Ladew Topiary Gardens

Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton, Maryland, is a 22-acre garden estate created from part of Harvey S. Ladew’s larger farm and developed after his 1929 purchase of the property. Beginning in the 1930s, Ladew shaped the grounds into a botanical garden and topiary park influenced by his time in England and his love of fox hunting. Its 15 garden rooms are arranged on crossing axes with long vistas centered on an oval swimming pool, and its sculpted forms include a fox-hunt scene, a Chinese junk, swans, and a giraffe. The house and gardens opened to the public in 1971 and remain celebrated as a distinctive American topiary landscape.

Maryland · United States