self-guided tour
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The Founder’s Garden, Honeysuckle & Pansy

Several kinds of thyme grow about the Shakespeare Garden Rock. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the faery king Oberon speaks of wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum) mingled with other flowers in the forest:

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.
There sleeps Titania some time of the night,
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight.
[Midsummer Night’s Dream  II i]


The Founder’s Garden, Honeysuckle & Pansy

 

At the base of our founding stone, this collection of herbs and flowers bring to mind a miniature world of riotous flavors and scents. For a delight, run your hands across the many different varieties of thyme, and take in their spicy, lemony, or calming aromas. Smell the lavender, or the richly perfumed musk rose. Even the tiny pansies are edible, and have been used to decorate pastries and elaborate cakes.

 

Enjoy this slideshow of the flowers in our Founder’s Garden: