Alcatraz

The rock. Military reservation. Maximum security prison. Birdman, Capone, Machine-Gun Kelly, and the boys.

Red Power, IOAT (Indians of All Tribes), and the Occupation. Gardens.

Alcatraz has a long and complex history. Gardens are at the end of the list because they aren’t the first thing that usually comes to mind when you hear about this tiny island. Its name dates to the first explorer of San Francisco Bay, Juan Manuel de Ayala, who sailed into the bay in 1775, mapped it, and named one of the islands “Isla de los Alcatraces” (Island of the Pelicans) because the birds were so plentiful there. By the 1850s, the island was housing its first military prisoners, and, in 1909, it was military prisoners who began building the prison we all know on the foundation of the fortified citadel that was its first use.

Sun and rain were the only elements the Rock had that could contribute to a garden. Everything else, including soil from other islands, had to be brought in. Gardens began as functional entities; they were created to break the vicious winds that sweep across the water and to help control erosion. Only gradually did they become aesthetic and therapeutic. Floriferous beds eventually helped to give meaning to the lives of the officers and staff and their families, and softened the hardship for spouses brought out to live on site.

In time, the gardens played a unique role in the lives of the prisoners who began to tend them. “Life is worth holding onto even at its bitterest,” wrote Fred Reichel, the warden’s secretary in the 1930s. For the men interned there, many at the end of the prison system line, the gardens humanized confinement. Many found their only contentment and solace while at work in the sun. The prison closed in 1963. For forty years, there was no maintenance and no water except the rains. The gardens were lost. In the early 2000s, the Garden Conservancy, at a meeting to establish a Bay Area presence, was approached about the possibility of rehabilitating the Alcatraz gardens. An unprecedented collaborative partnership was put together between the Conservancy, the National Park Service, and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (GGNPC). A volunteer group was assembled and a project that would last ten years was launched. The garden rehabilitation was completed in 2014 and management transitioned to the GGNPC, with the Garden Conservancy stepping into a less active advisory role.

As if the spirit of the island’s long-gone residents returned, plants that hadn’t been seen in decades reappeared as garden beds were cleared and rehabilitated. Far from sliding off into the bay, the gardens held on to some of the original meaning they created, and shared it once again. Fresh resources and new plants filled them out, the gardens were alive, and people noticed. Despite a prison population that never reached 300, Alcatraz now sees 1.5 million visitors a year, easily the most visited project in the Garden Conservancy’s history, with visitorship that would be the envy of many a large botanical garden.

Russell Beatty, author of Gardens of Alcatraz (Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, 1996), wrote, “Suddenly, we appreciate the true meaning of the gardens: the human drama they represent.” Alcatraz—any garden really—changes the lives of those who invest their sweat, occasional blood and tears, and spirit.

Chase Garden Orting, WA

An outstanding example of Pacific Northwest modernist garden style, Chase Garden is a 4.5-acre garden that artfully combines Japanese and midcentury design with the naturalistic look of a Pacific Northwest landscape. The Garden Conservancy owned and managed all aspects of the garden for nearly a decade. For more information, see the Chase Garden profile, page 47.

Cohen Bray House Oakland, CA

A historic landmark built in 1884, the Cohen Bray House reflects California’s Gold Rush era. In 2001, the Garden Conservancy recognized the significance of the Cohen Bray Victorian landscape and extended preservation assistance to the nonprofit that manages it, the Victorian Preservation Center of Oakland. The Conservancy provided letters of support for grants and letters in opposition to a development project that would have adversely affected the landscape.

The Cross Estate Gardens Bernardsville, NJ

The Cross Estate’s formal gardens and native plantings are representative of the work of Clarence Fowler (1870 – 1935), a prominent and respected landscape architect. The estate is a project of the New Jersey Historical Garden Foundation in cooperation with the National Park Service. In the early 2000s, the Garden Conservancy conducted a garden assessment and produced a report to serve as a guide for preservation planning, site enhancements, and program development.

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens Jacksonville, FL

Founded in 1961, the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens has three flower gardens on the museum grounds, the oldest dating to 1903. The original garden designs by the Olmsted Brothers, Thomas Meehan and Sons, and Ellen Biddle Shipman (1869 –1950) have been preserved for more than a century and are on the National Register of Historic Places. After severe damage from Hurricane Irma in 2018, the Garden Conservancy made a $20,000 restoration grant toward the reconstruction of the historic gardens.

Deepwood Museum & Gardens Salem, OR

Deepwood Museum & Gardens has been managed since 1974 by the nonprofit Friends of Deepwood and is owned by the City of Salem. The gardens at Deepwood were one of the earliest commissions of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, the first female landscape architecture firm in the Pacific Northwest, which designed more than 200 landscapes and gardens in the region between 1929 and 1969. In 2012, the Garden Conservancy advised the Lord & Schryver Conservancy on the renovation of the Scroll Garden at Deepwood, as well as on the development of a cultural landscape report.

Dumbarton Oaks Garden Washington, DC

In 1920, Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss found their ideal country house and garden within Washington, DC, a 53-acre property at the highest point of Georgetown. Working in close collaboration for almost 30 years, Mildred Bliss and landscape architect Beatrix Farrand planned every garden detail, each terrace, bench, urn, and border. The upper sixteen acres were transferred to Harvard University in 1940. In 1995, the Garden Conservancy provided advice and resources for garden stabilization and, in 1999, the Garden Conservancy sponsored the restoration of Forsythia Hill.

Eby San Francisco, CA

A private terraced garden originally designed in the 1930s, on San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill, the Eby garden is part of the historic Valetta’s Garden. The Garden Conservancy holds a conservation easement on this property and monitors it annually.

Elawa Farm Lake Forest, IL

A restored gentleman’s farm on Chicago’s North Shore, Elawa Farm is a stunning example of estate farm architecture and a unique gem of Lake Forest. It is managed by a public-private partnership between the Elawa Farm Foundation and the City of Lake Forest. In 2007, the Garden Conservancy created a report and planting plan based on a strategy developed together with regional partners.

Elizabeth Lawrence House & Garden Charlotte, NC

In 1949, garden designer and writer Elizabeth Lawrence (1904 – 1985) began a garden on a modest lot in Charlotte, NC, that would embody her lifelong celebration of Southern horticulture. It doubled as a living laboratory for her study of plants and design. The Garden Conservancy holds and monitors a conservation easement on the property to protect it in perpetuity. The Conservancy also placed an intern at the garden in 2009, provided a Gardens for Good grant in 2021, and continues to provide technical assistance. For more information, see the Elizabeth Lawrence Garden profile, page 51.

Elk Rock Garden at the Bishop’s Close Portland, OR

Located on a hillside estate overlooking the Williamette River with a view of Mount Hood, Elk Rock Garden at the Bishop’s Close is arguably the oldest and largest intact private garden in the Pacific Northwest. Businessman Peter Kerr (1861 –1957) developed Elk Rock for food production, recreation, socializing, and ornamental gardening, with advice from John C. Olmsted of Olmsted Brothers landscape architects.

The Garden Conservancy partnered with the Elk Rock Garden Foundation on preservation planning in the early 2000s. In 2003, Elk Rock was among sixteen gardens represented at a meeting that resulted in the creation of a regional organization of emerging public gardens, which would become the Garden Conservancy Northwest Network.

Enid A. Haupt Garden Washington, DC

A 4.2-acre public garden in the Smithsonian Institution’s complex on the National Mall in Washington, DC, the Enid A. Haupt Garden was designed to be a modern interpretation of American Victorian gardens in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. In October 2016, the Garden Conservancy joined other preservation-minded organizations in championing the preservation of the garden, which was threatened by a proposed redesign of the Smithsonian’s south campus. In 2018, the National Capital Planning Commission approved revised plans that preserved the Haupt Garden.

Eudora Welty House & Garden Jackson, MS

The home of author Eudora Welty (1909 – 2001) for nearly 80 years, the Eudora Welty House was built by her parents in 1925. Welty and her mother created and tended the garden for many decades. The house is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark. Welty bequeathed her house and garden to the State of Mississippi. The Garden Conservancy assisted in restoring Welty’s garden to what it had been during her prime. The project was guided by Welty’s mother’s original garden designs and plant lists.

F.W. Vanderbilt Italian Garden Hyde Park, NY

Historically known as Hyde Park, the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site is one of the area’s oldest Hudson River estates. The gardens incorporate formal elements typical of the Italian style. In 2008, the Garden Conservancy partnered with the Frederick Vanderbilt Garden Association in developing a strategic plan for a new landscape initiative, which the board adopted and implemented.

The Fells Historic Estate & Gardens Newbury, NH

Once the nineteenth-century summer retreat of American statesman and author John Hay (1838 – 1905), the landscape was enhanced by his son, Clarence Hay. In 1990, with the gardens in disrepair, the State of New Hampshire contacted the Garden Conservancy and authorized it, in partnership with the Friends of The Fells, to take over the management, restoration, and interpretation of the landscape. The perennial border, rose terrace, rock garden, and Old Garden were renovated and a program of educational workshops established. In 1997, management responsibility was taken over by the Friends. In more recent years, the Conservancy has continued to provide periodic grants and technical support. Today, The Fells is a regional center for conservation and horticultural education.

Fort Greene Park Brooklyn, NY

A 30-acre, city-owned and operated public park in Fort Greene Park was originally built to house forts for the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The site was designated Brooklyn’s first park in 1847 and redesigned by Olmsted and Vaux in the late 1860s. In 2019, when a plan threatened to destroy multi-purpose mounds by landscape architect Arthur Edwin Bye, Jr. (1909 – 2001), the Garden Conservancy sent a letter in support of preserving Bye’s design.

Gaiety Hollow Salem, OR

In the early twentieth century, Gaiety Hollow was both the home garden and office of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, the first all-female landscape architecture firm in the Pacific Northwest. The site demonstrates classic garden design principles adapted to a residential scale for the Pacific Northwest and is considered to be the tour de force of their life work. Its strong bones, quality of design, craftsmanship, and well-grown plants are the legacy of Lord & Schryver. The Garden Conservancy began providing preservation planning assistance for Gaiety Hollow in 2003 and has provided technical advice and resources, helped strategize for the capital campaign, and developed a marketing plan for the garden. In 2021, Gaiety Hollow received a Garden Conservancy Gardens for Good grant.

The Gardens at Palmdale Fremont, CA

A five-acre meditation garden in Silicon Valley, the Gardens at Palmdale is one of the last remaining fragments of the famous Mission San Jose land grant. In 2015, they partnered with the Garden Conservancy to create a conservation easement to protect the property’s conservation values in perpetuity, which was signed in 2019. For more information on the Gardens at Palmdale, see profile on page 57.