Gardenesque at Rockwood
Rockwood is a 150 year old lovely, historic park located in Wilmington, Delaware. The park has a six-acre well-kept, historic garden, a mansion, a gatehouse, a carriage house, and gardener’s cottage creating a very Victorian country look. Joseph Shipley built these fabulous attributes at Rockwood between 1851 and 1854 to reflect the garden at Wyncote, which was Shipley’s English country house. Rockwood contains several different, unique gardening styles with over 300 trees and shrubs. Although several trees and shrubs have been re-planted over the years, there are still several trees that were planted by Shipley himself still in the gardens. When visiting Rockwood you entered on the North side. Along the entrance of the mansion Shipley planted weeping beech trees, which still remain today. This tree is not only there for its extreme beauty, but also for the ability to generate melancholy thoughts by those who pass it. The opposite side of the mansion, the South garden, is known s the garden façade, which faces the Pleasure Garden. The Pleasure Garden is the highlight of Rockwood’s landscape, and contains many rare ornamental trees and shrubs. Most of the plants in this garden have been replaced over the years, but the original design is still evident in the garden. The Pleasure Garden can be accessed by two different pathways; one from the conservatory and the other from the terrace. Surrounding the entire Pleasure Garden are ha-has’, which were built to separate the garden from raised lawn and the open fields, it also helped to keep animals out. Keeping animals out of the garden was important because of the rarity of the trees and shrubs in the garden. 
[Rockwood Archives: Box 31]