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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."

Commissions earned.

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.

Historic Pro Bono Design

click on images to enlarge

He was one of the most famous US military officers of the 20th century, and probably many of us who live in and around Washington DC are totally unaware that the home of Gen. George C. Marshall is in Leesburg, Virginia.  We recently toured the site to study the ongoing restoration of the Marshall home's landscape.

Marshall and his wife bought the historic property in 1941 as a weekend retreat outside DC -- and lived there after his retirement until his death in 1959.  The Marshalls were avid gardeners, and Marshall himself noted that he'd been gardening since the age of 10.  He once wrote, "There is nothing that I would so much prefer to do this spring as to turn my mind to the wholesome business of gardening rather than the terrible problems and tragedies of war."

By the 1980's, developers fixed their sights on the property, but a local citizen established a fund to raise money and save the site.  The fund finally purchased the site in 1995, and it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996.

Landscape architect Leslie Solitario was approached to help with the landscape restoration in 2010, and she's been volunteering ever since, creating a new master plan by working from old photos and a landscape rendering by the Garden Club of Virginia.

It's a slow and continuing process, but old boxwoods have been saved, along with historic oaks and other trees.  Some of landscape was installed by boys doing Eagle Scout projects, and volunteers are recruited for planting and the like.

For more on the Marshall Historic Home, visit www.georgecmarashall.org

Gardens: Blue Renovation

 

Photo: Marianne Lee via ASLA

Not everyone gets a chance to work on one of the most iconic gardens in the United States. Most of it was destroyed by the early 21st century, but Reed Hilderbrand LLC of Cambridge, MA, was commissioned to research its history and bring it back to life.  For that, the company received a 2018 Residential Honor Award from ASLA.  

Photos 2 & 3: Millicent Harvey via ASLA

The Blue Garden was designed in the early 20th century by the Olmsted brothers for Harriet James Curtis in Newport, Rhode Island.  It was the center of the city's social life, where elaborate parties took place amid the pools, formal garden beds, walls and pergolas. After the owner's death, the garden was subdivided and fell into disrepair.  A few years ago, a neighbor bought the property with a mission to restore and reinterpret the Blue Garden for generations to come.

 

Inspired by the original design, Reed Hilderbrand designed the garden to withstand a changing climate by using drought-tolerant plants and perennials instead of annuals, and thus reducing maintenance. New plantings of evergreens were placed to screen out nearby development and to preserve views of the surrounding protected agrarian landscape.

Books: 100 Iconic Gardens

I love the way this book is organized:  a theme tour of important and iconic gardens throughout the world.  In The History of Landscape Design in 100 Gardens, (Timber Press, 2018) author Linda Chisholm, who teaches the history of landscape design at the NY Botanical Garden, takes the reader on a tour of gardens from medieval gardens in Europe to the modern gardens of today that emphasize sustainability and native plants.

As the author notes in the preface, these 100 gardens may not be the greatest in the world, but rather they reflect particular styles that became dominant at certain times in history, and they focus on "developments from around the world that have been most influential in North America and the United Kingdom." The landscapes include public and private gardens, several World Heritage Sites, and all of them are open to the public.

Seventeen chapters outline significant developments in the field of landscape design.  "Designing for Democracy" includes profiles of New York's Central Park, Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA, and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.  Chapter 3, "The Brink of Infinity," profiles gardens created in the Age of Reason:  Isola Bella in Lake Maggiore, Italy; Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles in France, Het Loo Palace in the Netherlands. "A World of Wonders" explores exotic plants and botanical gardens.  "Bringing Home Abroad" explains that wealth and travel in the Gilded Age inspired garden designs from Italy, England, France, Japan and Mexico.

I wish I'd had this book when I was first studying landscape design 20 years or so ago.  It's a magnificent contribution to landscape design history, to gardens' cultural and aesthetic values, and to humanity's relationship with nature. Every designer should have this book.