The Townsend Hall courtyards feature unique plants that ordinarily cannot grow in northern Delaware. The microclimate created by the warmth and shelter of the building keeps the two courtyards at the back of the building warmer in winter. These conditions allow USDA Zone 8 and some Zone 9 plants to thrive in this protected spot.
A wide range of broadleaf evergreens, including Daphniphyllum macropodum, Camellias, Southern oaks, Evergreen viburnums, Sweetspires (Itea sp.), and Mahonias, provide a year-round display. Plants such as False holly or Sweet olive (Osmanthus americanus), Magnolias, and Paperbush (Edgeworthia papyrifera) fill these courtyards with their fragrance during the spring and fall semesters.
With its diversity of marginal evergreen trees, shrubs, the Townsend Hall Collection is a fabulous garden for viewing plants rarely seen in Delaware.