Deep Cut Gardens

Early history The land making up Deep Cut Gardens was first settled by Europeans after the Monmouth Tract was granted to Quaker settlers in 1665. The site was divided into several family farms until 1890, when the town sheriff took over the property due to unpaid taxes. The land subsequently passed through several interim owners before being purchased by New York businessman Edward Dangler and his wife Teresa for $38,000 in 1926. In 1928, the Danglers built a two-storey, eight-room Colonial Revival mansion on a hilltop overlooking the property and with views of Sandy Hook and New York Harbor. Genovese ownership In 1935, the Dangler mansion was sold to the mobster Vito Genovese, who was looking for a summer home and a place where his three children could be "out in the country". To landscape the grounds, Genovese hired landscape architect Theodore Stoudt to plan a new garden surrounding the house. Over the next two years, Stoudt would end up directing "a small army of stonemasons, carpenters, landscapers and nurserymen" to transform the property. Stoudt, during an interview in 1991, recalled that he "saw the garden design as a mixture of English and Italian", and did not think an Italian garden would "suit the house — or the Don's wallet." Therefore, Stoudt opted to build a "pseudo-Italian" rock garden on the steep slope behind the house, with terraced water pools, large Sargent's weeping hemlocks and the Vesuvius replica. In addition to the landscaping, Genovese also constructed a large swimming pool, a three-hole golf course, two tennis courts and a greenhouse. Nevertheless, by 1937, Genovese's fortunes had taken a turn for the worse. After allegedly ordering the murder of fellow mobster Ferdinand Boccia, and with New York prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey singling out Genovese as a target, Genovese fled to Europe. The fire, which required of hoses and two hours to extinguish, resulted in the complete loss of the mansion and an estimated $80,000 worth of damages, although the gardener's cottage and greenhouse were saved. and built a ranch-style house on the site of the former mansion, moving in December 1954. Marjorie, who was the daughter of Thomas Sperry, was an avid horticulturist and restored the dilapidated Genovese-era rock garden and greenhouse, After Karl's death in 1970, Marjorie approached the Monmouth County Park System in 1976 with an offer to donate half of the property to the park system. When she died in 1977, she deeded half of the property for "park and horticultural purposes only". The remaining half of the property was purchased by the park system using funds from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Green Acres Program. Between 2007 and 2010, the park system restored the original rose parterre in cooperation with Rutgers University. Aerial photographs of the original garden were used to inform the restoration, which repaired the crumbling stone walls and replanted the rose beds. ==Gardens description==

Deep Cut Gardens today spans over , adjacent to Tatum Park, which is also run by the Monmouth County Park System. The park is intended as a "living catalogue" of cultivated and native plants, and is also dedicated to educating and assisting home gardeners. A variety of gardens exist in the park reflecting the historic nature of the gardens as well as the varying tastes and preferences of the park's various owners. The flowers planted in the rockery include rhododendrons, catmint, rose campion, and spiderwort. Rose parterre The rose parterre, located at the base of the hill and under the rockery, was also designed by Theodore Stoudt for Genovese's mansion. Like other parterres in the world, the recessed parterre at Deep Cut Gardens uses box hedges to create patterns which are filled with roses and other blooming flowers. The parterre, intended by Stoudt to be viewed from the hilltop mansion, was buried after the property was sold and became a meadow, with only a circular pergola constructed at the back of the parterre remaining visible during the intervening years. Display garden The display garden, located south of the greenhouse and the Horticultural Center, is part of a network of All-America Selections (AAS) display gardens in the United States, and is marked by the intense cultivation of vegetables, flowers and herbs received from the AAS. Other gardens and landscape features To the immediate north of the display greenhouse is a small Japanese garden planted by the Wihtols, featuring stone lanterns, statues and conifers. Some of the plantings in the garden include Hurricane Lilies, buttercup witch hazel, and bitter oranges. Directly adjacent to the greenhouse in the south is the park's bonsai collection, which contains eighty plants, some over a century old. A bonsai club maintains and promotes the collection. Beside the rockery is the shade garden, which was planted by the park system after acquisition of the site in the late 1970s. The garden, shaded by a canopy of tulip poplar and spruce trees, is home to shade-tolerant plants including columbines, wild gingers, foamflowers and azaleas. Other features in the park include the historic front lawn, which after a century of planting includes trees such as Japanese maple, China fir, dawn redwood and paperback maple, a rain garden, pollinator garden, and keeping in the park's mission of home gardening education, a composting demonstration garden. Water features in the park include a natural pond and the former Wihtol-era swimming pool which has been converted into a koi pond. Trails also traverse the undeveloped portions of the park. ==Activities and facilities==

Deep Cut Gardens, keeping to its mission to educate and assist home gardeners, hosts a variety of gardening resources, programs and facilities. The Horticultural Center, housed in the former Wihtol residence, houses a seed exchange station and the Elvin McDonald Horticultural Library, which houses over 4,000 volumes and periodicals with an emphasis on home gardening, horticulture and landscape design. The park system also arranges events at the park such as open houses and plant swaps throughout the year, with garden tours, demonstrations and children's activities offered free of charge. ==Gallery==

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