The Water Gardens of Chanticleer

Southeastern Pennsylvania is blessed with many of the nation’s top horticultural attractions—The Philadelphia Flower Show, Longwood Gardens, Historic Bartram’s Garden, Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, Scott Arboretum, and more. Among its finest jewels, however, is Chanticleer, a “pleasure garden” located in the suburb of Wayne, PA. Across its rolling 30 acres, this once-traditional country estate has morphed into a cutting-edge garden featuring some of the most exciting plantings found on the east coast.

Of special interest are its water gardens, which have been dramatically expanded in recent years. From vast ponds, waterfalls and streams to giant lotuses galore, the ponds at Chanticleer are becoming a show-stopper all their own.

In charge of the ponds at Chanticleer is horticulturist Joe Henderson, who takes care of all the plants both in-water and out. He also develops the annual planting schemes and even devises the hardscape, recently he designed and built a stunning flagstone path around the ponds that runs about 70 feet long. But forming the core of the water-garden area are four large ponds, a marshy area (which explodes with primroses in the spring) and a smaller waterfall pond on a hill overlooking the other water features.

“The largest—and oldest—pond here is the clay-lined one near the bottom of the slope, which is filled with lotuses,” says Joe. “Then we had the middle pond installed a few years ago, and this one required a lot of soil mounded up along the edges because it sat out of the ground. I later designed the top pond and waterfall, which actually follows the lay of the land more. I prefer this kind of naturalistic look.”

Indeed, these water gardens strike a fine balance between natural and more controlled approaches to garden design. Joe is constantly reworking the plantings to have continuous color and pleasing masses of shape and texture from April to October, when Chanticleer closes for the season. Around the edge of the ponds, for example, visitors can find everything from the rich purple blossoms of Verbena bonariensis to the enchanting pink Penstemon ‘Schoenholtzeri’ and the grass-like leaves of Acorus, to super-tall perennials like Aster tataricus (Tatarian aster) and Eupatorium maculatum (Joe Pye weed).

In the water, one can find an enormous stand of giant lotuses, namely Nelumbo ‘Mrs. Perry D. Slocum’, which has large pink-white flowers that rise four feet from the pond's surface. Joe has also planted a number of choice waterlilies at Chanticleer: “I really like ‘Texas Dawn’, which has pale yellow flowers, and the deep pink ‘James Brydon’. These are both hardy lilies.”

Like most water gardens, the engine of these ponds is a re-circulating pump, which takes water from the bottom pool to the waterfall at the top. Joe has three pumps hidden in a rustic stone springhouse, but he only actually uses one—the other two are for backup. He also does not use any filtration units: “We had one a few years ago, but I took it out,” he recalls. “It really didn’t do anything for us, plus we’ve installed plants to clean the water naturally. I think a UV filter would be fine if you wanted super-clear water to view koi, but we don’t have that many fish in here. Just a few perch, blue gill, crayfish, and albino rosies. The main attractions at our ponds are the plants and landscape more than fish.”

Joe is particularly proud of the top pond, which he designed and then installed with the help of a small crew. Using the thickest liner available, he created the leak-proof stream by overlapping two giant pieces of pond liner, with the section at the top of the stream overhanging the bottom piece by several feet (if it were reversed, water could conceivably trickle through the liners’ meeting point as it flowed downstream). Another neat trick of his was placing large boulders right in the pond, adding a tranquil, Zen-like effect. To keep the stone from cutting through the liner, Joe cradled each boulder on a “bed” of folded liner and sand.

Finally, at the very top of Chanticleer’s water-garden area, Joe built a dramatic waterfall that flows into a small pond surrounded by rocks, a sculpted face, and the striking red accent of Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower). Here, he offers some tips on the art of installing an effective waterfall feature: “Get the biggest stone possible to anchor the falls,” he advises. “The one I used here is also partially buried, so it looks like a natural extension of the hillside. Otherwise, it would look like the waterfall is coming out of thin air.”

“Another factor to be aware of is the graining of the stone,” Joe notes, summing up. “If you’re building your waterfall out of several rocks, position them so the grains run in the same direction—again, this will give it a more natural look. Lastly, while big rocks are almost the main feature here, plants are important to soften the edges. A good selection of perennials, annuals, creeping rock-garden plants or ornamental grasses will really make your water garden come alive.” —Pete Prown

Open from April to October, Chanticleer is located at 786 Church Road, Wayne, PA 19087, 610-687-4163, www.chanticleergarden.org. For more on gardens in the Philadelphia area, visit www.greaterphiladelphiagardens.org.