Gardener’s Focus Tour | Bones of the Winter Garden

Explore the bones of Hillwood's peaceful winter gardens with Jessica Bonilla, director of horticulture.

Evergreen plants take center stage, deciduous woody plants become architectural, and hardscapes become more important. Winter’s cool light shapes the experience, and we can sense more subtle shades of green and brown. The few flowers in bloom are very special, and the texture of conifer needles and tree bark seem richer in the winter sunlight.

Tickets are distributed at the Ellen MacNeille Charles Visitor Center upon opening each day. This thirty-minute tour is limited to twenty and meets in the visitor center conservatory.

Jessica Bonilla (she/her) became Hillwood’s director of horticulture in 2020 after more than a decade working in the horticulture department. She leads her staff in all aspects of garden and greenhouse upkeep. With over twenty-five years of experience, her career began in commercial landscaping followed by nearly ten years as the head gardener at a private estate in Rochester, NY, where she also ran her own landscaping business. She has a bachelor’s degree in landscape contracting from Penn State.

Photo Courtesy of Erik Kvalsvik.