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Leaming’s Run Gardens: How it all began

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Leaming's Run Gardens: How it all beganLeaming’s Run Gardens: How it all began by Emily Heath Aprill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My mother did the layout and editing of this book.

This book was written by Mrs. Aprill, unlike the previous two, which were written by her husband. Mrs. Aprill has passion and explains the story of Leaming’s Run very well.

She found the property. Her husband checked it out. Many months later they purchased it (1957). They raised their four sons there.

It turns out this is the oldest existing example of a whaling house in Cape May County. The land they purchased was 50 acres. It included a couple other structures: one a cellar was converted to the original dried flower shop the Aprills opened long ago.

Eventually, Jack decided to plant 25 gardens for the public. They spent five years planning and creating the gardens. It sounded as though getting the ponds done correctly was the most difficult endeavor. The gardens opened in 1978.

All the gardens are annuals grown from seed yearly by the Aprills. The youngest son, Gregg, manages the property.

Emily has done a lot of research about the property and the area that is shared in the book. She rescued three headstones from across the way that were in peril. What was unclear to me was whether the caskets were exhumed as well.

An enjoyable book that provided some background on the famous gardens.

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