In our Winter ’22-’23 issue we featured a story about the beautiful gardens at Saybrook Point Resort & Marina and Darci Lombardo, the woman who has tended them for the last 7 years.
There was no space to add any captions to the photos (we packed in as many as we could) so I promised to get some plant IDs in here for those who are interested.
Darci helped identify most everything, and the plants are listed below (not latinized, for the most part, so you’ll have to do some googling if you are so inclined). Click here for a pdf of the story.
Page 20: Top left, Strawberry Vanilla hydrangea; top right, Love Lies Bleeding, Samantha Lantana, annual sunflowers; lower left, John & Darci Lombardo; lower middle, Mark Sinvil (the “Garden Wizard”); lower right, celosia, perennial mums, verbena bonariensis.
Page 21: top left, chelone, fancy amaranth, coleus, lantana, baptisia, dahlia; top right (with sculpture), sedums, creeping jenny, St. Johnswort, penstemon, angelonia; middle (pathway) celosias, sedums, creeping jenny, hydrangeas, lantana, lady’s mantle, magic carpet, hyssop; bottom, perennial mums, variegated sunpatiens, roses, russian sage.
Page 22: top left, sorghum, coleus, baptisia, sunpatiens, swedish ivy, vanilla strawberry hydrangea (in its late summer pink); top right, Miss Manners obedient plant; middle right, hollyhock; lower left, Miss Manners obedient plant, vanilla strawberry hydrangea (in its summer white), sunpatiens, roses; lower right, colocasias, joe pye weed.
Page 23: top left, four o’clocks, echinacea, gaura “whirling butterflies,” pink yarrow, Nikko blue hydrangea; middle left, Nikko blue hydrangea, portulaca; lower left, all kinds of coleus; lower middle, perennial sunflower, scaveola, lantana, sunpatiens; lower right, russian sage.
Sources for the plants, according to Darci, are Acer Gardens in Deep River, Scott’s in Old Saybrook, Van Wilgen’s at Branford & Old Saybrook locations, Maynards in Old Saybrook, and Riggio’s in Essex. Darci says, “ALL are so knowledgeable, creative, curious and Most Helpful!!!” And when asked if there is a design plan, she says, “I just choose things I like and find places to put them in — pretty simple — not a lot of study or advanced planning.” And Mark Sinville (photo page 20) is working right beside her getting the plants in the ground.
One Comment
Donna
One of my favorite things to do while staying at Saybrook Point Inn is to wake up in the morning with a great cup of coffee from the lobby and head out to see the sunshine through the beautiful gardens, they are created like a piece of art you can see Darcie’s love Shining through the plants the flowers plants looks so happy. It’s definitely a highlight of my morning and also a lot of times after dinner just to take a stroll outside to watch the sunset and sit near the pond garden Enjoying a cocktail it is just so Peaceful a great way to end the night.