The Athenaeum Garden 

Designed by Wambui Ippolito in community with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and renowned Philadelphia gardeners, The Athenaeum Garden reflects the diverse gardening knowledge and traditions found across Philadelphia’s neighborhoods and communities. 

Conceived as a garden of fragrance and calm, the design emerged from a year-long process of community collaboration and exchange. At The Athenaeum, the garden creates a new setting for learning and discovery, inviting visitors to look closely, notice change, and connect with the plants and landscape around them.  

Like an archive, the garden holds knowledge and stories. Unlike a traditional archive,  its collection is living and evolving, offering something new to discover with every season. 

SEASONAL PLANTINGS 

• SPRING: Snowdrops, grape hyacinth, and Spanish bluebell provide delicate spring blooms joined by spring flowering perennials such as foam flower and Epimedium ‘Frohnleiten.’ 

• SUMMER: Annuals fill the two urns with a colorful summer display, while Amsonia hubrichtii, threadleaf bluestar, adds fine texture and an elegant, airy quality to the garden.  

• AUTUMN: The cutleaf Japanese maple turns a brilliant golden-orange, while toad lilies bloom with orchid-like flowers. Bugbane ‘Hillside Black Beauty’ adds dramatic contrast with dark foliage and wand-like white flowers.  

• WINTER: Foliage and flowers abound in the winter months. Different camellias bloom throughout the winter. In late winter, Edgeworthia fills the garden with clusters of highly fragrant, tubular flowers.