"I've been all over the world, and I've never seen anything like it. It's an amazing experience." H. Marc Cathey, Ph.D., former director of the U.S. National Arboretum and now President Emeritus of the American Horticultural Society. Beginning in 1971, the owners created garden after garden, including Japanese, Monet Water Lily, Alpine, Daffodil Woods, and the famed classical Italian Gardens, rivaling the finest gardens in the world. Along the way, the owners gathered ideas from their travels and researched possibilities and combinations unique to Felicita. Because of this, a walk around Felicita's gardens is like a passage through time and distance to countries like Nepal and ancient Pompeii. The Resort itself is 810 acres filled with flowering trees, shrubs and ground covers. The Spa, lodges, dining facilities, pool, golf course and all connecting land is planted with specially themed gardens and landscaped beds. Even the wild areas are carefully planned, all to present the most aesthetic garden resort experience possible. Then, adding even more to Felicita's fame as a garden retreat are the 20 square miles of game lands, nature preserves and natural beauty that surround its perimeter.

The Italian Gardens were designed in 16th century Italian Renaissance tradition with geometric yews and boxwood borders on eight acres of perfectly manicured terraces. Pathways lead past dancing fountains, reflecting pools, classic statuary, stone and stucco walls and vine-covered pergolas. All is surrounded by six elegant gardens, each depicting its own period in Italian gardening history. The entire panorama is viewed from a spacious, classic-columned Wedding Pavilion. The Secret Garden nearby is especially intended for a smaller, more intimate wedding ceremony or vow renewal. A circle of trees focusing on a small pavilion provides everything needed for the special moment. The English Garden was designed and planted with traditional English perennial borders punctuated by imported antique statuary. The Butterfly Garden is a tranquil garden setting filled with butterfly-attracting plants and benches on which to rest and enjoy nature's beauty. The Park has paths wandering through a variety of shade trees, arranged to entice and invite. The Nature Trail Garden opened in 2006, and encompasses 30 acres adjacent to the spa/fitness center and lodges. Nature trails wind through dogwoods, red bud, magnolias, hawthorn and birch along streams, ponds and waterfalls. Azaleas, mountain laurel, rhododendrons, ferns, mosses, hollies and sweet shrubs create a setting under a canopy of mature oaks, maples, pines and tulip magnolias. There is an overview site and connecting trails to the top of Second Mountain. All of the trails are marked, and hiking boots or comfortable sneakers are a necessity.

Located within the Anginos' private grounds, these include The Japanese Garden, Alpine Garden, Monet Lily Pond, Island Conifer Beds, Tropical, Perennial Border, Arboretum, and Daffodil Woods. A recent addition are four hand-made birdhouses, built to scale models of authentic historical homes and buildings in America. Private escorted tours of these gardens are available on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. and Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. in season, require a minimum of 5 participants, and cost $15 for lodge guests and $20 for non-lodge guests per person. Special requested tours may be possible at other times and must be booked through our Sales Department, require a minimum of 10 participants, and cost $20 per person. Special tours with less than 10 participants still require a minimum fee of $200. Horticulture/gardening groups are encouraged and luncheon tours can be arranged. Since our gardens are private, they are not built to accommodate vehicular traffic within the gardens. Tour participants must be able to walk hilly, uneven, grassy terrain over a period of approximately two hours. Call the resort for details and reservations.

Specialty Shrubs & Trees for Sale at Felicita
Added to Felicita's fame for beauty is the opportunity to now purchase one of its carefully nurtured trees or shrubs from its nursery. This is a wholesale/retail "appointment only" nursery created from mature surplus arboretum tree and shrub collections to satisfy discerning customers of landscape architects and designers. Rare, dwarf and specialty conifers, Japanese maples, magnolias, Acer griseum, all balled and basketed in wood-chipped display gardens surrounded by hundreds of acres of resort gardens. An opportunity of a lifetime. The Felicita R.A. Nursery phone number is 717-599-5656 for information regarding appointments to view any sale items.