The Wyck Rose Garden dates to 1824 and is widely recognized as the oldest rose garden in original plan in America, with 70+ cultivars of historic roses. Included in the garden are the original rose plants from the 19th century design, as well as plants from the 18th century kitchen garden. Several roses in cultivation today had been thought lost until they were discovered growing at Wyck, and all specimens of these varieties in commercial trade descend from Wyck plants.
Beginning with Rosa spinosissima in early May and ending with Rosa moschata in late October, Wyck’s historic roses are remarkable for their beauty as well as for their fragrance, which fills the garden. Wyck is a rare wonder for garden lovers and an important repository of plants that have disappeared from other historic gardens.
Other areas of the property are planted not for decoration and pleasure but rather for practical purposes. In the late-17th and 18th centuries, the property extended to all the way to present-day Wissahickon Avenue but was sold off in the 1850s as Germantown developed into a desirable suburb. Before much of the land was sold, Wyck functioned as a large farm, where dairy cows and sheep grazed and crops grew. Wyck proudly restored its home farm on part of the 2.5-acre site in 2007, providing produce for the community at the Wyck Farmers’ Market, outside the fence along Germantown Avenue.
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Notes From the Garden 