The Mount's dolphin fountain and lime walk.

Looking north from The Mount's walled garden.

The Mount's lime walk in mist.

The Mount's flower garden early morning.

The Mount: “a charm independent of the seasons

Edith Wharton was an authority on European landscape design as well as a passionate gardener. She envisioned her gardens as an elegant series of outdoor rooms and created unique architectural compositions planned in concert with the house and the surrounding natural landscape.

Three acres of formal gardens surround the house. To date, more than $3 million has been invested in the preservation and restoration of The Mount’s gardens and grounds, including restoring the hardscape and replanting approximately 5,000 trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. In June 2005, nearly 3,000 annuals and perennials were planted in Edith Wharton’s flower garden, the crown jewel of a four-year restoration of the formal landscape.

The Italianate walled garden and its rustic rockpile fountain have been completely restored. The Mount’s landscape is beautiful at all times of the year, reflecting Wharton’s belief that the garden should possess “a charm independent of the seasons.”

Completing Wharton's design is a rock garden with grass steps, a landscape feature rarely seen in America. The garden has been replanted with flowering shrubs and the many varieties of native ferns that Wharton personally collected around the Berkshires.

For the 2010 season The Mount is working with Purely Organic Lawncare and using only organic products in the gardens.  For more information on this new project click here.