The Leonard J. Buck Garden is a 33 acres (13.4 ha) public botanical garden

Botanical garden

A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...

 operated by the Somerset County

Somerset County, New Jersey

Somerset County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In 2010, the population was 323,444. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Somerville....

 Park Commission, and located at 11 Layton Road, Far Hills

Far Hills, New Jersey

Far Hills is a borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 919.Far Hills was incorporated as a borough based on an Act of the New Jersey Legislature passed on April 7, 1921, from portions of Bernards Township, subject to the results...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. The garden is one of the premier rock gardens in the United States. It features native and exotic plants displayed in a naturalistic setting of woodland, streams, and rock outcroppings. A wooded, rocky ravine is home to numerous wildflowers interspersed among flowering trees and shrubs. Its peak visiting time is spring.

History

The garden began in the 1930s when geologist Leonard J. Buck, a trustee of the New York Botanical Garden

New York Botanical Garden

- See also :* Education in New York City* List of botanical gardens in the United States* List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City- External links :* official website** blog*...

, met landscape architect

Landscape architect

A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....

 Zenon Schreiber. The two created varying exposures and microclimates. The garden is sculpted from a glacial stream valley known as Moggy Hollow Natural Area

Moggy Hollow Natural Area

The Moggy Hollow Natural Area is a nature preserve near Far Hills, Somerset County, New Jersey. As the Wisconsin Glacier advanced, Glacial Lake Passaic formed eventually rising until it found an outlet at Moggy Hollow, draining to the Raritan River...

, where waterfalls once cascaded, leaving behind rock faces, outcroppings, ponds and a stream. They worked by eye and proportion, with never a drawing on paper. Mr. Schreiber designed the plantings and Mr. Buck worked the rock. Their vision was to produce a woodland garden, composed of many individual gardens. After Mr. Buck's death in 1974, the garden was donated by Mrs. Buck to the Somerset County Park Commission. It opened up to the public in 1977.

Flora

Plantings include aconite

Aconite

Aconite may refer to:*Aconitum, a plant genus containing the monkshoods*Aconitine, "the queen of poisons", a toxin derived from some of the Aconitum genus plants*Winter aconite, a plant in the genus Eranthis...

, anemone

Anemone

Anemone , is a genus of about 120 species of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae in the north and south temperate zones...

, azalea

Azalea

Azaleas are flowering shrubs comprising two of the eight subgenera of the genus Rhododendron, Pentanthera and Tsutsuji . Azaleas bloom in spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks...

, beech

Beech

Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...

, birch

Birch

Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...

, bloodroot

Bloodroot

Bloodroot is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant native to eastern North America from Nova Scotia, Canada southward to Florida, United States...

, boxwood

Buxus

Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood ....

, Chinese fringe tree, columbine

Aquilegia

Aquilegia is a genus of about 60-70 species of perennial plants that are found in meadows, woodlands, and at higher altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, known for the spurred petals of their flowers.-Etymology:The genus name Aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for eagle , because...

, cyclamen

Cyclamen

Cyclamen is a genus of 23 species of perennials growing from tubers, valued for their flowers with upswept petals and variably patterned leaves...

, daffodils, Dawn redwood, dogwood

Dogwood

The genus Cornus is a group of about 30-60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods. Most dogwoods are deciduous trees or shrubs, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial subshrubs, and a few of the woody species are evergreen...

s, enkianthus

Enkianthus

Enkianthus is a genus of shrubs or small trees in the heath family . Its native range is in Asia, as far west as the eastern Himalayas, as far south as Indochina, and as far north and east as China and Japan....

, forget-me-not

Forget-me-not

Myosotis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae that are commonly called Forget-me-nots. Its common name was calqued from the French, "ne m'oubliez pas" and first used in English in c. 1532. Similar names and variations are found in many languages.-Description:There are...

s, forsythia

Forsythia

Forsythia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae . There are about 11 species, mostly native to eastern Asia, but one native to southeastern Europe. The common name is also Forsythia; the genus is named after William Forsyth.-Growth:They are deciduous shrubs typically growing to a...

, geraniums, grape hyacinth

Grape hyacinth

Muscari is a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia that produce spikes of dense, most commonly blue, urn-shaped flowers resembling bunches of grapes in the spring. The common name for the genus is Grape Hyacinth . Another common name is Baby's Breath...

, heathers

Calluna

Calluna vulgaris is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing perennial shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade...

, herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

s, hornbeam

Hornbeam

Hornbeams are relatively small hardwood trees in the genus Carpinus . Though some botanists grouped them with the hazels and hop-hornbeams in a segregate family, Corylaceae, modern botanists place the hornbeams in the birch subfamily Coryloideae...

, hydrangea

Hydrangea

Hydrangea is a genus of about 70 to 75 species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia and North and South America. By far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China, Japan, and Korea...

, Japanese maple, Japanese painted fern

Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...

, Japanese peonies

Peony

Peony or paeony is a name for plants in the genus Paeonia, the only genus in the flowering plant family Paeoniaceae. They are native to Asia, southern Europe and western North America...

, Labrador violet

Violet (plant)

Viola is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae, with around 400–500 species distributed around the world. Most species are found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere; however, viola species are also found in widely divergent areas such as Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes in...

s, magnolia

Magnolia

Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol....

s, mahonia

Mahonia

Mahonia is a genus of about 70 species of evergreen shrubs in the family Berberidaceae, native to eastern Asia, the Himalaya, North America and Central America. They are closely related to the genus Berberis. Botanists disagree on the acceptability of the genus name Mahonia...

, maidenhair fern

Maidenhair fern

Adiantum , the maidenhair ferns, is a genus of about 200 species of ferns in the family Pteridaceae, though some researchers place it in its own family, Adiantaceae...

, maple

Maple

Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...

s, mountain laurel, narcissus, oak

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

, ostrich fern

Ostrich fern

The ostrich fern or shuttlecock fern is a crown-forming, colony-forming fern, occurring in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in eastern and northern Europe, northern Asia and northern North America....

s, primroses

Primula

Primula is a genus of 400–500 species of low-growing herbs in the family Primulaceae. They include primrose, auricula, cowslip and oxlip. Many species are grown for their ornamental flowers...

, rhododendron

Rhododendron

Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...

, saxifrage

Saxifrage

Saxifraga is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 440 species of Holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages. The Latin word saxifraga means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin + ...

, shagbark hickory

Hickory

Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as hickory, derived from the Powhatan language of Virginia. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and big nuts...

, Siberian squill

Siberian squill

Siberian squill is a bulbous perennial, grown for its nodding blue flowers in early spring. It naturalizes rapidly from seed.-Distribution:...

, skimmia

Skimmia

Skimmia is a genus of four species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the Rue family, Rutaceae, all native to warm temperate regions of Asia. The leaves are clustered at the ends of the shoots, simple, lanceolate, 6-21 cm long and 2-5 cm broad, with a smooth margin. The flowers are in...

, snowbell, star magnolia

Star magnolia

Magnolia stellata, sometimes called the star magnolia, is a slow-growing shrub or small tree native to Japan. It bears large, showy white or pink flowers in early spring, before its leaves open. This species is closely related to the Kobushi magnolia , and is treated by many botanists as a...

, sweet woodruff, trillium

Trillium

Trillium is a genus of about 40–50 species of spring ephemeral perennials, native to temperate regions of North America and Asia....

, viburnum

Viburnum

Viburnum is a genus of about 150–175 species of shrubs or small trees in the moschatel family, Adoxaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny...

, violet

Violet (plant)

Viola is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae, with around 400–500 species distributed around the world. Most species are found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere; however, viola species are also found in widely divergent areas such as Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes in...

s, Virginia bluebell

Virginia Bluebell

The Virginia Bluebell is a spring ephemeral plant with bell-shaped sky-blue flowers opening from pink buds, native to moist woodland in eastern North America.Leaves are rounded and gray-green, borne on a stem up to 60 cm high...

s, and wind anemone

Anemone

Anemone , is a genus of about 120 species of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae in the north and south temperate zones...

s.

Visiting

The garden is open to the public, a small donation is requested. Access to the lower portion of the adjacent Moggy Hollow Natural Area is possible through the garden if requested.

External links

• Somerset County Parks: Leonard J. Buck Garden
• New Jersey Skylands; Splendor in the Garden