Mill Pond Garden open for peak pollinator viewing Aug. 11

Mill Pond Garden will celebrate the peak of pollinator abundance when it opens to visitors from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 11, at 31401 Melloy Court, Lewes. Barring high-speed winds of 40 mph or more, this is a rain-or-shine event. Tickets, available at millpondgarden.com or cash only at the gate, are $18 to admit a vehicle with up to six visitors.

Flowers and butterflies will be abundant as well as scores of other kinds of pollinators of all sizes and many species. Because the many salvia will be in bloom, guests may also see hummingbirds. Of special note is the native Jeana tall phlox, which blooms from late June to late September and was declared the best of tall phlox species for disease resistance by Delaware’s Mount Cuba Center, an outstanding public garden emphasizing native plants of the eastern Piedmont. 

In addition to an edible mushroom garden, late-summer displays will include many kinds of showy hibiscus, water lilies, daylilies, coreopsis, evergreen and deciduous native and non-native ornamental ferns, zinnias, dahlias, petunias, herbs (allowed to bolt and flower to benefit pollinators), the disease-proof Beacon Impatiens, goldenrod, roses and diamond grass with its huge, sparkling inflorescence. The most exceptional and rarest display is the collection of epiphytic garden plants and the Spanish moss dripping around a lovely, ornate classical fountain. To see water lilies with open blooms, visitors should come after 10:30 a.m. and before noon.

Gardens are mostly quite accessible to wheelchairs with a pusher.