Sundials in the Garden

Herb Garden Luthy Gardens, Peoria, IL

I have a thing about sundials.  I love them!  I search them out when we are visiting public and private gardens.  I decided it was time to share a few of my favorites.

Luthy Botanic Garden one of two made in 1905

This sundial is nestled into a wonderful herb garden at the Luthy Botanic Garden.  It had great plants, a bee skiff, and a wonderful brass entry gateway with the word "HERBS" which is must say I would like to have a similar version of one day.

I find that many times Sundials get broken, the center item that casts the shadow (called a gnomon) can be snapped off.  This one at the Chicago Botanic Garden suffered this fate.

Chicago Botanic Garden

Another at the Chicago Botanic has a single spire in the center.  This is not a common style it is called a Equatorial Sundial, as it can be read in both summer and winter, but differently so it needs a center spike rather than an angled gnomon.  However they are usually mounted at an angle to match latitude and this one is mounted horizontally, so it may have been relocated.

Before we go too far, I thought I would explain how they work.

The Gnomon is the item which casts the shadow to tell the time.  The Style (surface) of the gnomon always points directly north.  One has to figure out north whenever placing a sundial in the garden and then adjust it due to the latitude you live at to get an accurate time. This is more important with a Vertical Sundial so that it remains pointing North and set at an angle to the horizontal equal to the Latitude of the Sundial location. The Gnomon therefore must be set at an angle to the 'dial' of 900. minus Latitude.

Sundials are categorized by how they are mounted - horizontal, vertical, circular or cylindrical.  Most garden sundials are horizontal, like those shown above.  They are easy to position.  You make them level and point them north.  Vertical sundials are often found on the sides of buildings.  To be placed on the building they must be on the south facing side  Circular (called Armillary actually) use spokes or wheels to tell time rather than a gnomon. They are a bit more actuate than those with a gnomon, but take some time to install and they must be placed at a proper angle. Cylindrical are the most rare and are more common in Europe than in the U.S.  I have yet to see one.

We saw a great Vertical Sundial in New Harmony, Indiana on one of the restored buildings in this former Utopian village from the 1820s.

I used to drive by this one when I lived in Indianapolis, Indiana.  It is on the Publix Theater Building.

This sundial is Armillary.  I actually found two of them on the same trip, but it was sunny when I found this one, so you can see the time which shines as a number.  The in-between minutes are judged by the thin line on the surface of the sundial. This one is located in a formal garden at the Rotary Gardens in Janesville, Illinois.

Rotary Garden Janesville, WI

Most armillary sundials have an axis arrow (gnomon) and a series of circles being the equator, Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, making it resemble a globe.  The gnomon is angled to the latitude of the location the sundial resides. This one is located at the Master Gardeners display garden at Purdue University.

Purdue University, Fort Wayne, IN

A new trend in Sundials at Botanic gardens is an interactive style called Analemmatic.  These dials are larger sundials on the ground where the visitor stands to become the gnomon.  You stand on a spot based on the season or month to make the time reading accurate.

Quad Cities Botanic Garden

My husband, who is 6 foot 8 makes a great gnomon. Here is another one:

Klehm Gardens in Rockford, Illinois

Sundials are often placed in public gardens as a memorial.  I have found several in cemeteries as remembrance.  This one was placed in Dellwood gardens in memory of George C. Fox Sr. a Lockport District Park Commissioner from 1945 to 1958. It was the quote I found most interesting: "Dedicated to Serving his Community   Service is the Golden Coin of Life"

Here is the surface of the sundial. It has my favorite saying on it. The garden it stands in looked great even in the fall.

If you are interested in more information on mounting and using sundials or on the locations and history of memorial and antique sundials, check out the North American Sundial Society https://sundials.org  They have a nice article about the maker of the 1905 sundial in Peoria.

Traveling to Janesville, WI and the Rotary Gardens

On the fourth of July my husband and I traveled to Wisconsin.  Part of the trip for me was a stop at the Rotary Botanical Gardens is Janesville, Wisconsin.  I drag the hubby, who is not much of a gardener, really to see gardens all the time.  He tolerates it because he usually gets to pick the lunch spot afterwards.

This time, however, he enjoyed the gardens as much if not more than I did.  He was impressed by how much they could fit into a small space, only about 20 acres.  The best part was as a non-profit location they have sponsorships of various types.  Most obviously the benches.  Yet what a perfectly appropriate and tasteful way to accomplish it.  Each bench has a garden theme saying carved into it!  They were fun to find, enjoyable to read and perfect placed for taking a seat to enjoy the views.

I loved that this place was open on a holiday! We arrived just as it opened so we could see all of it and ended up staying longer than planned.  As you exit the visitor center you enter the formal garden.

This just happened to be where the Herb Gardens were located.  Maintained by the Janesville Area Herb Society, there are three different herb gardens. A Sensory Garden, a Medicinal Garden and Culinary Garden.  Each had a somewhat formal design and center statue, but the herbs used and presented had nice variety.

The Sensory Garden - see the clay tiles, they each held a scented herb.

Culinary Herb Garden

My husband and I probably spent an hour looking at all the formal garden patches.  They were each a different theme, like Italy or France in addition to the three Herb Gardens.

There is a lake off to one edge of the Rotary Botanic Gardens that has a public boat launch, so there were a few people out with canoes and kayaks in the water.

Like the Chicago Botanic Gardens they had an orientation map with cut flowers to give you an idea of what was in bloom that day.

A pergola and patio near the lake gave great views.  It was sunny and warm that day, but we found great shade in the fern and hosta gardens.  And some tranquility in the Japanese Gardens.

The "Cliff" garden I think this was called had a striking assortment of plants among rocks.

One of the special features of the Rotary Botanic Gardens is the transitions.  You never feel hurried from one garden to another and most special, the transitions are never abrupt.  You just move from one garden to another with relaxing ease.  The decorative features are picturesque and I had to have my Kodak moment on the crooked bridge.

One of several water features

The trails were attractive and easy to walk and most were accessible by all abilities with only a few not made for wheelchairs.  There was a sculpture garden, an idea garden and a Scottish Garden too.  It was while we enjoyed the sunken garden that we found out that the location was originally a BMX bike race course before being acquired by the Rotary.

Idea garden with sculptures in the background

A planted bench in the Highland Garden.  That red dot is my traveling stuffed lady bug.  She is a photo hog!

The Sunken Garden had a spectacular arch that had been rescued from the Parker Pen building along with other sculpture and architectural items salvaged from historic buildings of the area.

The two items which we still talk about long after the trip was a parsley hedge used in a seasonal garden and an arching elm tree called a  Camperdown Elm that we have decided we must own.

Camperdown Elm which was arched over the walkway

My husband even fit under the arch!

We started with herbs and ended with herbs, as the last place on our trek around the grounds took use to a seasonal display garden that sported these cute parsley hedges, that my husband still talks about.

Parsley hedge

The Rotary Botanic Gardens are just a short jog off Interstate 90 in Janesville, WI and I recommend the detour if you are anywhere near it.  You will not be disappointed.  I took a number of images of the herbs in the Gardens, so check back as I will be sharing more from this wonderful location.