Nature Under Glass

The 11 greenhouses at The Gardens at Duke Farms delight the senses and offer respite from the winter air.

By: Ilene Dube

Staff photos by Mark Czajkowski

Doris Duke desired her very own Versailles and so had the French parterre garden constructed with triple-barrel-vaulted ceilings and latticework, reminiscent of 18th-century design. Statuary was commissioned by Doris’ father, James Buchanan Duke, when he had the firm of Frederick Law Olmstead design the park-like grounds, but Ms. Duke brought the statuary inside.

   Breathe in. Breathe out. Relax, and breathe in again. Does the air flow smoothly, or does it catch in your lungs, forcing a cough? A winter inhaling heated indoor and frigid outside air can take its toll.
   If a trip to a tropical climate is not in your future, the time may be right for a visit to The Gardens at Duke Farms, where June is just beginning. Summer comes a little earlier at Duke, because all four seasons have to fit between September and May, when the indoor gardens are open.
   Step from the gray of late New Jersey winter into the series of 11 greenhouses, bursting with life and color, and experience a touch of paradise. Not only is the air warm and moist and scented with floral pheromones, but there’s a little bit of Italy, England, France, China, Japan and Persia in every "room."
   Tobacco heiress, pianist and composer, environmentalist, philanthropist and grande dame extraordinaire Doris Duke dreamed up these display gardens after a trip to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa., in 1958. It took six years before she opened "The Gardens of Nations," an acre of linked garden rooms under glass. This is the 40th-anniversary season of the public display gardens.

Statuary peek out from behind the shrubbery in the Italian garden above and in photo below, right.

   "She didn’t want it as a botanic garden and used poetic license with plantings to create a different sense of colors and culture," says guide Catherine Vasvary.
   Doris Duke, one of the richest women in the world, collected Islamic and Southeast Asian art. She was passionate about conservation and horticulture and traveled the world collecting specimens for the display gardens. (She died in 1993, at age 80.)
   The first room tourgoers enter is the Italian garden. "In the late 18th century, poets and artists rediscovered the formal style of the Italian gardens," says Ms. Vasvary. "Statues peeking out from the foliage became popular again."
   James Buchanan Duke, Doris’ father, had commissioned French and Italian statuary for his outdoor-park-like 2,700 acres, designed by the firm of Frederick Law Olmstead. Doris brought these playful characters inside the glass-enclosed space.

   During a recent visit in the "spring," daffodils were popping out all over. Bright fuchsia-colored bougainvillea tickles the top of the glass, and pink bottle brush, bird of paradise, clivia, eucalyptus and hibiscus delight the senses, as does the sound of rushing water from a fountain. There are 17 working greenhouses to provide the bedding plants, according to Ms. Vasvary. "So it’s always at the peak of perfection." A staff of 12 works Mondays and Tuesdays and before hours, keeping every leaf and petal in line.
   From the Italian gardens visitors walk through the Colonial gardens, where the intoxicating melange induces an olfactory high. Southern magnolia, camellias, oleander and natal plum compete for attention, and a blue-blossomed plumbago trails the 17th-century latticework.
   The Edwardian garden inspired by the gay ’90s is filled with exotic orchids. "The Dukes were passionate about orchids," says Ms. Vasvary. More than 300 varieties are raised in working greenhouses, cycled in when they are in bloom. Most of these epiphytes have been rooted in pots, except for a white orchid with a citrus smell, grown on a tree just as it would in a tropical forest. (Not all orchids are epiphytes, Ms. Vasvary points out.) Bromeliads, another epiphyte, grow in this room, and as condensation forms drops of water that fall gently on the head, the feel of a rainforest is replicated.

A view of the long narrow pool in the Indo-Persian garden.

   "There are more than 30,000 species of orchids and as many hybrids," says Ms. Vasvary. "They grow on every continent except Antarctica." Thus it is hard to know the names of all of them, and there are no identifying tags to give it away. The yellow "Dancing Lady" oncidium is easy to identify, but there are spider-shaped flowers, spotted pink and white ones, gold and orange varieties, and sweet small pink ones. In order to attract the right pollinators, orchids give off scents of rose, vanilla and even chocolate.
   The French parterre garden is popular for wedding photography, with its patterned plantings such as tulips forming a fleur-de-lis. "Doris wanted her own Versailles," says Ms. Vasvary. And how! The triple barrel vaulted lattice ceiling is 18th-century design, and the marble statuary is surrounded by pots of tulips and lilies. At the circumference are arched niches.
   "Now we cross the English Channel to get to the English garden," jokes Ms. Vasvary. Five separate gardens represent this style, including whimsical topiary animals, a rock garden, an herbaceous border garden, an Elizabethan knot garden and a succulent garden. A sunray pattern is made up of miniature aloe, escheveria and other varieties (some looking reptilian), each forming a ray. Male cherubs hold up a pot of kalanchoe at the center. Without rabbits, deer or groundhogs, and a staff of a dozen attentive horticulturalists, everything grows as it would in Eden.

The paths through the Chinese garden soothe the soul.

   The desert garden is typical of the American Southwest with golden barrel cactus, torch cactus and agave "Century Plant," rumored to bloom every 100 years and expire, although Ms. Vasvary has read they may bloom every 30 years.
   There is a thread agave that Native Americans used in weaving projects, and jade with leaves like little spoons. (If you’re thinking, "Oh, wouldn’t it be cute to have one of those," Duke Gardens does not offer nursery stock for sale.)
   "The Chinese garden has been designed to stimulate the imagination through bold rock formations and growth," says Ms. Vasvary. Everything here is symbolic. "The Isle of the Immortals is a tribute to spirits of departed ancestors," she continues. "The red and golden carp in the pond are for good luck, the camphor tree represents long life, and the bamboo, strength and unyielding integrity." The camphor tree bends and will not break in the stiffest of winds.
   Whatever it represents, the cascading Hong Kong orchid tree is certainly a spectacle, not only for its beauty but the magnificent scent it emits. Paperwhites, too, add to the heady aroma. A deciduous Chinese plum hangs over the water, as does a bridge. The summer pavilion was inspired by one Ms. Duke saw on a trip to China. Weeping acacia hangs under the eaves of the summer house, and mirrors are used to create the illusion of mountains in the distance.
   The walkway through this artful creation is crooked because, according to Ms. Vasvary, Chinese believe evil spirits walk a straight line.
   Stroll under the weeping jasmine and pass through the moongate — it represents the cycle of life.
   In the bonsai room, river rock on the floor massages the bottoms of soles, but only the soul will feel it because shoes are required. A stone pattern on the floor shaped like five petals represents the fives sense.
   In Japan, the goal of the garden is to soothe the spirit and lead to mediation. A rustic tea house has a ritualistic washing basin. Gnarly wisteria vines and Japanese red maples, though not in leaf, give architectural shape as a mulberry weeps over a bridge. In a garden within the garden, a Zen pattern in sand also is symbolic: the rakings represent water; the stones, islands and mountains; and the plantings represent the forest.
   When Ms. Vasvary leads school groups through the garden and tells them "If you look at this view, it clears your mind of clutter and you are ready to meditate," the children all become quiet. She recommends the technique to schoolteachers.
   The Indo-Persian garden, hanging with oranges and grapefruits, represents a courtyard constructed in the 15th to 17th centuries by mogul emperors. Ms. Duke was inspired by the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, Pakistan. Human and animal forms could not be reproduced under Islamic law, and so there is an emphasis on geometric form. A long brick floor is divided by a thin stream. "In the dry climate of Persia, the sound of running water was precious and had a cooling effect," says Ms. Vasvary.
   Ms. Duke had a similar pool in Shangri La, her Islamic-style residence in Honolulu, Hawaii, built in the mid- ’30s on five acres of waterfront property. Today, it serves as a museum for her collection of Islamic art.
   In the tropical garden, Ms. Vasvary often hears "Look! These are my houseplants!"
   "Only they’re a lot bigger," she amplifies. "It’s more like, ‘Honey, you blew up the houseplants.’ Kids think they’re in the jungle with the ‘Swiss Cheese’ plant and ‘delicious monster’ philodendron."
   The hard part comes when the tour is over and visitors must once again face the March winds and cold, cracked earth. Ms. Duke thought of one last touch to ease the transition: Outside, a fountain and seating lift the spirits, especially on a sunny day.
The Gardens at Duke Farms, Route 206 and Duke Parkway East, Hillsborough, is open September through May. Tours Wed.-Sun. 10:40 a.m.-3 p.m. Reservations are recommended; call (908) 722-3700 for ticket prices and to reserve. Tours of the 700-acre park, re-opened last summer, will resume April 14. Duke Farms on the Web: www.ddcf.org.