Sherwood Gardens is a park located in the Guilford neighborhood of Northern

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. The gardens are bordered by East Highfield, Underwood, Stratford and Greenway Roads. In addition to well-groomed, standard ground cover (

azalea Azaleas are flowering shrubs in the genus ''Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections ''Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and '' Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, and Octob ...

s, evergreens, etc...), Sherwood Gardens is famous for its nearly 80,000

tulip Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm ...

s that peak in late April. After the tulips finish blooming, the Tulip Dig occurs on the Saturday of Memorial Day each year. Anyone can dig up and purchase the tulip bulbs. The park is maintained and managed by Stratford Green, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization.

History

During the 1800s, the property on which the Sherwood Gardens rest was part of the Guilford estate of A S. Abell, founder of ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

''. The location of the gardens was a pond, which was filled in when the area was developed for housing in 1912 and named Stratford Green by the Olmsted Brothers who designed it and the Guilford community. John W. Sherwood, a son of the president of the

Baltimore Steam Packet Company The Baltimore Steam Packet Company, nicknamed the , was an American steamship line from 1840 that provided overnight steamboat service on Chesapeake Bay, primarily between Baltimore, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia. Called a "packet" for the mail ...

(the "Old Bay Line") and one-time chairman of the Sinclair Oil Company, began planting tulip beds, azaleas and other flora on his property, adjacent to Stratford Green, in the 1920s. He allowed the public to visit his gardens during the month of May. Sherwood planted his gardens with tulips imported from the Netherlands. Following his death in 1965, Sherwood Gardens was acquired by The Guilford Association, Inc. which then expanded them. The gardens, which were transferred to Stratford Green, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization, are private property and receive no public funding, but are open to the public year-round.

References

External links

* http://guilfordassociation.org/sherwood/ Parks in Baltimore Gardens in Maryland Northern Baltimore {{BaltimoreCityMD-geo-stub