GardenDesignOnline

Books: California Dreamin' : Gardens

California has some of the best-known and unique gardens in the country, some designed by iconic landscape architects and others by designers you likely do not know.  In California Eden (Angel City Press, 2004), authors Christine Edstrom O'Hara and Susan Chamberlin introduce us to the state's true heritage landscapes and explain the relationship between humans and nature. 

As they say in the introduction, the book "looks at history through the lens of cultural landscapes -- landscapes that have been shaped by humans who have left their imprints on the natural world."  These humans include indigenous Californians, early Spanish settlers, and later, wealthy newcomers who established notable estate gardens and horticulturists who brought in plants from all over the world.  

The authors note that "each historic period for landscape design eschewed the styles of the past."  Victorian-style gardens gave way to architectural designs, then to more naturalistic gardens.  Modernist gardens came into their own during the Depression years, and the gardens of today ""increasingly feature native plants and address sustainability issues." 

The book profiles 21 landscapes -- Extraordinary Places designed by landscape architects and designers:  (Beatrix Farrand's gardens, Hanna House by Frank Lloyd Wright & more; Public Places where communities gather: Pasadena's Trees, Fulton Mall; and Everyday Places (including the historic gardens of Old Monterey).  Each entry includes essays about the site's history and designers, accompanies by stunning historic photos and other photos of the gardens today. 

It's an important book about garden history and the meaning of cultural landscapes, and it will encourage any dedicated designer to. visit California and see some of the extraordinary sites. 

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Books: The Du Pont Garden Legacy

The Du pont family emigrated from France to the US (The Brandywine Valley, to be exact, between Philadelphia, PA and Wilmington, DE) in 1800.  One of them, E.I. du Pont, listed his profession as a botanist, although his credentials did not match that description.  With substantial financial resources, the du Ponts bought land, established businesses, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. E.I,'s great-grandchildren were the ones who established gardens on their family estates, and we have them to thank for a great American horticultural legacy.

In Du Pont Gardens of the Brandywine Valley (Monacelli Press, 2023), author Marta McDowell and photographer Larry Lederman profile five du Pont gardens that are among the country's finest.

Each garden has its own distinct style, and many, like Longwood Gardens, Winterthur, and Nemours, will be familiar to readers and landscape designers.  If you haven't been to the Hagley Museum and Library, you'll be fascinated to know that the garden is built over ruins of duPont mills, and it includes some of the old industrial artifacts as elements in the gardens. Parts of the garden are in need of restoration at the moment, but still, it is well worth a visit.

My favorite du Pont garden is Mt. Cuba, which was only opened to the public after the death of Pamela Copeland (wife of Lammot Du Pont Copeland) in 2001.  Although there are formal gardens near the residence, designed by landscape architect Marian Coffin, the rest of landscape is naturalistic and filled with native plants of the Piedmont region. It's home to the Mt. Cuba Center for the Study of Piedmont Flora, well known for its research and educational offerings.

The book is filled with magnificent photographs that will surely inspire any reader to plan a trip to see all of these gardens in their glory.

Books: English Gardens through the Centuries

This new book is a celebration of more than 600 years of England's most spectacular gardens.  In "The English Gardener's Garden," (Phaidon, 2023) authors Tania Compton and Dr. Toby Musgrave profile more than 60 gardens from the 16th to the 21 century.  Readers will likely be familiar with Sissinghurst, Hidcote Manor, Blenheim Palace, Stourhead and others, but they may not know The Barn by Tom Stuart Smith, the restored South Wood Farm by Arne Maynard, or Levens Hall, dating back to the 16th century.

In the introduction to the book, author Tania Compton notes that in Britain, "gardens, gardeners and gardening are recognized as a vital contribution to national artistic expression...". She adds that the gardens featured in the book constitute "not just a dialogue between art and nature but an entire conversation between the spirits of the creators past and present."

Many of the older gardens were restored or reinterpreted by more modern landscape architects or designer.  Thus, Sir Charles Barry redesigned the garden in the 1830s for the Duke of Sutherland, but by the early 20th century, the gardens were in ruin. They were restored in this century by a trio of celebrated landscape designers: Tom Stuart-Smith, Piet Oudolf and Nigel Dunnett and now include a stunning array of perennials, naturalistic plantings, wildflower meadows and woodlands.

This is a book that any designer or passionate gardener will come to again and. again to study the evolution of these gardens and draw inspiration from the beautiful photos that illustrate the magic of each landscape.

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Books: Olmsted Landscapes

I thought I knew a lot about Olmsted landscapes -- and I do -- but in this new book by Charles Birnbaum of The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), there are myriad Olmsted projects that I never knew about and never encountered in other books.

In Experiencing Olmsted, (Timber Press, 2022) Birnbaum profiles projects in 33 states, the District of Columbia and Canada that were designed by the Olmsted firm, which survived long after the death of Frederick Law Olmsted in 1903.  Each chapter represents a different state, with short descriptions of each landscape, accompanied by photos, plans and drawings.  Readers will of course be familiar with the grounds of the US Capitol in DC, New York city's Central Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, and many more.  But you may be unaware of Washtenong Memorial Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan -- a cemetery; projects for the National Cash Register Corporation in Dayton, Ohio; or Blackstone Boulevard in Providence, Rhode Island.

As Birnbaum notes in the introduction to the book, "Experiencing an Olmsted landscape can alter your mood, calm your spirit, and provide lifelong memories.  Distinct from fine art, architecture, music, and dance, a great work of landscape architecture -- from a meticulously planned and designed park or garden to an expansive open space preserved as a natural or scenic reservation -- is uniquely multisensory and utterly transporting."

So -- acquire this book and let yourself be transported to inspiring landscapes around the country. "These places were designed with democracy and democratic vallues in mind," says Birnbaum, "and their benefits were available to everyone."

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Olmsted Events

image: Natl Assn of Olmsted Parks

This year marks the 200th anniversary of Frederick Law Olmsted's birth -- on April 26, 1822 -- and there are many events celebrating his life and work as the founder of landscape architecture in the United States. 

First, you can download, free, an exhibit on his life and legacy curated by Dr. Caroline Mesrobian Hickman of the Univ of MD in conjunction with the Oak Spring Garden Foundation.  Register and download the exhibit here.

The events are listed on a new website, Olmsted 200, a website founded by ASLA, the National Association of Olmsted Parks (NAOP), and others.

Some events you might want to consider:

April 12, 12:30pm -- Livestreams from NYC's Central and Prospect Parks, both designed by Olmsted. 

April 25, 10:30am ET, Instagram Live Program with the Central Park Conservancy & National Assn for Olmsted Parks

April 26: Birthday celebration in Central Park, many other tours & events around the country.

Check out the main website for events throughout the year.

And there's a blog, Shared Spaces, with lots of info on Olmsted.

Philly Flower Show 2021

Philadelphia Flower Show June 5-13, 2021

image: PHS - click to enlarge

If you haven't already bought your tickets for this year's show and made plans to travel to Philly, do so right away! This is one show you won't want to miss.

For starters, it's outdoors this year, which means you won't have to deal with forced plants inside the Convention Center and lighting that makes it extremely difficult to capture decent photos. Because of the pandemic, show organizers decided to move everything outside ... to FDR Park in South Philly.  SO ... this 193rd Flower Show will cover 15 acres, nearly 50% more space than former inside shows. The theme of this year's show is "Habitat: Nature's Masterpiece," and PHS Chief of Show & Events Sam Lemheney told reporters that the horticultural displays will emphasize "the newest and hottest plants ... for the plant geek in all of us."

The show's landscape will be divided into three separate districts: The Plant District, featuring the best in plants and plant care; The Design District -- with exhibitions by acclaimed designers; and the Garden District, where attendees can attend lectures and educational sessions on gardening at home.

Among this year's design exhibitors is Balmori-Associates of NYC, a studio that practices a philosophy that invites community interaction with landscapes.  Their design will highlight "the edge effect," a concept that brings together greater biodiversity at the boundary between two or more different habitats.

Treeline Designz, with offices on the West Coast, anchors its exhibit with a bamboo forest that rises through natural vegetation surrounding reflection ponds. The outer landscape leads visitors into an inner sanctum, a peace garden in a relaxed setting that fosters meditation and socializing and provides space for insects and birds.

Other noted designers in this year's show include floral designer Jeff Leatham, landscape designers Patrick Cullina and Wambui Ippolito of Jane Gil Gardens, Donald Pell and the Nomad Studio.

Lemheney noted that the PHS is thrilled this year "to celebrate the outdoors and offer joy and beauty after a year that has been marked by so many challenges."  The show, he said, "is a wonderful example of the enduring and combined power of green space, plants, and gardeners to create impact and inspiration."

FDR Park, a 348 acre site, was carved out of tidal marshes and designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1914, with curving roads and paths, a series of tidal lakes, and 126 acres of woodlands. The park hosted the nation's Sesquicentennial Exhibition in 1926, and its iconic Boathouse opened for that event.  The park is also the site of American Swedish Historical Museum, also built for the Sesquicentennial. The park is on Philadelphia's Register of Historic Places.

 

Books: British Gardens (2)

If you thought for a moment that you would never need another book on Sissinghurst, well ... just think again.

In this new book, Sissinghurst: The Dream Garden (Frances Lincoln, 2020), author Tim Richardson offers a fresh perspective and new insights into one of the most famous gardens in the world. 

In a foreword to the book, landscape designer Dan Pearson says the relationship between Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson, the garden's designers, manifested itself in the garden, which he describes as "a blend of experimentation and daring, and a means of personal expression and partnership," ... a garden that's changed over the years, but with "a strong enough blueprint to have stood the test of time."

In the introduction to the book, author Richardson explains that neither Vita nor Harold were trained in horticulture or landscape design.  The result was that Sissinghurst "was conceived in an intensely personal way -- with every planting decision by Vita, and every angle and vista designed by Harold, expressive of their innermost emotions, hopes, and desires." 

Following their deaths, the garden was passed on to the National Trust, and over a series of years and various head gardeners, the garden was tidied up.  "For some visitors," says Richardson, "the garden seemed to have lost something of the old Vita magic over the years." In the past several years, however, there's been a movement to bring back the garden's authenticity, and a more "relaxed and romantic" style. In the pages that follow, you'll discover the intellectual, historic, and literary elements that drove the creation of the garden.  The book includes scores of beautiful photographs as well as garden and planting plans.  If you want the definitive book about Sissinghurst, look no further than this.

 

As familiar as you may be with British gardens, you probably have not seen many of the ones featured in this new book, as some are only open one or perhaps a few days or months per year.  In Secret Gardens of Somerset: A Private Tour (Frances Lincoln, 2020), author Abigail Willis and photographer Clive Boursnell profile 20 gardens off the beaten track of most garden tours.  There are modern gardens designed by Piet Oudolf and the American landscape design firm Oehme van Sweden, but most were designed by dedicated homeowners.  Some of the gardens date back hundreds of years (including the Hobhouse garden), but of course these have now been renovated.  As the author says in the introduction, gardeners asked to define Somerset's appeal responded that "It's unpretentious," ... "it's a working county, not a museum," ... "It's not been tidied up."  Willis describes Midney Gardens in Somerton as "bracingly non-conformist," with a combination of "plantsmanship, flair for color and a quirky do-it-yourself ethos."  The Newt in Somerset, now a hotel, is the historic Hadspen estate owned by the Hobhouse family and designed in the 1960s by the famed garden designer Penelope Hobhouse.  The estate is now owned by a South African couple, who hired Italo-French architect Patrice Taravella to re-do the gardens.  The new gardens were inspired by garden history and they include geometric baroque gardens, prairie-style grass borders, a restored Lime Avenue, and vistas reminiscent of an 18th century landscape park.

Essays on each garden's history and lovely photos accompany each entry.  In the back of the book, there's contact information on each garden, and info on when they are open to the public.

ASLA Awards - II

2020 ASLA Professional Awards (continued)

photos: James Ogilvy

Award of Excellence, Residential Design
Marshcourt, Hampshire, England
LA: Reed Hilderbrand, Cambridge, MA

Not everyone has the pleasure of working on one of the most famous landscapes in Britain, a historic estate that dates back to 1901-04, with plantings by garden designer Gertrude Jekyll and architecture by Edwin Lutyens.

New owners of the estate asked Reed Hilderbrand to restore the landscape, which was in a state of decline, and also to adapt it for a modern family. The original estate was 1300 acres, but this project focused on 100 acres surrounding the residence.

The firm consulted historical records in order to understand what remained of the original plan and what had been lost.  As the firm noted, "Marshcourt is a quintessential expression of the Arts and Crafts Movement," ... and the project "required different landscape architecture approaches in different places:  preservation, renewal or reinterpretation, and, elsewhere, entirely new design..."

Hundreds of yews were replanted to recreate elaborate terraced gardens, ranging from enclosed rooms with intensive plantings to open platforms with views over the river valley beyond. A native chalk meadow was re-established, and an oak canopy was replanted with an understory consisting of holly, hawthorn, and hornbeam.

The jury said the landscape now "recalls the height of Britain's Arts and Crafts movement through a thoughtful restoration and reinvention of work by acclaimed architect Edwin Lutyens with landscape design by Gertrude Jekyll.... rigorous historical analysis guided the contemporary restoration process and informed floral choices in areas where historic elements had been eliminated, adhering to original stylistic intent while incorporating a more sustainable palette of plants." 

Landmark Award
Millennium Park, Chicago, IL
Millenium Park Foundation

Chicago's Millenium Park is now one of the most famous landscapes in the United States, drawing millions of annual visitors to the site for public programs and to enjoy the architecture, the modern art, and the exuberant plantings.

The park's basic design is classical Beaux-Arts in style, with grand walkways and allees of trees to create many rooms within the park.  It includes a Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor, a Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa, and the BP Bridge and Jay Pritzker Pavilion by Frank Genry.  The lush Lurie Garden is the work of Gustafson Guthrie Nichol and Piet Oudolf.

As the jury put it, "There can be no denying that Millennium Park has changed both the literal and figurative landscape of Chicago, as an accessible, public park with a wide diversity of spaces within a democratized urban realm.  Transforming a rail yard into the city's cultural center has yielded 20 million annual visitors to the park, which has become a driver of $2.5 billion in tourism and business in Chicago.  .... Millennium Park becomes a valuable social and public venue that serves as an exemplar for other cities seeking an urban catalyst."

 

Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden in Danger

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) has placed the garden, by landscape architect Lester Collins, on its list of at-risk landscapes.  The Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden in Washington DC wants to re-design the garden, and hired architect Hiroshi Sugimoto to come up with a new plan.

The New York Times has published an article about the controversy that you can read here.

It includes a rendering of Sugimoto's plan.

Books: Garden Perfection

One of the worst things about the covid virus -- at least in our part of the country -- is that all the gardens are closed.  That means I can't visit Hillwood, the former estate of Post cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, which is always fabulous in springtime. 

While many visitors go to Hillwood to see the collections of Faberge eggs, Sevres porcelain, Russian Imperial and French decorative art, others go to see the 13 acres of formal gardens that will simply take your breath away, even in these times.

But now, you can visit Hillwood in a new book by Hillwood's executive director, Kate Markert, in  A Garden for All Seasons: Marjorie Merriweather Post's Hillwood (Rizzoli Electa, 2020).

Markert takes you through the history of the gardens, including Post's collaborations with prominent landscape architects Innocenti & Webel and Perry Wheeler, who helped her realize her vision for the gardens.  As Markert says in the preface to the book, "She paid attention to every detail of the gardens' design and directed their creation with specificity and clarity.  Each garden room at Hillwood has its own mood and function, resulting in different forms of beauty at different times of the year."

Anyone who's been to Hillwood knows the delights of the Lunar Lawn, which changes from season to season: thousands of tulips in spring, annuals in summer, chrysanthemums in fall, backed by scores of rhododendrons, camellias, and other flowering shrubs. Friendship Walk is lined with azaleas of every variety and hue -- a true feast for the eyes every April or May.  The Rose Garden, of course, bursts with color in summer, along with the Cutting Garden, where blooms are harvested for floral arrangements inside the Hillwood mansion.

The Japanese-style Garden dates to 1957 and was one of the first of its kind in the United States; the enclosed French Parterre is visible from the mansion and it's boxwoods make this formal evergreen garden a place to stop year-round. There's also a woodland garden walk, the dog cemetery, a greenhouse filled with orchids, and much more.

Beautiful photographs by Eric Kvalsvik take you to every part of the garden, and if you never have a chance to visit Hillwood's gardens in all their glory, this is the book for you.