Falmouth Daffodil Days at Spohr Gardens

Falmouth Daffodil Days 2013

Spohr Gardens is a six-acre garden on land once owned by the late Charles and Margaret Spohr. Each year, the Falmouth gardens celebrate Daffodil Days with guided tours, activities for children and hundreds of thousands of daffodils.

Daffodil Days

Daffodil Days

The gardens are located on the northern shore of Oyster Pond. The house that is located at the land’s highest point, overlooks the pond and Nantucket Sound beyond. The Spohrs met in the years after World War II when he was a patient at Mayo Clinic, recuperating after being severely wounded and she was his nurse. In 1950 they moved to Cap Cod, where he had summered as a child. Together they started planting their garden. The garden was a crucial part of their love story. What they created was so beautiful that strangers would often stop to visit. The Spohrs enjoyed showing visitors around or watching folks wander on their own through the windy grassy paths. The guests often ended up at Oyster Pond, after enjoying the flowers and trees along the way.

Daffodils were always Charles Spohr’s favorite flower, but they were just the starting point for their creation.  The gardens now have over a hundred varieties of perennials. Among the most abundant are: lilies, iris, azaleas, hydrangeas, climbing hydrangeas, skimmia, andromeda and rhododendrons.

The Spohrs also enjoyed trees. Among their plantings are: crabapples, cherry, noir magnolia, paulownia, plum, and fig, hollies, umbrella pines, tree peonies and three types of beach.  There are also weeping European and American beach. Recently the garden’s volunteers have started putting identification plaques on the trees.

Old Mill Stones at Sphor Gardens

Old Mill Stones

Charles Spohr was a civil engineer and he enjoyed collecting millstones, cobblestones, chains, lanterns, church bells and watering troughs. He collected scores of them, he referred to them as decorations. He scattered them like landscape art throughout the gardens. Margaret Spohr designed the gardens and together the Spohrs kept track of everything that was planted. That meticulous record keeping has proven to be invaluable to the volunteers who care of the garden today.

Charles Spohr died in 1997 and Margaret died in 2001. At that time the gardens were left to a charitable trust. Their wish was that the property stay open to the public three hundred and sixty-five days a year from 8:00 AM until 8:00 PM.

About ten years ago the gardens had begun to show their age. The trees were badly in need of shaping and there were “bald spots” in the daffodil beds. The volunteers, known as, the Friends of Spohr Gardens”, began a serious restoration project. They enlisted the help of the Falmouth community. Among those who helped were the Girl Scouts, students from Falmouth High School and Falmouth Academy. They formed clean-up crews and planted over seven hundred bulbs.

Each year Daffodil Days becomes more special. In addition the Friends of Spohr Gardens are in the process of planting more perennials to extend the season. These gardens are a tranquil , setting for an afternoon stroll, a lovely place for a respite from crowds, technology and everyday worries.  The gardens are only a mile from the Palmer House Inn. During your stay at the inn a visit to Spore Gardens would be a pleasant addition to your total Cape Cod experience.

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Spohr Gardens
45 Fells Rd., off Oyster Pond Rd.
Falmouth, MA, 02540
tel.508-548-0623
Admission: Free
Hours: Daily 8-8
spohrgardens.org


While all of our rooms have their own unique charm, we would recommend the Henry David Thoreau Cottage with its private deck and jetted tub, the Emily Dickinson Room with jetted tub and fireplace, or the Henry James Penthouse with its warm tones and jetted tub for this weekend.