Yew Dell Botanical Gardens castle gardens // Crestwood, KY

Yew Dell Botanical Gardens has long horticultural history as Kentucky nurseryman Theodore Klein’s home, nursery, private arboretum, and garden. The property became a public garden a decade and half ago. Since then, improvements stabilized the miniature castle, which served as a space for entertaining in Klein’s day. Existing barns were converted to an entry pavilion and gift and lecture hall. New structures included restrooms, catering facilities and a pavilion for weddings, concerts, and other large-scale events.

Land Morphology was hired for this project, known as the Castle Gardens, to conceive, define, and plant new garden spaces that will be the first new gardens on the property since Yew Dell opened to the public. This new garden will improve pedestrian circulation and link historic features and gardens to an existing meadow, while providing an opportunity to increase botanical collections and new display horticulture. A central water feature will be the heart of the space, with storm water gardens to manage surface water. Multiple arbors will provide shade and human-scaled places for people to gather and linger.

The design process was collaborative with garden employees and a sub-set of the board of directors. The design has yielded an exciting new collection of gardens in the core of the site. We are very pleased to have been selected for this project.