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Sherwood Gardens is a beautiful and well-maintained six-acre park in the exclusive Guilford neighborhood of Baltimore. The park has lush lawns, thoughtful gardens and occasional benches set underneath sprawling trees that offer areas to take in the beauty of the park. Further improving the aesthetics are the homes surrounding the park which are some of the largest (and priciest) in Baltimore City.

Sherwood Gardens is very much a passive park with no amenities for recreation. Instead, the park is typically used for picnics, the occasional pick-up children’s soccer game, small events or just enjoying the beautiful setting.

DIRECTIONS

Sherwood Gardens is located in the Guilford neighborhood in north Baltimore. The northeast corner of Sherwood Gardens is located Stratford Road and Greenway. There is ample street parking in the area.

BALTIMORE’S PREMIER PRIVATE PARK

One of the most unique aspects of Sherwood Gardens is that it is a private park that is privately funded and maintained. The difference between the maintenance of this private park and the public parks in Baltimore City is very clear. This park is very well maintained whereas Baltimore’s public parks struggle with maintenance. At Sherwood Gardens, the lawn is pure grass without the typical influx of weeds that persist in most of Baltimore’s public parks. In addition, the trees are well pruned and the gardens are thoughtfully designed. In Baltimore’s public parks, gardens are relatively rare and the trees are not pruned on a regular basis. Overall, Sherwood Gardens exudes a peaceful serenity that is sometimes missing from Baltimore’s public parks.

As Sherwood Gardens is a private park, maintenance is privately funded. Considering the stunning homes surrounding the park, funding is clearly not an issue. Luckily, although Sherwood Gardens is a private park, it is not gated or fenced and is open to all from sunrise to sunset.

THE GARDENS AND THE TULIPS

As mentioned above, Sherwood Gardens has several gardens placed among the lawns of the park. Although the gardens are well-designed and have plantings that bloom and flower throughout the seasons, Sherwood Gardens is known for its tulips. Each spring, 80,000 tulip bulbs emerge in an impressive display of color that brings people from all over Baltimore. After the tulips finish flowering, all 80,000 bulbs are removed and stored for re-planting the following year. It is hard to fathom the amount of effort it takes to maintain such an impressive display of tulips in Baltimore City.

For those tulip aficionados (as who isn’t?), the caretakers of Sherwood Gardens published an annual Tulip Guide that details the types of tulips planted and their locations in the different gardens. The Tulip Guide also details how to buy tulips that were planted in various gardens.

EVENTS

Sherwood Gardens hosts a few annual events each year and can be available for other events like weddings, photo shoots or other organized activities on a limited basis. Annual events include the tulip dig the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, Family Day at the end of the flowering season and Music in the Gardens events during spring and summer.

Private events held at Sherwood Gardens require permission. Click here to learn more about what sort of activities are allowed and how to apply for access to Sherwood Gardens for events.

HISTORY OF SHERWOOD GARDENS

Sherwood Gardens is the combination of an Olmstead-designed green originally called Stratford Green and an adjacent garden originally owned by an amateur landscape designer and businessman, John Sherwood. Sherwood built the foundation for current plantings at the park by designing tulip and pansy gardens with an emphasis on the spring blooming season. That emphasis continues today with Sherwood Gardens’ impressive spring tulips.

In 1965, John Sherwood died and the Guilford Association purchased his gardens and consolidated them with the Stratford Green park. The current owner of the park is the non-profit Stratford Green, Inc.

For more on the history of Sherwood Gardens, see the Stratford Green’s website here or the Guilford Association’s website here.

MASTER PLAN

Although Sherwood Gardens is a small, beautifully maintained park, its owners commissioned a Master Plan in 2013. The Master Plan focuses on opening up the lawns of the park by decluttering plantings made in previously open areas and restoring the gardens to former designs. For the most part, the plan does not appear to make major changes to the park, but details subtle changes that will improve the aesthetics.

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