Chanticleer is a garden located roughly 30 miles outside Philadelphia Pennsylvania. It used to be the home of the Rosengarten family. The house was built, with other summer homes, along the mainline of the Pennsylvania Railroad. People picked the location to get away from the heat and hustle of Philadelphia.

We visited Chanticleer in late Spring. The garden is filled with wild texture and color. The planting schemes are a bit impractical for my Zone 6a garden, but who cares?  This garden rocks! It’s totally worth a visit.

3 Design Takeaways For Your Home Garden

  • Foliage Plants are Cool
  • Art and Gardens Make Perfect Friends
  • Everyone Needs a Water Feature

Design Takeaway #1: Foliage is Cool

Agave taking center stage at Chanticleer

This photograph of an agave is a classic Chanticleer scene.

Totally impractical for my Zone 6a garden. This would never survive a Michigan Winter without being taken into a greenhouse, but look at that beautiful plant! It makes me want to pick up and move to the high desert of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

A testament to the power of texture and foliage in the garden.  And you know what? You can achieve a similar look in a Zone 6a garden using a well-placed Yucca.  

Bright chartreuse colored foliage lighting up a shady seating area
Bright chartreuse colored foliage lighting up a shady seating area

This shady seating area is filled with chartreuse-colored foliage plants in every shape and texture. In the photo above, there are very few flowers, but that doesn’t minimize the beauty of this scene.

This area of the garden was incredibly inspiring. The color, form, and texture of the various plants all woven together into a tapestry of happy color. A testament to the power of foliage and color. Clearly, shade gardens aren’t boring. This is proof.

Chartreuse and purple color scheme garden at Chanticleer

Chartreuse and purple corner in the Chanticleer garden

Allium bulbs blooming in the gardens at Chanticleer

Poppies in the field at Chanticleer

Yellow flowers along a path at Chanticleer

Design Takeaway #2: Gardens and Art make Perfect friends

Chanticleer is filled with incredible creativity and art. There are cut flowers, animal print Adirondack chairs and sculpture. Little bits of art are woven throughout the garden.

Filling the nooks and crannies with creativity. The photographs below capture some of my favorite artistic scenes from the garden.

Willow branches woven around pottery in the garden at Chanticleer
Willow branches were woven around pottery in the garden

Unique patio furniture next to the Rill at Chanticleer

Rooster sculpture in the garden.

Even the drain covers are beautifully crafted in the garden

Purple Adirondack chairs provide a shady place to rest in the garden

Design Takeaway #3: Everyone Needs a Water Feature – EVERYONE!

I love the sound of water in the garden. My favorite addition to our personal garden was a fountain we added a couple of years ago. 

Chanticleer provides great examples of water features. Some are elaborate, like the Tea Cup garden and Rill, but others are more modest and can be installed in a small garden.

The Rill at Chanticleer Garden provides a cool resting space from the summer heat

The Tea Cup garden at Chanticleer is planted with a unique planting scheme each season

Wall sculpture water feature decorated with cut flowers from the garden

The container used to hold foraged art from the garden

Flower mandala created in a container of water at Chanticleer garden

I hope you’ve enjoyed these photographs from Chanticleer garden. I’m looking forward to visiting again this year. The garden always has something new and interesting to see.

Visitor Information

Chanticleer – A Pleasure Garden
786 Church Road Wayne, PA 19087

Tel: 610.687.4163  
Email: admin@chanticleergarden.org

Website: https://www.chanticleergarden.org/index.html

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