah” One of the dominant species of the tallgrass prairie, switch grass is a beautiful native whose changing colors brighten Bedrock Gardens’ own small prairie, the GrassAcre. Switch grass is native to much of North America where it grew from roughly 55oN in Canada south to Mexico. Hardy, adaptable, and deep-rooted, it can grow up to 9’ tall but is usually roughly 3-5’. As is obvious from its broad geographic distribution, switch grass can grow under many climatic conditions, lengths of growing seasons, and soil types. Because it utilizes a somewhat different form of photosynthesis that has more efficient water and nitrogen use, switch grass has a competitive advantage under conditions of drought and high temperature; a highly useful adaptation for a prairie native. It is thought now to be the most widely planted native grass in the US. The “Shenandoah” cultivar was developed by Dr. Hans Simon, a well-known German plant breeder and is particularly prized for its striking burgundy-red foliage. Hardy in USDA zones 4-9, it needs full sun for its best color and to maintain its upright growth form. Although it is quite adaptable to various soils, it grows best in a well-drained soil. New growth in the spring is narrow and linear and emerges green with red tips. As the season progresses, the entire plant gradually turns a deep burgundy red; quite beautiful when backlit. Shenandoah’s flowers are tiny, delicate, and reddish pink, carried in open clusters on tall stalks above the foliage. They appear to float above the plant as an airy cloud. Plants bloom in late summer, by which time the entire plant has taken on an attractive wine reddish-purple coloration. Switch grass is a preferred larval host for a number of moth and butterfly species. It also provides good habitat and forage for songbirds as well as ground birds such as turkeys because of its tall cover and abundant small seeds. The flower plumes turn to beige as seeds mature but persist on the plants well into winter as plants enter dormancy. At Bedrock Gardens, Shenandoah is paired with two other distinctive grasses that form a large-scale “floral tapestry” in what was once an open pasture. The three grasses differ in texture and color and are centered on the large “Syncopeaks” sculpture which lends height and focus. Little bluestem grass (Schizachyrium scoparium “The Blues”) is a fine-leaved grass native to eastern North America. Its bluish leaves and stems change to a warm copper in the fall that persists through the winter; both colors contrast beautifully with the burgundy red of Shenandoah. The third GrassAcre grass is Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra), endemic to Japan. Growing in a cascade rather than in the upright forms of little bluestem and switch grass, Hakone grass has much broader bright green leaves and only grows about 1 ½’ high. The leaves take on a blush of red to pink in the fall and join the other grasses in their seasonal transformation. All three grasses move gracefully in the wind but not together, and the three provide lovely differences in movement, texture, and color across the landscape and across the seasons. At Bedrock Gardens, Shenandoah switch grass can be found in the GrassAcre (#26) garden. |
Spilt Milk Bush Clover,
Spilt Milk Bush Clover, Lespedeza thunbergii “Spilt Milk” Spilt milk bush clover is a beautiful shrub that in late September covers itself in a cascade of thousands of vivid pink to purplish flowers. The species is in the bean family and is a pea relative, as the similarity in the shape of its flowers and leaves to peas suggests. It is native to the eastern Himalayas, China, Korea, and Japan where it grows in forest margins, roadsides, thickets, and on mountain slopes at elevations below 9,000’. There are about 60 species of lespedezas – roughly equally divided between Asia and eastern North America. About 6 of these, mostly Asian, are like bush clover - semi-woody shrubs formed by multi-stemmed clumps that freeze back to the ground each winter. The genus owes its name to a misspelling. Vicente Manuel de Céspedes, served as governor of the Spanish province of East Florida from 1784-1790 and gave permission for botanist André Michaux to search for new plants in east Florida. When Michaux’s work was published in 1803 he named one of the plants in honor of the governor but misspelled it, transforming “Céspedes” to “Lespedeza”. Spilt milk bush clover is a cultivar of Thunberg’s bush clover with distinctive strikingly variegated foliage that looks very much like it has been splashed with white milk. The foliage makes a gorgeous contrast to the bright magenta and purple flowers. Spilt milk bush clover prefers to grow in full sun and well-drained soil but is tolerant of relatively poor soil. Plants produce a multitude of annual gracefully arching woody stems that grow up to 6’ long in a single season and bear the trifoliate, white-flecked bluish-green leaves (1-2” long). In September it produces a profusion of 6-8” long slender purple/hot pink/lavender flower clusters that cover the plant. The individual flowers resemble those of peas and are about ¾” long. Occasional blooms may be produced in July or August. The flowers are an unexpected big burst of vivid color at a time when you might not expect it since most plants in the garden are fading. The bright pink/purple flower shades are lovely with other late bloomers such as asters, black-eyed susans, and mums. Even before blooming, the attractive marbled variegation of the plant contributes interest to a flower border and extends the seasonal appeal of the plant. Spilt milk bush clover spreads in several ways – plants reseed fairly easily and since the long arching stems that reach the ground continue to grow, it can sprout roots where growth nodes are in ground contact. The roots of bush clover, like other plants in the Bean family, have a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria that can transform atmospheric nitrogen gas into a form of nitrogen that can be used by plants – a crucial partnership that enriches the soil. Although the woody stems die back to the ground in colder areas much as perennial plant stems do, bush clover is both cold hardy to -30 °F as well as heat tolerant, thriving in USDA zones 4-9. Spilt milk bush clover is a glamourous relatively unknown shrub that between its white-flecked delicate foliage and brilliant hot pink flowers brings exceptional appeal to the garden. Plants are easy to grow and rapidly produce their 3-6’ long stems in the spring, forming a graceful and large fountain of spectacular foliage. At Bedrock Gardens, spilt milk bush clover can be found in the Ping Garden, adjacent to the Allée (#6) garden. |
White Snakeroot
White Snakeroot, Argertina altissima One of the last native wildflowers to bloom, white snakeroot is a fairly inconspicuous plant growing in the shade through spring and summer, until suddenly in the fall, its white fluffy flowers seem to be all around. Native to eastern and central North America from Quebec, Ontario, and the Northwest Territories south to Florida and west to Texas, white snakeroot grows in forests, woodland edges, and brushy thickets. In the garden, it prefers partial shade and rich moist soils. White snakeroot grows as a 3-5’ clump and in late summer produces flower stems that branch near the top, usually in opposite pairs. Loose flat-topped flower heads 2-6” across blossom on the branch tops in September-October. Individual flowers are ¼” bright white disk flowers with no petals, so they appear rather fluffy; they have a slight fragrance. A colony of white snakeroot in full bloom with masses of pure white flowers is a striking sight in the forest. Plants bloom for about a month until frost, and are a valuable late season resource for bees, moths, butterflies, wasps, and flies. White snakeroot is a larval host for several species of moths and is host to a number of gall-forming insects. Seeds are small with fluffy ends and are dispersed by wind, but plants spread both by self-seeding and by fairly aggressive rhizome growth. White snakeroot contains a highly toxic mix of ketones, glycosides, and alcohols called tremetol, and was the source of the highly fatal disease called milk sickness, which killed large numbers of Midwest immigrants and settlers in the early 19th century. When the plants are consumed by cattle, both their milk and meat are contaminated by the toxin, which was then passed to humans. Cattle, horses, and sheep were also poisoned if large amounts were eaten. Unfamiliar with the plant, in areas of little pasture or in times of drought, new settlers to the Midwest let their livestock freely roam in the woods, where they would encounter and consume white snakeroot. In humans, symptoms of milk sickness included weakness, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, vomiting, constipation, severe thirst, tremors, foul-smelling breath, delirium, coma, and finally death. There was no cure. The sickness claimed thousands of lives, including Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the mother of Abraham Lincoln, until Anna Peirce Hobbs Bixby, a frontier doctor, midwife, dentist, and scientist in southern Illinois, identified white snakeroot as the cause of the illness in 1834. She had noted that the illness was seasonal, beginning in summer and continuing until the first frost, suggesting that the cause might be a plant that was being eaten. Supposedly, while following some cattle to see what they were eating she encountered and befriended an elderly Shawnee woman who showed her the plant her people knew was toxic. After running tests feeding the plant to cattle to observe its effects, the identity of white snakeroot as the cause of milk sickness was clear. Although the plant was eradicated throughout the area, word of the discovery did not spread far to other communities. Part of this was perhaps due to the lack of physicians or medical journals on the frontier but it is likely that the fact that she was a frontier midwife and doctor meant that the information was just not taken seriously. Eventually in 1928 the toxic compound in white snakeroot was found and characterized. Although tremetol is not inactivated by pasteurization, milk sickness is clearly no longer a problem – cows do not freely roam and the large scale of most dairy operations means that any occasional contaminated milk is well diluted by mixing with much larger amounts of clean milk. Despite its deadly history, today white snakeroot can lend a bright and fresh appearance to the fall shade garden with its abundant white flowers as long as its toxicity is understood. It is striking with other fall blooming perennials such as goldenrod and asters and the plants are extensively used by wildlife. At Bedrock Gardens, white snakeroot can be found in the Ping Garden, adjacent to the Allée (#6) garden. |
Posted 10-04-2026
"...one of the most beautiful and intriguing
landscapes in New Hampshire."
- Boston Globe
landscapes in New Hampshire."
- Boston Globe