The Garden Conservancy December Newsletter 2023

The Garden Conservancy News PRESERVING, SHARING, AND CELEBRATING AMERICA’S GARDENS

Celebrating the Gardens of Alcatraz PAGE 6

Did You Miss the Garden Futures Summit?

PAGE 9

December 2023

A Note from the President and CEO As we come to the end of an eventful year, it is important to take stock of the remarkable growth and success that the Garden Conservancy is experiencing, thanks to the enthusiasm of our members, our energetic board, and the rapidly expanding community of partners across America and around the world. This issue of the newsletter begins with the story of one of the Conservancy’s early and notable successes, the recreation of historic flower gardens on the Island of Alcatraz, which is celebrating a big anniversary. Coming on the heels of the celebration of Lotusland’s 30th anniversary as a public garden, the success of these two remarkable California gardens reminds us that the Conservancy is truly a national organization.

As our membership reached 7,000, (nearly doubling in the last 6 years) it is clear that our educational programs, both in person and in the virtual world, continue to attract an engaged and curious community of gardeners. This was never more in evidence than with the convening of our first “Garden Futures Summit”, where 350 people signed up to spend a day thinking about and discussing how gardens and gardening are influencing our culture, our communities, and the environment.

Keynote Speaker Isabella Tree engaged the crowd with her message of the possibilities of “re-wilding”, and then traveled with the conservancy for speaking engagements to Middleburg Virginia, St Louis Missouri, and Chicago Illinois to spread the word further (don’t worry if you missed her — she will do a virtual talk in January!)

At year’s end, when we send our annual appeal, many of you use the opportunity to remind us how important garden preservation is to you. Our bricks and mortar preservation at Blithewood Garden on the Bard College Campus has reached a major milestone with the completion of construction documents, thanks to the generosity of Conservancy board member Susan Zises Green and another anonymous gift.

Next season’s Open Days Directory is already off to the graphic designers, featuring even more gardens than this year! A Membership in the Garden Conservancy makes a perfect (and VERY low-carbon) gift!

Thank you for your support,

James Brayton Hall, President and CEO

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Courtnay S. Daniels Chair Robert M. Balentine Vice Chair Susan Payson Burke Secretary Sharon Pryce Treasurer James Brayton Hall President & Chief Executive Officer Benjamin F. Lenhardt, Jr. Chair Emeritus Mary Randolph Ballinger Shelley Belling Allison K. Bourke Camille Butrus Barbara Whitney Carr J. Barclay Collins II Kate Cordsen Elizabeth Everdell Alease Fisher Lionel Goldfrank III Cathy Barancik Graham Susan Zises Green Kaye Heafey

Suzanne Kayne Frederick A. Landman Elizabeth Locke Joseph Marek Jean-Paul Montupet Stephen Orr Ann Copeland Rose Katie Ridder Jorge A. Sánchez Christopher Spitzmiller Raun L. Thorp Marshall Watson Dana Westring

DIRECTORS EMERITI Linda Allard Douglas H. Banker Josephine B. Bush F. Colin Cabot Edward N. Dane Page Dickey Dorothy H. Gardner Dr. Richard W. Lighty Susan Lowry Joseph F. McCann

Chapin Nolen Barbara Paul Robinson Ann Copeland Rose Deborah Royce Susan Stone Nancy Thomas Dana Westring Louise Wrinkle

__________ The Garden Conservancy Post Office Box 608 Garrison, NY 10524 845.424.6500 info@gardenconservancy.org

The Garden Futures Summit Community Session Panel. Left to right: Session Chair Jennifer Jewell, Peter Lefkovits, Adam Greenspan, and Nicole Thomas.

Correction: Please note that the 2022 Annual Report omitted Keeyla Meadows as both a Regional Ambassador and Digging Deeper presenter. Our sincerest apologies for this omission.

Cover: The Gardens of Alcatraz overlooking San Francisco Bay. Photo: Caitlin Atkinson

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Open Days toll-free number 888.842.2442 gardenconservancy.org facebook.com/the.garden.conservancy instagram.com/thegardenconservancy #gardenconservancy #gcopendays

NEWS

December Marks the Final Days for the Celia Hegyi Matching Grant Challenge for Education The Garden Conservancy is seeking to raise $50,000 toward its matching challenge for educational programming from Celia Hegyi, a member of our Society of Fellows since 1997.

December 2023 marks the final days of the challenge.

This is Celia’s second matching challenge for the Conservancy’s education program, and we are honored by her commitment to expanding and strengthening our base of support. An early supporter of the Conservancy, Celia has been instrumental in our success. From supporting our first endowment campaign to recent educational programs, she has been by our side advocating for the importance of preserving and sharing gardens with the public. Inspired by gardens from an early age, Celia gardens at her homes in Southport, CT and Pebble Beach, CA. We are deeply grateful to Celia for her generosity and enthusiasm for our mission. Like so many of our friends and members, she has been delighted and inspired by the many important voices in the gardening world that the Conservancy brings to its constituents through both virtual and in-person programs. Celia described how these programs have encouraged her to explore her relationship to gardening more deeply.

To donate to this matching challenge, please visit the Garden Conservancy’s website, contact Bridget Connors at bconnors@gardenconservancy.org, or call 845.424.6500, ext. 228.

The Society of Fellows is a committed group of garden enthusiasts who support our mission at a higher level.

Members of the Society of Fellows are afforded all the benefits of a general Garden Conservancy membership program plus much more, including invitations to attend exclusive Garden Study Tours, as well as other special events that showcase gardens and landscapes in distinctive regions in the United States and abroad.

Participants learn from renowned horticulturists, designers, and historians, and enjoy gracious hosting in private homes and public institutions.

For information about joining the Society of Fellows, contact Bridget Connors at 845.424.6500.

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NEWS

‘Sissinghurst Through the Seasons’ Concludes Earlier this month, Troy Scott Smith wound up his final episode of “Sissinghurst Through the Seasons,” a landmark, year-long virtual series in four parts for the Garden Conservancy. The idea originated with his 2022 Spring National Speaking Tour, and the curiosity of his American audiences to learn more about Sissinghurst, the jewel box garden created by Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson in Kent, England, where Troy is head gardener.

The series interwove history and contemporary practice at Sissinghurst, offering viewers a deeper dive into the garden during each season of the year. For those who registered for the “annual pass,” all four episodes, Troy released a video diary before each episode. It’s not too late to watch! In January, you’ll be able to watch all the recordings by registering online or calling 845.424.6500.

Congratulations to our 2023 Garden Futures Grant Recipients

San Francisco Fall Show Luncheon

This year, the Garden Conservancy has awarded fifteen Garden Futures Grants for small public gardens and other nonprofit organizations, making a significant impact in their communities through garden-based programming.

This year we also welcome applications from organizations contributing to the study and preservation of garden history.

Neighborhood Gardens Trust of Philadelphia (Page Dickey Grant For American Gardens) Boise Vertical Farm, Boise, ID Brooklyn Queens Land Trust, Brooklyn, NY Bullington Gardens, Hendersonville, NC Chicago Community Gardeners Association, Chicago, IL Coggeshall Farm in partnership with Old Sturbridge Village, Bristol, RI Community Outreach Group for Landscape Design, North Falmouth, MA Cultivating Inclusion, Murrieta, CA Friends of Robinson Gardens, Beverly Hills, CA Gaining Ground, Concord, MA Heronswood Garden, Kingston, WA Hortus Arboretum, Stone Ridge, NY Hunger and Health Coalition, Boone, NC Longue Vue House and Gardens, New Orleans, LA Mezzacello Columbus, LLC, Columbus, OH

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Upper: Missy Fisher, Lucinda Lester, Charles Plante, and luncheon honoree Elizabeth Locke.

Lower left: Luncheon co-chairs Kaye Heafey and Elizabeth Everdell. Lower right: Diane Parish, Garden Conservancy President and CEO James Brayton Hall, and Paul Gelburd.

A wonderful afternoon was spent celebrating Garden Conservancy Luncheon honoree, Elizabeth Locke of Elizabeth Locke Jewels, at the San Francisco Fall Show on October 13, 2023. Supporters and friends were joined by Garden Conservancy President and CEO, James Brayton Hall, to recognize the continued cultural partnership between the Conservancy and the San Francisco Fall Show. The Luncheon was a success, raising funds to support the Garden Conservancy’s national garden preservation work and educational programs.

Welcome New Board Member Kaye Heafey Kaye Heafey founded Chalk Hill Clematis specialty cut flowery farm and nursery in 1995. It shipped clematis, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar nationally. CHC won numerous awards for quality. Several publications, including House & Garden, Garden Design, and Martha Stewart Living featured the company and property.

Kaye and Ron Morgan published their 2007 book, A Celebration of Clematis, to tell the story behind the creation of Chalk Hill Clematis and provide a useful clematis glossary with photos.

She has served as a trustee and board member for many nonprofit organizations in northern California, including the Oakland Museum, Quarry Hill Botanic Garden in Sonoma and the Garden Conservancy’s West Coast Council.

Heafey continues to experiment with her English-style garden at her Oakland home, where she and her husband, Richard, have lived since 1976.

In Memoriam: Ellen Hoverkamp Visual artist Ellen Hoverkamp passed away peacefully at her home in West Haven, CT on October 10, 2023. While she wasn’t a gardener, Hoverkamp’s scanner compositions revealed captivating images that immortalized the ephemeral beauty of nature. Her works, which she created by arranging botanical cuttings and natural objects on a large-format photographic scanner, graced both the front and back covers of the Garden Conservancy’s 2018 Annual Report.

Hoverkamp’s artwork has been exhibited in gardening publications, art museums, gallery shows, and private collections. She collaborated with author and photographer Ken Druse on two acclaimed gardening books, The Scentual Garden and Natural Companions. For her work on the latter, she earned a gold medal from the Garden Writers Association for garden photography in 2013.

Hoverkamp was born in Hartford, CT on May 23, 1955 and is survived by her husband of 35 years, Timothy King Jr.

In Memoriam: James Pettigrew James Pettigrew, long-time Open Days host and co-founder of the San Francisco-based Organic Mechanics, a garden design/build firm focused upon sustainable design and organic gardening practice, leaves behind a profound impact upon the Northern California Garden Conservancy community.

As a Garden Host since 2011 along with partner Steve Stout, Geary Street Gardens were perennially popular stop on San Francisco Open Days, featuring Organic Mechanics’ novel ways to incorporate

repurposed materials into the garden, creating one-of-a-kind gardens that provide refuge for both humans and fauna alike.

Eager to share their unique vision for gardens, James and Sean presented 2023’s Creative Repurposing in the Garden Digging Deeper which demonstrated how unconventional materials, including memorial stone, orphaned hardscape materials, and metal elements found their way into their home garden.

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Prison, Plants & Preservation: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Gardens of Alcatraz

By Johanna Silver Alcatraz, a forbidding island in San Francisco Bay, is known for its infamous past as a maximum-security prison, harsh conditions, tales of isolation, and notorious rogues’ gallery of inmates. But amidst the stark walls, a surprising element of beauty lives— its gardens.

The sheer existence of the Gardens of Alcatraz is a marvel. Once a barren rock, devoid of topsoil or plant life, employees of Alcatraz’s 19th-century Army post and later the families of the guards at the military prison, hauled soil in by ferry to create unlikely pockets of greenery.

“It’s a very human thing to garden and tend something,” says Shelagh Fritz, Senior Program Director at The Gold Gate National Parks Conservancy. “I always imagine people digging up their home gardens and taking them with them when they were assigned to live at Alcatraz.”

The gardens grew and evolved over time, as did the prison. When the military prison became a federal penitentiary in the mid-1930s, Bureau of Prisons staff were surprised to find lawns, flowering terraces, a rose garden, banks of colorful succulents, and residences with tidy cutting gardens surrounding them. The warden’s secretary, Fred Reichel, took over garden maintenance,

and introduced many then unknown Mediterranean species adapted to wind and drought.

In the 1940s and 50s, incarcerated people got in on the action, building terraces on a hillside to protect the slopes and creating planting beds. Their gardens were cottage style and free form, filled with flowers brought to them by seed.

The gardens were transformative for the incarcerated. For example, former inmate Elliot Michner served time between 1941 to 1952 and later wrote a children’s book about how gardening while incarcerated changed his life. As Fritz puts it, “We find therapy in the garden and it’s an activity anyone can enjoy.”

The penitentiary closed in 1963 and Native Americans occupied the island between 1969 and 1971, laying claim to it and other out-of-use federal lands.

In 1972, The Golden Gate National Recreation Area was established and placed Alcatraz under National Park Service management with increased public access.

And in 1986, Alcatraz received designation as a National Historic Landmark. And yet, the Gardens of Alcatraz, having gone untended for 40 years, fell into disrepair.

In 2003, a partnership between the

Shelagh Fritz aboard the all-terrain vehicle supplied by a Garden Conservancy grant.

Garden Conservancy, the National Park Service, and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy was formed to spark a revival. In 2004, the Garden Conservancy hired Carola Ashford to manage the restoration efforts. It also assisted with project management, research, planning, fundraising, administration of funding, maintenance, volunteer training, recruit-

Opposite page: Mid-autumn at Alcatraz. Above: The gardens provided a respite from Alcatraz’s isolation from the mainland. Photo: Caitlin Atkinson.

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ment, and public outreach. That year, the Fernleigh Foundation began its generous support to help spur the revitalization and for the next 10 years the Garden Conservancy led a comprehensive restoration of the Gardens of Alcatraz.

Fritz describes what they first found when restoration efforts began 2004: a mess of ivy, blackberry, honeysuckle, and perennial peas. Some of the original plantings had escaped cultivation—a wall of figs had taken over what had once been a lawn area.

Pamela Governale, Director of Preservation for the Garden Conservancy reflects on the milestone of Alcatraz’s 20th anniversary: “The revitalization of the Gardens of Alcatraz and the success of this 10-year partnership shows the importance of collaboration and community in the preservation. Preservation is slow and it can be expensive,” she said.

“Not only is Alcatraz an important and unique cultural landscape, but it also serves as a model for preserving sites in challenging environments. Collaboration is key to catalyzing such remarkable achievements,” Governale continued.

Volunteers, heroes of this restoration story, and have dedicated countless hours to clear overgrown areas, uncover original plantings, and nurture new life. Fritz succeeded Ashford as the Program Manager in 2009. She oversees a crew twice a week of dedicated folks who ride the ferry for a few hours of garden work.

Several of the volunteers are a part of the original group of five—all 20 years of the ongoing restoration.

One person is Barbara Howald, a

volunteer since 2008. She recalls those early days: “It was a lot of loppers, trying to clear out abandoned areas, all while trying to uncover and preserve anything that was original to the plantings—which totally happened. We would find a fig here, a fuchsia there, and all kinds of wonderful discoveries.”

Now, many years into Howland’s tenure as a volunteer, the work is more maintenance than clearing. Thanks to composting on site—also done by volunteers—the soil has gone from dust to quite rich, much better for gardening. She takes delight in connecting with visitors and staff. “There is always something to learn.”

The gardens have come a long way, winning prestigious awards in 2009 from The California Preservation Foundation.

The five distinct gardens, each with their own character and charm, are now one of the draws for visitors to the island.

There is a rose garden, replete with 10 different cultivars that have survived since the prison days. One, “Bardou Job,” was discovered behind a warden’s house in 1989; the crimson-black French climbing rose was thought to be all but extinct. Fritz and crew continue to propagate all of them.

There is the cellhouse slope planted by the military in the 1920s. When in bloom, you can see the Persian carpet (Drosanthemum floribundum) blooming from the Golden Gate Bridge. And last, there are the west side gardens, originally planted by incarcerated people.

Many plants survived from the original plantings. In 2005, The Garden Conservancy conducted an inventory and found over 200 plants still surviving. They

A flora-lined pathway overlooks Angel Island State Park to the north. Photo: Caitlin Atkinson

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include bearded iris, acanthus, fig, apple trees, artichoke, aloe, jade, aeonium, pelargonium, fuchsia, yucca, cordyline, daffodils, calla lilies, naked ladies, and echium.

Where figs escaped cultivation in a former lawn area, Fritz and crew have left them as they now provide habitat for birds, including snowy egrets, that would not otherwise be there if not for the habitat the figs provide.

The gardens always have something in bloom. In winter you can find vinca, calla lilies, ferns growing out of walls, South African bulbs, and scented bearded irises (“We have one that smells like bubblegum and another that smells like root beer,” says Fritz). In spring you will find daffodils, giant towers of echium, and roses following right behind.

In summer, perennials, including Shasta daisies, dianthus, penstemon, geraniums, and dahlias explode with color. In fall you will find many of those perennials still in bloom, along with lion’s tale, chrysanthemum, and rudbeckia.

Gardening conditions on the island are harsh. Fog comes and goes, the sun can be vicious, but it is the stiff winds that are uninterrupted. Yet water is Fritz’s biggest concern: “We have to stretch our water as far as we can,” she says. The garden is almost self-sufficient on rain thanks to rainwater catchments and three large cisterns. The backup supply is city water, barged in daily for other uses.

The project was such a success that in 2014, management of the Gardens of Alcatraz transitioned to local management under the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. The Conservancy’s relationship continues today as Gardens of Alcatraz leadership participate in our Virtual Preservation Roundtables that connect garden leaders and staff throughout the country to share resources, challenges and opportunities.

In 2021, the Conservancy awarded a Garden Futures Grant for the purchase of an all-terrain vehicle for the garden’s horticultural staff and volunteers and in 2022 funds from the Conservancy’s San Francisco Fall Show luncheon went to the Alcatraz’s “sister garden,” Black Point Historic Gardens.

“These gardens,” Governale says “are a symbol of resilience, highlighting the transformative power of nature and demonstrating how gardens can flourish even in the most inhospitable environments.

The Gardens of Alcatraz tell many stories, most importantly, the story of the enduring human spirit.”

The Garden Futures Summit Sows Seeds of Change Over 250 gardening enthusiasts from across the country attended the Conservancy’s Garden Futures Summit, a two-day event in New York City despite historic extreme weather on the Summit’s first day, September 29.

Prominent figures in gardening, including architects, landscape architects, horticulturists, and media personalities, gathered at the New York Botanical Garden. They delved into the extraordinary potential of gardens to enhance our physical, cultural, and emotional well-being.

The first day of the Summit revolved around three essential pillars: Environment, Community, and Culture.

Participants unveiled innovative projects and ideas that hold promise for a brighter future for our gardens, communities, and the world at large.

Day One culminated in an inspiring keynote address by renowned author and rewilding advocate Isabella Tree.

Her eco-conscious message resonated with the audience, reminding us to let nature guide us and allow habitats to evolve naturally. continued on page 10

Clockwise from upper left: Garden Conservancy President and CEO James Brayton Hall delivers the Summit’s opening remarks. Melissa Chiu, Director, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and Brent Leggs, Executive Director, African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and Senior Vice President, National Historic Trust.

Book of Wilding author Isabella Tree provided the keynote address for the Summit.

Isabella Tree’s U.S. Tour Plays to Packed Houses Isabella Tree’s advocacy for rewilding reached new heights with her U.S. speaking tour, promoting her book ‘The Book of Wilding’ co-written by her husband Sir Charlie Burrell. Her compelling narrative captivated audiences at four stops along the East Coast and in the Midwest.

Isabella’s rewilding journey serves as an inspiration to her audiences, demonstrating that even small-scale interventions can have a profound impact on the environment. Her message resonates with farmers, gardeners, and anyone passionate about restoring natural balance.

The National Speaking tour kicked off at the New York Botanical Garden at the end of September, where she was the keynote speaker at the Garden Futures Summit. She took the stage last— the grand finale—and everyone agreed; it was well worth the wait. Two days later, she was on an early morning Amtrak to Virginia for her next

engagement, presented in partnership with the Piedmont Environmental Council. This was a sophisticated crowd from a conservation standpoint, and book sales at the event broke a personal record for Isabella.

Next, she hit the Midwest, speaking at the Missouri Botanical Garden and then at the Field Museum in Chicago, her final stop. In both places, there was no shortage of fans waiting to get their books signed by Isabella. Midwesterners,

it seems, are easy converts to rewilding, perhaps because of the prairie aesthetic or perhaps because of the soil, which shares some of the same challenges with the soil at her and Burrell’s Knepp Estate in England.

During her tour, Tree showed to her audiences that no matter where you are or who you are, farmer or gardener, the concept of rewilding has something for everyone.

Isabella Tree’s lecture in Middleburg, VA.

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Garden Futures Summit continued from page 9

The second day of the Summit took attendees on a journey through seven dynamic public and private gardens in New York City, showcasing the evolving landscape of green spaces. These included the Landscape at the Brooklyn Museum, the Native Plant Garden at the New York Botanical Garden, Freshkills Park in Staten Island, Hudson Yards, private gardens on Madison Avenue and at VIA 77 West, and a sneak peek into plans for transforming Governors Island into a hub for climate science and sustainability.

The Summit fostered a vibrant exchange of ideas and nurtured connections and collaborations that will undoubtedly shape the future of gardening. It served as a testament to the transformative power of gardens and the dedication of passionate individuals who care for them. We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to have facilitated this gathering.

Hudson Yards project designer Stephen Eich led a tour of the wide variety of garden experiences at Hudson Yards in Manhattan.

“It turns out we not only showcased exciting projects, but convening the Summit meant catalyzing new ones. The positive impact of the Summit will be felt in all sorts of ways for years to come.”

—Horatio Joyce, Director of Public Programs & Education

We are deeply grateful to the following for their sponsorship of the Garden Futures Summit.

UNDERWRITER Phil and Shelley Belling Perfect Earth Project CHAMPION Elizabeth Locke PARTNER Howard Formby Garden Design, Inc., Eleanor Briggs, Marilyn Lummis

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FRIEND Anonymous, Mrs. Coleman P. Burke, Camille Butrus, Diane and Jim Connelly, The Enchanted Edible Forest at Cross Island Farms, Diana Elghanayan, Mrs. H. Clay Frick II, Elizabeth Giovine, Marsha L. Greenman, Michelle Griffith, Richard Motika and Jerrie Whitfield, Dr. and Mrs. Zebulon Taintor CULTURAL PARTNER Garden Club of America

The Rewilding of Knepp Estate: A Story of Hope and Renewal

By Johanna Silver For 23 years, journalist and author Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell have taken on the noble experiment of rewilding their 3,500-acre Knepp Estate in West Sussex, UK, an hour’s drive south from London. The land had long been a struggling arable and dairy farm. Isabella and Charlie gave farming a solid go, and “it took us 17 years to realize that we couldn’t make it in a global market,” she says, “We’re on heavy clay. Our soil was always against us.” After that, they did an about face, wondering if they could nurture the land beneath their feet rather than constantly fight against it.

“We realized we travel to the ends of the earth to see wildlife, and we never thought, ‘Why don’t we have it here?’” says Isabella.

They learned about the importance of free-roaming herds of grazing animals from ecologists at the forefront of rewilding in Europe. How large herbivores once shaped the landscape and sustained tremendous biodiversity before human impact: how their dung helps replenish soils, how they transport seeds in their gut, hooves and fur, how every disturbance—rootling, trampling, wallowing, breaking branches and debarking trees—creates opportunities for other life. Their efforts have paid off, thanks to the English Longhorn cattle (standing in for their ancestor the aurochs), Exmoor ponies (proxies for the tarpan, the extinct wild horse of Europe), Tamworth pigs (mimicking wild boar), and red, fallow and roe deer that now roam freely in their rewilding project.

A plethora of rare wildlife has returned, including nightingales, turtle doves, peregrine falcons, and large tortoiseshell butterflies— long thought to have been extinct in the UK. All the while, a 1.3-acre garden sat behind 19th century walls at the estate. They kept it in the most traditional, manicured way, replete with a pool garden and a rarely used croquet lawn. “We mowed the lawn constantly, and of course it needed all the inputs—fertilizers and herbicides—that it takes to keep a lawn like that looking like center court at Wimbledon,” says Isabella.

One evening during lockdown, Isabella and Charlie sat in the garden, thinking that it didn’t mesh with the rest of their rewilding goals. Bombarded with questions from the public on how to rewild on a smaller scale, the two wondered if they could tackle this smaller garden as a model for others.

Thus began their next experiment— rewilding the Walled Garden. Instead of

Photo: Matt Ellery, Creative Commons

introducing herds of animals, they sought to think like the animals instead. Step one?

They dumped 400 tons of crushed brick and concrete from building projects on the estate onto the croquet lawn. The surface mimics the humps and hollows in nature such as ant mounds, molehills and the wallows of large herbivores. And the slopes provide different aspects, moisture levels and microclimates to encourage different communities of plants. Mowed paths were switched to Breedon gravel plugged with creeping thyme, oregano, and chamomile. “We call them our dirty paths,” says Isabella. “You get this wonderful scent just walking by them. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do this.”

Isabella and Charlie are not native plant

purists. Instead, 940 species of dry-adapted plants from every region of the world are in the mix, proving that ‘xeric’ gardens can be flower-filled and breathtakingly beautiful. Isabella believes vehemently that, ‘with the planet on fire’, we should not be creating spaces that need supplemental water. Above all, the mosaic of different habitats now in the garden is rocket-fuel for insects and birds.

“Nature can bounce back if you let it,” Isabella says, “And that’s the most joyful message of all. Nature has the solutions to catastrophic biodiversity loss and climate change. If you’re looking after your soil, you’re also sequestering carbon. Every garden counts.”

Isabella Tree to Present “The Book of Wilding,” the Virtual Version of Her National Speaking Tour Isabella Tree, the star of this year’s Garden Futures Summit and the Garden Conservancy’s National Speaking Tour, take her show on the road again on January 25, 2024, at 2 p.m. ET, although this time it will be a virtual speaking engagement.

Tickets are $5 for Garden Conservancy members; $15 for non-members.

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2023 Open Days by the Numbers... and Counting for 2024!

The 2023 Open Days season was an unmitigated success, marked by continued growth in perennially favorite areas, and the return of the program to several states after an absence.

This year, we shared and celebrated America’s gardens and diverse gardening traditions with: 286 Open Days 271 Gardens 80 New Gardens 18 States 39 Digging Deepers 31,146 tickets sold We currently have: 268 Open Days 228 gardens confirmed 70 New gardens 18 states to look forward to for 2024!

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“What a poetic thing this land was… Curious tan-gold foothills rise from tattooed sand-stretches to join slopes spotted as the leopard skin with grease-bush.

This foreground spreads to distances so vast—human scale is utterly lost.”

—Frank Lloyd Wright on seeing the Southern California landscape in 1914-1915 Hollyhock House in Los Angeles

Frank Lloyd Wright Garden Symposium: His Southern California Legacy

By Janet Parks The Garden Conservancy’s Frank Lloyd Wright Garden Symposium will be held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles on April 13, 2024. Janet Parks, one of the symposium’s co-organizers, reflects on the significance of this largely unexplored yet fascinating subject.

Writing some twenty years after he first encountered the Southern California landscape, Frank Lloyd Wright recalled the vivid impression it made on him. He noted the paradox of “Yankee-fied houses” with green patches of lawn and the rain that comes like “a deluge once a year to surprise the roofs, sweep the sands into ripples and roll boulders along the gashes, washes combed by sudden streams in the desert.

Then—all sunbaked as before.” This inaugural visit, in 1914, initiated a new chapter of Wright’s career in which he embraced the Mediterranean climate of Southern California and the surrounding deserts of the American Southwest and experimented with new forms of architecture and landscape that responded to their arid environments.

One of his crowning achievements is his design for Hollyhock House (1916-21) in Los Angeles, now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Wright’s emphasis on landscape is remarkable. If one accounts for all the patios, garden courts, the exedra, and the proposed roof gardens in its design, the amount of outdoor space at Hollyhock would have been five times the amount of usable indoor space, resulting in a structure

that was “half house and half garden” as its client, Aline Barnsdall, described it.

In its focus on landscape and the environment, Wright relied extensively on his son Lloyd Wright, a gifted landscape designer who had been working in California with the Olmsted Brothers for several years prior to the Barnsdall commission. Having worked in Southern California, Lloyd understood the climate of Los Angeles. He was knowledgeable about drought-resistant plants and had experience with landscape design specificities of the region, especially hydrology and the complexity of working under the jurisdiction of a water irrigation district. Many landscape features proposed in the planting plans and the numerous water features at Hollyhock House were likely due to Lloyd’s involvement.

Many of these elements were unrealized in the final design for Hollyhock House, but Wright’s newfound sensitivity to the Southern California climate played out across his many other commissions in the region. These include built works such La Miniatura (1923-24) in Pasadena; the Samuel Freeman House (1923-25); John Storer House (1923-24); the Charles Ennis House (1923-26)—all in Hollywood—as well as unbuilt projects, such as Little Dipper (1923), a kindergarten and playhouse for Aline Barnsdall; Doheny Ranch Resort (1923) in Beverly Hills; the A.M. Johnson Desert Compound and Shrine (1922-25) in Death Valley; and the San Marcos-in-the-Desert Hotel (1928-29) in

Chandler, Arizona—all of which employed the creative application of concrete, terracing and outdoor spaces, water features, drought resistant plantings, and more.

Perhaps no architect has been more written about than Frank Lloyd Wright, but his designs for gardens remain little studied or understood, despite how important landscape and nature were to his thinking. Likewise, Lloyd Wright remains underappreciated, including his synergy with his father. This conference will feature Hollyhock House, as well as other Wright projects in the region, examining how he and other architects responded to the California climate and landscape, and how his work might invite us to think about contemporary issues of the 21st century.

How are modern landscape and garden designers facing current issues of drought, large-scale fires, rising sea levels and temperatures, and more? What if Wright were designing today?

Janet Parks is the retired curator of the Avery Library’s Drawings and Archives at Columbia University, and a board member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. She is a co-organizer of the Garden Conservancy’s Frank Lloyd Wright Garden Symposium, along with Horatio Joyce, Director of Public Programs and Education; Jeffrey Herr, Curator Emeritus, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House; and Jennifer Gray, Director of the Taliesin Institute, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

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Preservation, Sustainability, and Collaboration: Insights from Trailblazing Gardens in Texas and California This year’s American Public Gardens Association conference in Fort Worth, TX brought together two of the country’s most significant dry gardens, The John Fairey Garden (TJFG) in Hempstead, TX and The Ruth Bancroft Garden (RBG) in Walnut Creek, CA. Walking amongst the renowned collection of over 3,000 plants at TJFG, Executive Director, Randy Twaddle and Alice Kitajima, Program Director at RBG and Cricket Riley, Nursery and Design Director at RBG, connected on their similar garden missions. Their meeting highlighted the essence of preservation—preserving not just plants but stories, histories, and connections. It underscored the importance of collaboration, resilience, and the exchange of knowledge in the face of climate change.

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to explore their common ground and share with you their preservation ethos.

The Ruth Bancroft Garden inspired the founding of the Garden Conservancy and is recognized as one of the nation’s finest examples of a dry garden featuring a variety of extraordinary succulents and cacti. This is where the Conservancy pioneered the use of a conservation easement on a garden, and we have provided preservation technical assistance and support since the early 90s.

The John Fairey Garden in Hempstead, TX brings together rare, drought-tolerant plants native to the southern United States and their Asian and Mexican counterparts.

The Conservancy has provided preservation guidance and support to the JFG since 1997 and accepted a conservation easement on the property in 2016.

GC: Both the Ruth Bancroft Garden and the John Fairey Garden pioneered sustainable gardening practices before this approach entered conventional thinking, including introducing drought-tolerant plant species into garden design.

RBG: [In terms of] sustainable practices, Ruth started planting water conserving plants in the 1950s—impacted by [local] water restrictions, which influenced her plant palette and garden design. She implemented low-water gardening techniques and was a visionary in trialing and incorporating plants typically not showcased in suburban gardens.

Sustainability is very much in the forefront of our mind when talking about the climate resiliency of the Garden’s plant collection. We are currently exploring a shift in our narrative about the collection as we look at the effects of climate change in a holistic way; it is no longer just about

The Ruth Bancroft Garden Photo: Marion Brenner

“drought tolerance.” Temperature extremes, atmospheric rivers, residual smoke and low air quality from nearby mega-fires are the new norms that we must consider when planning the future of this Garden.

TJFG: We share with the Ruth Bancroft Garden a history of employing sustainable practices before they were thought of as such. Like Ruth, John Fairey wild-collected and introduced many drought-tolerant plants into horticulture that had not been widely used. Many of the locations where John and his partner, Carl Schoenfeld, collected are less accessible but we are continuing this legacy by actively and sustainably collecting drought-tolerant plants in the Trans Pecos region of Texas where the Chihuahua desert extends from northeastern Mexico.

We, too, face temperature extremes.

In a twenty-four-hour span last winter, the temperature went from 60 degrees to below freezing, and [we regularly experience] intensifying heavy rain events. We are focusing more on water sustainability and are currently fundraising to undertake a water use study to show us how to achieve net zero water usage in the Garden.

GC: Thanks to a plant exchange between Ruth Bancroft and John Fairey, these gardens possess a small but significant fingerprint of the other. Ruth Bancroft was the source for several plants at the John Fairey Garden, specifically, Agave lophantha, Dyckia brevifolia, Aechmea recurvata var. ortgiesii. An Agave ferdinandi-regis x A. scabra was also given to the John Fairey Garden, which ultimately died.

14 I The Garden Conservancy News I December 2023

RBG Curator Brian Kemble shared that in 2004, the Ruth Bancroft Garden held an Agave summit as part of their public programming. Among the participants were Carl Schoenfeld and Wade Roitsch, both hailing from the distinguished mail-order Yucca Do Nursery, which John Fairey established at his garden.

RBG: This was RBG’s first contact with Yucca Do Nursery but sharing a strong mutual interest in Agave led to years of plant and seed exchanges between RBG and TJFG. One of the plants RBG got from Fairey’s Yucca Do nursery was × Mangave ‘Macho Mocha’, which was the very first Mangave to be named and distributed in the horticultural world. The Ruth Bancroft Garden also has many other Yucca Do introductions, including Nolina hibernica (which was referred to at the time as Nolina ‘La Siberica’ because it had not yet been described and named) and numerous Agave cultivars such as Agave ‘Mr. Ripple’ and Agave gentryi ‘Jaws’.

GC: Community plays an essential role in the preservation process and lies at the core of the Conservancy’s preservation philosophy. We believe in the importance of collaboration to achieve shared goals, promote innovation, and foster connections for those united in the “why” of gardens. The Ruth Bancroft Garden and the John Fairey Garden participate in the Garden Conservancy’s Virtual Preservation Round Tables and past symposia that do just that.

Both gardens employ a broad range of programming to connect with the public and enrich their communities by

making things like climate resiliency and sustainability issues tangible and relatable.

TJFG: This fall, we co-hosted a symposium with the Rice School of Architecture, “Garden Ecologies: Frameworks and Practices of Environmental Transformation and Care.” The symposium provided a critical perspective on gardens, as a medium for engaging issues of climate change, environmental transformation, and ecological relationships and entanglements.

RBG: We established a Dry Garden Design certificate program focused on crafting gardens using plant selections suited to the local climate. Other initiatives immerse students into the Garden’s plant collection and showcase home gardens that have lawn-to-garden designs and low-water plants.

The Garden Conservancy’s role in ensuring the continuance of outstanding American gardens is widely recognized, but less obvious is the network of relationships that has been built up through these efforts.

The importance of this botanical crossfertilization cannot be overstated.

We can all do better work if we are able to occasionally get together and swap notes.

It was really nice talking to a garden of a similar size. Also, climate change affects everyone, and we all need to be talking about climate resiliency.

TJFG: There are two key takeaways from our getting together: one is for people who work in gardens to talk to each other, make connections, share ideas, and be encouraging. Secondly, there is so much value in visiting other gardens

The John Fairey Garden Photo: Marion Brenner

and observing and talking to staff.

The meeting between The John Fairey Garden and The Ruth Bancroft Garden highlights the inherent and dynamic relationship between preservation, sustainability, and resilience. The mindset that guided the methods and plant selections of each creator is an integral part of their historical design intent, embodying the intangible heritage of each garden, deserving of preservation.

Their plant exchange represents the cultural history of both gardens and affords a deeper level of appreciation for the gardens’ designers and historic plant collections.

and interpret our collective heritage.

We look forward to continuing to foster and facilitate a collaborative spirit and networking opportunities to bring together public gardens across the country.

The Conservancy’s preservation work assists cultural landscapes to communicate the significance of their history and creators, conserve critical collections,

Thank you to Brian Kemble, Curator at the Ruth Bancroft Garden for providing additional historic information.

Preservation is a way to manage change.

Traditionally, this means saving the built environment from the effects of time, use, and neglect. Managing change in a garden requires preservationists to guide the site’s evolution, safeguard its history, collections, and its very authenticity.

Blithewood Garden: Charting Progress in Preservation The Garden Conservancy and Bard College have reached an exciting milestone in the rehabilitation of Blithewood Garden on the Bard College campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Architects of Jan Hird Pokorny Associates are on the cusp of completing the intricate construction drawings, a pivotal step in this preservation story.

On the ground, architects and engineers reviewed historical records, conducted ground-penetrating radar scans, evaluated the drainage system, and completed visual assessments. This process refines rehabilitation methods for preserving the existing historic hardscape and will produce construction drawings, with materials recommendations, and a phasing plan.

The rehabilitation of Blithewood Garden is a collaborative effort between Bard College and the Garden Conservancy.

Rehabilitation ensures Blithewood’s historic use as a pleasure garden, preserving it through suitable repairs using original or similar materials. Blithewood still appears as it did during its height of significance during the Gilded Age. This

is a testament to its integrity and authenticity! As part of our commitment to preserving significant gardens like Blithewood and promoting their educational and cultural values, the Conservancy gifted Bard College $93,000 to fund the construction drawings.

This fall, we provided a series of historic and horticultural tours of the site, and we will welcome visitors back to Blithewood next spring with more programs that celebrate preservation.

The Garden Conservancy News I December 2023 I 15

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Your giftee will receive a greeting card announcing the gift membership that can be mailed to you or them — your choice. This year’s card (right) features the Japanese Garden at Lotusland, which celebrated its 30th Anniversary as a public garden in 2023. Photo: Kim Baile