The Gardens at Palmdale Fremont, CA

Horticulturist Charles A. Lewis* once wrote that, “...gardening ultimately leads to spiritual realization.” In many ways the reverse is also true—especially in the case of the Sisters of the Holy Family and the Gardens at Palmdale, one of the Garden Conservancy’s newest family members. Recognition of a divine presence, contemplation, and action animate the lives of service led by the Sisters, the drivers behind this project.

The Palmdale property has a long, significant, and well-documented history. In microcosm, it reads as the history of California. From its presettlement history as part of the home of the Ohlone, or Costanoan people, through Spanish rule, a mission land grant, and an agricultural boom, it parallels much of what happened in the rest of the state.

To its lasting benefit, it was acquired by the Sisters of the Holy Family just after World War II, prior to the explosive growth of the area into what we now call Silicon Valley.

The existing garden was created years ago and has been lovingly tended by the Sisters, becoming an oasis and refuge from the swirling world around them. It has also been a much loved community resource, with a significance out of proportion to its five-acre size. It became another way for the Order to minister to the poor and needy, especially families.

If gardening truly leads to spiritual realization, it was that realization that breathed life into the idea that this special place should be preserved. That vision, and persistence over many years, led to an innovative multi-stakeholder collaboration between the Sisters, community members (including indigenous Ohlone), governmental agencies, businesses, a real estate developer, and the Garden Conservancy.

The group’s resulting plan does far more than preserve a garden. It provides continued housing for the Sisters and provides most of the financial resources needed for the project through the sale of part of the overall property— and the development of nearly 80 affordable housing units for the community. It’s a manifest expression of that part of the Sisters’ mission to “stand against conditions that demean or undermine the dignity of persons or the sacredness of the family.”

The effort was one worthy of the giant technology companies that also call the area home. But it was that very intricacy—the web of interacting relationships, complicated planning, financial arrangements, and special needs— that made it difficult for the Sisters to find a preservation organization willing to hold the conservation easement. The easement was a critically important element of the plan as municipal approvals hinged on having a conservation easement in place to protect the garden and dedicate it to public use. The Garden Conservancy was uniquely suited to play this role. Its mandate to “preserve, share, and celebrate America’s gardens and diverse gardening traditions...” and its long history of creating the living collaborations necessary for maintaining entities that would otherwise melt away with time, made it the ideal partner, and the catalyst needed to make the project a reality. As the holder of the easement, the Conservancy is there alongside the Gardens at Palmdale, Inc., the organization created to own and operate the garden, as a resource and a partner in preserving the garden’s defining features and essential purpose.

The Sisters of the Holy Family realized long ago that gardens and spiritual realization are both ways to feed the soul. Now the rest of the Fremont, CA, community does, too.

Powell Botanical Gardens Kingsville, MO

A 970-acre botanical garden outside of Kansas City, MO, Powell Botanical Gardens is known for spectacular garden displays incorporating native plantings and the Heartland Harvest Garden, the nation’s largest edible landscape. In 2018, Powell requested support from the Garden Conservancy in opposing the siting of a “factory farm” just three miles from the garden. The feedlot and slaughterhouse threatened the garden with degraded air quality from a variety of pollutants, as well as polluted water run-off. The Garden Conservancy wrote a letter to Missouri elected officials citing these concerns. In 2019, the factory farm closed operations, citing community opposition and poor economic conditions.

Ragdale Lake Forest, IL

Ragdale is a nonprofit artists’ community located on the historic Arts & Crafts estate of architect Howard Van Doren Shaw (1869 – 1926), 30 miles north of Chicago. In 2007, the Garden Conservancy facilitated a planning charrette and developed a preservation treatment report for the site.

Rocky Hills Mount Kisco, NY

A strolling garden on thirteen acres in the northern suburbs of New York City, Rocky Hills was created by Henriette and William Suhr, starting in the 1950s. It features mature specimens of black walnut and ash, complemented by collections of magnolias, tree peonies, and conifers. In 2000, the Garden Conservancy, the Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation, and Henriette Suhr signed an agreement to partner on preserving the garden and transitioning it to become a public garden. A conservation easement was granted to the Conservancy and subsequently transferred to the Westchester Land Trust when the County stepped back from accepting ownership and management of the property. In 2016, Rocky Hills was sold to Barbara and Rick Romeo; see the interview with the current owners and garden stewards on page 18. Rocky Hills remains protected by the conservation easement in perpetuity and was one of the first gardens to be included in the Garden Conservancy Documentation Program.

Russell Page Garden at the Frick Collection New York, NY

The residence of the industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick (1849 – 1919) in New York City was constructed in 1912 – 1914 and transformed into a museum in the mid-1930s. The Frick Collection was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2008. The museum’s small courtyard garden designed by renowned British landscape architect Russell Page (1906 – 1985) is considered Page’s most famous urban garden and may be the only one that can be enjoyed by the public. In 2014, the garden was jeopardized by proposed expansion or renovation plans for the museum. The Garden Conservancy joined the preservation community in speaking out against proposed development plans that threatened the garden. In 2018, revised plans were put forward and the Conservancy made recommendations for minimizing impacts to the garden. Museum officials made further changes to the plan and committed to preserving the garden with relatively few changes. The Garden Conservancy supported the new design and held a panel discussion held at the Frick in 2019.

Ruth Bancroft Garden Walnut Creek, CA

Located in California’s Ygnacio Valley, the Ruth Bancroft Garden is recognized as one of America’s finest examples of a dry garden, featuring a variety of rare and extraordinary succulents and cacti. The garden was created by Ruth Bancroft (1908 – 2017) on three acres starting in 1971 and is now a thriving public garden. This is the garden that inspired the founding of the Garden Conservancy. It was our very first preservation project and conservation easement. For more on the Ruth Bancroft Garden, see the profile on page 41.

Shelburne Farms Shelburne, VT

A nonprofit education center for sustainability, Shelburne Farms is a 1,400-acre working farm and National Historic Landmark on the shores of Lake Champlain. The property is a well-preserved example of a Gilded Age “ornamental farm” developed in the late nineteenth century, with landscaping by renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 – 1903). Between 1999 and 2012, the Garden Conservancy provided technical advice at various stages of Shelburne’s planning and execution of a landscape stewardship master plan and a multi-phased formal garden restoration.

Sonnenberg Gardens Canandaigua, NY

A 50-acre state park in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park has magnificent views of Canandaigua Lake. The gardens were developed between 1902 and 1920 and reflect a variety of styles. In the early 2000s, the Garden Conservancy worked with the nonprofit Sonnenberg Gardens on preservation planning, including the creation of a management plan and setting priorities for garden maintenance and preservation. In 2006, the garden was purchased by the state, one of only two public gardens operated by the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation.

Springside Landscape Restoration Poughkeepsie, NY

A 20-acre Romantic landscape and National Historic Landmark, Springside was once the country estate of Matthew Vassar, the Poughkeepsie brewer, philanthropist, and founder of Vassar College. It is the only landscape of horticulturist and landscape designer Andrew Jackson Downing (1815 – 1852), one of the founders of landscape architecture in America, to survive largely intact. The Garden Conservancy began working with Springside in the mid-1990s to develop a plan to stabilize and interpret the site, as well as a plan for implementing landscape treatment recommendations. The Conservancy also obtained a grant from the New York State Council for the Arts for a historic landscape report for Springside.

Steepletop Austerlitz, NY

Steepletop, now a 200-acre farmstead in Austerlitz, NY, was the home of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 – 1950) for the last 25 years of her life and is a National Historic Landmark. Beginning in the late 1990s, the Garden Conservancy worked with Edna St. Vincent Millay Society members to write grants and help develop a management plan and landscape and horticultural preservation plans.

Stoneleigh Garden Villanova, PA

Designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm, Stoneleigh Garden is a historically and culturally significant garden in the Philadelphia area. Shortly after opening as a public garden in 2018, Stoneleigh was threatened by an expansion proposed by a local school district. Through a letter and social media, the Garden Conservancy joined numerous horticultural and conservation organizations to oppose the proposed action and encourage public involvement. Fortunately, the property is protected by a conservation easement and local officials determined that the school district’s “eminent domain” did not trump the protection provided by the easement.

Swan House at Atlanta History Center Atlanta, GA

Located on the grounds of the Atlanta History Center, both the house and landscape at Swan House were designed in 1928 by prominent Atlanta architect Philip Trammel Shutze (1890-1982).

Swan House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2015, a Garden Conservancy Society of Fellows garden-study tour to Atlanta reported a critical need for assistance to restore and replant of Swan House’s iconic Boxwood Garden. The Conservancy provided a grant for the restoration.

Sylvester Manor Educational Farm Shelter Island, NY

Over time, Sylvester Manor has been transformed from a plantation employing enslaved Africans as well as indentured or paid Native American and European laborers, to an Enlightenment-era farm, to a pioneering food industrialist’s estate, and, today, to an organic educational farm. In 2020, Sylvester Manor participated in an American Public Gardens Association discussion panel developed by the Garden Conservancy on telling the garden’s whole story. In 2021, Sylvester Manor received a Garden Conservancy Gardens for Good grant in recognition of its community-oriented approach to preserving history.

University of Virginia Pavilion Gardens Charlottesville, VA

In 2001, in anticipation of the fiftieth anniversary of the Pavilion Garden’s refurbishment, the Garden Conservancy convened a summit to consider future contributions of the historic gardens to public horticulture in Virginia. The Conservancy coordinated a panel of garden leaders, who made recommendations for the restoration of the Pavilion III garden as a demonstration project, which was completed in the spring of 2004.

Untermyer Park and Gardens Yonkers, NY

A historic 43-acre city public park just north of New York City, Untermyer Park is a remnant of Samuel J. Untermyer’s 150-acre estate, “Greystone.” In 1915, architect William Welles Bosworth (1869 – 1966) began the design for the property, including neoclassical features, garden rooms, and Indo-Persian elements that identify the garden as a symbol of paradise. The site was donated to the City of Yonkers and added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Untermyer Gardens Conservancy is facilitating the restoration of the gardens in partnership with the Yonkers Parks Department. The Garden Conservancy served in an advisory role in 2011. Stephen Byrns, president of the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, presented at the Garden Conservancy’s landscape panel discussion at Bard College in 2019.

Van Vleck House & Gardens Montclair, NJ

Now a public garden and community center, Van Vleck House & Gardens is an exemplar of classical Mediterranean Revival architecture and includes extensive grounds with collections of rhododendrons, azaleas, and other broad-leaved evergreens. Three generations of the Van Vleck family lived on the property and developed the gardens over 130 years. In 1999, the Garden Conservancy helped to establish the Friends of Van Vleck Gardens and, in 2003, the Conservancy funded a Marco Polo Stufano Fellow who renovated the formal garden and documented its history.

Villa Terrace Milwaukee, WI

A historic house built in 1924 for the Lloyd R. Smith family, Villa Terrace is an Italian Renaissance-style home on a bluff above Lake Michigan. Since 1966, the house and grounds have housed the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum. In 1999, the Garden Conservancy provided technical assistance, enabling the Friends group to raise funds and marshal volunteers to restore the garden, which reopened in 2002.

Western Hills Garden Occidental, CA

Western Hills was developed as a garden starting in 1959 by plantsmen Lester Hawkins (1915 – 1985) and Marshall Olbrich (1920 – 1991), pioneers in the back-to-the-land movement. They opened a rare plant nursery in 1973, introducing many Mediterranean and Australian plants into cultivation in Northern California, inspiring a new generation of gardeners and influencing many of today’s most distinguished plant explorers and garden designers. Beginning in 2007, the Garden Conservancy provided assistance to new owners in preservation planning, developing a volunteer program, and creating a plant collections inventory. As of this writing, Western Hills is once again on the market.

Yew Dell Botanical Gardens Crestwood, KY

The creation of master craftsman and nurseryman Theodore Roosevelt Klein (1905 – 1998), this 34-acre property in Crestwood, KY, features open farmland transformed into Arts & Craft gardens with unusual plant specimens and classic stone structures. After Klein’s death and the formation of a board of community volunteers to purchase the property, the Garden Conservancy developed a stabilization plan and prepared the nomination for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The Conservancy also helped develop a master plan and funding strategies needed to preserve Yew Dell Botanical Gardens for the enjoyment and education of the public. Today, Yew Dell is a thriving public garden with guided tours, classes, and community events.