Leaflet
A MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY PUBLICATION
TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Leaflet, September 2021
4 Upcoming at MHS 6 Thanks to Neal and Betty Sanders 7 Honorary Medals, 2021 Honorees 8 The Evolution of a Garden By Joann Vieira 11 Preserving Unique Plants By Warren Leach 14 My Introduction to Bressingham Garden By Tom Birmingham 20 From the Stacks By Maureen T. O’Brien, Library Manager 21 Tom Stuart-Smith: Drawn from the Land by Tim Richardson Reviewed by Patrice Todisco
LEAFLET
SEPTEMBER 2021 Of every plant, there’s the part which grounds, roots, maintains and the part which blooms, trails, and grows toward the sun. The roots that establish and ground a plant must be maintained and nurtured. The importance of preserving this foundation, the history of the plant, becomes more important each year as the plant we see above the surface wishes to grow. And while the flowers and foliage of many plants die back each year, the roots must remain steadfast to prepare the plant for a bountiful growing season the following year. Sometimes, the only way for a plant—or truly anything—to grow is the preservation of what already exists.
Similarly, the publication you’re reading now embodies this dichotomy of preservation and change. Over the years, Leaflet has undergone changes in format, medium, and content. It emerged as a print magazine, then was resurrected as a monthly e-newsletter, and is shifting to the online magazine you see now. Leaflet, its contributors, and its readers have prioritized the preservation of horticultural knowledge and embraced the change that comes with time.
In this issue specifically, MHS recognizes the importance of preserving knowledge and history, while simultaneously embracing change. We are especially excited to share this month’s issue of Leaflet with you, which values the preservation of knowledge, landscapes, and communities as we continue to grow together. As you read on, we hope you appreciate as much as we do the circumstances that encourage growth and the people who embrace it.
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Upcoming at MHS
Events
Music in the Garden We only have a couple of concerts left for the summer! Bring a blanket or chair, bring food, and enjoy great shows with friends: Jennifer Caraluzzi with BOC September 15, 6pm Wellesley Symphony Orchestra September 23, 5pm
Seeing the Invisible Opening THIS MONTH, Seeing the Invisible is an unprecedented new global exhibition bringing the digital experience into the physical world. This international collaboration features work by over a dozen leading artists from across the globe. Stay tuned and sign up for updates!
Classes and Workshops
Introduction to Propagation (Virtual) September 21, 7-8:30pm Fall Guided Garden Tour September 22, 12-1pm October 6, 12-1pm
Fall Ikebana Course (Six-week course) October 5-November 9, Tuesday evenings, 6-8:30pm A Piet Oudolf Story (Virtual) October 7, 6:30-7:30pm
Create Dried Flower Arrangements October 16, 10am-12pm October 21, 7-9pm Macro/Close Up Photography October 16, 2-3pm
Planting Workshop: Indoor Bulbs for Winter October 27, 12-1:30pm Flower House Detroit (Virtual) October 27, 7-8:30pm
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Festival of Trees We are still accepting tree donations for our 2021 Festival of Trees. If you or your organization wish to sponsor or donate a tree, please complete this form and email it to festivaloftrees@masshort.org. DONATE A TREE
Youth Programs Join Melissa Pace, our Garden Educator, to learn all abou gardening, plants, and animals! Garden Tails Mondays and Wednesdays 11am
Family Fun in the Gardens Saturdays 10am-1pm
Green Partner Spotlight This month we are highlighting North Country Landscapes and Northeast Nursery, Inc. Don’t forget to flash your memberhsip card for a 10% discount with any of our Green Partners.
Ribbit the Exhibit is staying a bit longer! Edward, Cora, Jeeves, and all their friends in Ribbit the Exhibit didn’t want to leave us so soon. Luckily, they’re going to be staying around a little bit longer. Come by to see them if you haven’t already, or come see them again, before they leave on September 27.
We would like to thank CBIZ, Inc. for sponsoring Floyd & Grace, who can be found by the Maple Grove garden. 5
Thanks to Neal and Betty Sanders You may be disappointed that this issue of Leaflet does not, for the first time in more than a decade, include the customary articles authored by Neal and Betty Sanders. They will be stepping back, hopefully to continue passing along their information (and Neal’s humor), for the enjoyment of MHS members going forward, in a different format.
Starting in January 2009, the “Sanders team” successfully resurrected the then-moribund quarterly Leaflet magazine as a monthly e-newsletter. Through a series of changes and modifications, the two of them have generously assisted with editing the Leaflet and provided hundreds of evocative articles to enrich members’ gardening experiences, provide helpful hints and tickle our “funny bones” with humorous wisdom about the gardening experience. Please join us in expressing our thanks to Neal and Betty for all they’ve contributed over so many years for the benefit of MHS members and readers of Leaflet!
Wayne Mezitt Leaflet Editor
Annual Fund Please make a contribution to our Annual Fund and help the gardens and our community grow. Thank you!
DONATE
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Massachusetts Horticultural Society 119th Honorary Medals Dinner Thursday, November 4, 6:30pm
Massachusetts Horticultural Society Hunnewell Building 900 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA
Proceeds from this special event benefit excellence in horticulture at Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
The Board of Trustees of Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MHS) has announced its 2020-21 Honorary Medals recipients. They will be celebrated at the Honorary Medals Dinner at The Gardens at Elm Bank. The MHS Honorary Awards program continues a 119-year tradition of awarding medals to individuals and organizations for their contributions to excellence in horticulture for the public good. The 119th Honorary Medals Dinner will be held on November 4, 2021.
Robert A. Bartlett Jr., Chairman and CEO of Bartlett Tree Experts, will be receiving the George Robert White Medal of Honor. The George Robert White Medal of Honor was established in 1909 and is among the most distinguished horticultural awards in the United States. The first honoree was Charles Sprague Sargent, Director of the Arnold Arboretum. Other recipients include Gertrude Jekyll, Jens Jensen, The Royal Horticultural Society, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Tasha Tudor. Joining these distinguished honorees, Bartlett represents the third generation of the F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Company, the world’s leading scientific tree and shrub care company. Since its founding in 1907, the company has protected the healthy, beauty, and value of trees—one of Earth’s most important natural resources. Steve Castorani and Mark Sellew, co-owners of American Beauties Native Plants, will be jointly awarded the Thomas Roland Medal for their leadership in developing, selecting, propagating, and marketing numerous superior cultivars and establishing nationally recognized brands. The Thomas Roland Medal is awarded for exceptional skill in horticulture and lectures. Thomas G. Ranney, JC Raulston Distinguished Professor at North Carolina State University, in recognition of his research programs, will receive the Jackson Dawson Memorial Medal which recognizes exceptional skill in the science or practice of hybridization or propagation of ornamental plants.
Gold Medals for eminent horticultural accomplishments or for outstanding service to MHS will be awarded to William (Ned) Friedman, Director of Arnold Arboretum; Katherine K. Macdonald, former President and Executive Director, MHS; and John Cronin, Penni Jenkins, and Heidi Kost-Gross, Volunteers, MHS.
Michael Dosmann, Arnold Arboretum, Keeper of the Living Collections, will receive a Silver Medal for his noteworthy service in horticulture. MHS Volunteers Sarah Cummer, Kathi Gariepy, and Rosalind Hunnewell will also receive silver medals. Read more about each awardee and their recognition.. Tickets for the event including dinner and drinks are $150 each. For event information, please call Elaine Lawrence, Director of Development, 617-933-4945 or visit our website. Please reserve by October 10, 2021.
RESERVE YOUR TICKETS 7
The Evolution of a Garden: The Importance of Maintaining and Preserving Plant Records By Joann Vieira
T
he most compelling gardens are often made so by a combination of stunning design, a strong sense of place, a unique combination of structures and vistas, and a framework of plants that bring everchanging elements throughout the year and over time. Inevitably, each is more interesting when the stories surrounding its evolution, it’s people and designers, and histories of the plants themselves are brought to life. Preserving these stories, passing them from one generation to the next, or one owner to the next, may not seem important to the average person as they toil to form their gardens, yet those records might someday hold the key to a deeper understanding of horticultural traditions and impacts in the region and provide context for research and restorations. Many of us can relate to examples on a personal level as we pass along plants with stories and sources from our own gardens. Whenever I share divisions of certain Epimediums I share that they originated with ‘The Epimedium Queen,’, Karen Perkins, or if I pass along a division of our native ginger (Asarum canadense) I happily share that all of those in my garden are the offspring of one received when I was a wee intern at Garden in the Woods. After more than a quarter century in
my current garden the details of provenance and the dates of acquisition for many plants has faded. Looking back through my plant records brings a flood of memories of friends and colleagues, specialty nurseries that have come and gone, and failed plant trials long forgotten.
Many of us have also benefitted from the preservation of records and stories as we enjoy public
gardens and learn about their histories and plant collections. Here in Massachusetts, avid gardeners like Mabel Choate at Naumkeag; Eleanor Cabot Bradley Cabot at Cherry Hill in Canton (now the Eleanor Cabot Bradley Estate); Mabel and Marjorie Sedgwick at Long Hill in Beverly; or Helen and John Coolidge at Ashdale Farm in North Andover (now Stevens 8
Coolidge House and Garden) kept daily dairies and wrote letters to friends and colleagues as a routine part of life. In them they recorded social events, travels, a glimpse of political and social conditions, the transactions of daily life and the pleasures of their pastimes including designing and enhancing their homes and gardens. The notes about their gardens were sometimes incidental to other events— – the visits from friends and family, trips abroad—, but provide an important picture of the changes within each garden and the forces that influenced them. Household records ranging from contracts to invoices and receipts help piece together the evolution of a garden, the specifics about plants including their origins, and the popular trends of the day. These, coupled with photographs, sometimes donated by families and friends, help us see the change over time and provide us with rich trove of materials for deeper investigations and scholarly study. The Trustees, now the steward of these and other notable gardens across Massachusetts, are fortunate to hold many of these documents at a state-of-the-art Archive and Research Center in Sharon, MA. Other organizations like the Massachusetts and Worcester County Horticultural Societies kept annual transactions— -
recording details like entries at flower shows— - which now shed light on varieties and cultivars popular throughout their histories. Cultivars of apples, for example, can be traced back to their first introduction through these shows. Today, these rich resources help those stewarding historic landscapes and significant plant collections make informed decision about change, cultivar preservation, and interpretation. At The Trustees, the rich archive of historic material associated
with their eleven public gardens, has yielded historic plans which have informed garden restorations like those at Stevens Coolidge House and Gardens (SCHG). Here, Joseph Everett Chandler, a noted colonial revival architect, completed alterations to the main house and branched out into the surrounding landscape making suggestions for alterations to the Perennial Garden, and designing the Rose and French Gardens. Plans for the French Garden at SCHG, complete with Chandler’s thoughts on seasonal plantings,
Marjorie Sedgwick’s Tree Peony Journal (The Trustees, Archive and Research Center, Sharon, MA)
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were invaluable to volunteers and staff in restoring the garden in 1999 after it had been simplified in the 1970’s. On this same site, the Louisa Bancroft Stevens’ plans for the perennial garden designed for Gertrude Kunhardt in 1907 were used to restore the bed’s proportions and inform plant choices when this garden was renovated in 2013. Today Trustees staff are sorting through historic photographs, diary entries, plant invoices, and receipts from the Coolidge’s, as well as the handwritten plant lists of The Trustees stewards who rejuvenated the Rose Garden plantings periodically between 1990 and 2018. These records will help us make informed choices on the collection in the 1920’s Rose Garden, which won a silver medal from MHS in 1935.
At Long Hill in Beverly, Living Collections Fellow Robin Karoway-Waterhouse has mined both historic records in the archive; and contemporary plant records kept by staff horticulturist, Dan Bouchard to give us an accurate picture of the existing living collection on this historic site. From these records we know that the allee of crabapples along the entry drive came as a bundle of seedlings from Karl Sax’s breeding program at the Arnold Arboretum and were added by Marjorie after 1939. We know that the massive Copper Beech outside the front door of the main house was planted in 1917 before the house was constructed. We can see that Marjorie moved the beautiful tree peony ‘Tama Fuyo’ (see photos) which still exists in the garden
The Perennial Garden, Stevens Coolidge House and Garden, North Andover.
today, from one location to another in 1948, again in 1969, and to its current spot in the fall of 1972. We also know that a rare cultivar of Higan cherry (Prunus X subhirtella ‘Fukubana’) still exists in the garden and is a priority for propagation and preservation. These documents help us not only tell wonderful stories which bring the gardens to life and inspire awe but help us set management priorities and make thoughtful decisions on additions and alterations to the landscape. Together the plants in these gardens, and other public gardens in the region, create a resource brimming with learning opportunities. The records surrounding them document
rare cultivars, help tell the story of plant introductions and horticultural experimentation and have the capacity to help us understand the impact of climate and site conditions on plants across the region. Preserving these records is one of the hallmarks that defines a public garden, and is a gift we give to future generations. Most public gardens use a modern, digital collections management system, such as BG-Base or Iris-BG, or one specifically designed for the organization, as a sort of modern-day, in-depth garden journal to record the specifics of a collection and allow for sharing information across institutions with relative ease. Historic documents and photographs from the past can be scanned and
preserved in electronic format and attached to accession records in the collection management system, keeping as much information as possible in this single location. So, as you shape a your personal landscape,, whether with a fashionable designer or doing it yourself, make note of the process, hold on to those receipts, take plentiful photographs and preserve the evolution. Who knows, this documentation may simply serve as a joyful reminder to you as the garden evolves— – or it might be the key that unlocks an important story in the future!
Joann Vieira is the statewide Director of Horticulture for The Trustees, the nation’s first, and the Commonwealth’s largest conservation and preservation non-profit.
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Preserving Unique and Historical Plants By Warren Leach
T
o “preserve” prompts a variety of definitions, situations and stories. It is the act of saving, maintaining or to make lasting, and can apply to tangible objects as well as physical practices. Over my years as a horticulturist I have passionately preserved the arcane skill of hand digging trees and continue to teach others this ability. The horticultural craft of digging and fashioning organic shaped root balls, sheathing them in burlap and drum-lacing them in a geometric pattern of sisal rope, was taught to me over forty years ago by a venerable Connecticut nurseryman, Ludwig Hoffman.
Being a horticultural artisan and hands-on garden designer, toiling in the raw elements of the environment and landscape inspires me to embrace the joy of work and also brings to mind the 19th century philosopher and critic John Ruskin. Ruskin railed against the debasement industrialization wrought on artisanship. The Arts and Crafts movement arose as an opposing tenet to mass-mechanization. It also is associated with a garden style that is identified with the works and writings of Gertrude Jekyll and William Robinson. This naturalistic trend still expresses an influence on the design and planting of contemporary gardens. The art of hand-digging and transplanting trees goes hand in hand with another unique legacy
of gardening: finding plants and preserving them through horticulture. John Bartram’s discovery of Franklinia alatamaha is a stellar example. Franklinia alatamaha grows as a single-trunk tree with a rounded crown or as a multi-stemmed large shrub and is hardy in Zone 5. It blooms in early September with Camellia-like, cup-shaped, white flowers with a boss of egg-yolk yellow stamens. The glossy dark green leaves turn shades of orange and red often accompany the fall flowers.
fully grown from that seed collected in 1773, for by the early 1800’s Franklinia alatamaha was extinct in the wild. It has only been perpetuated in cultivation for two hundred and forty eight years from the tree in John Bartram’s Philadelphia garden.
“Sargent’s weeping hemlock (Tsuga canadensis ‘Sargentii’) is one of the world’s greatest dwarf conifer cultivars in terms of its beauty, longevity, and stability,” claims Horticulturist Peter Del Tredici in “Closing the Book on Sargent’s Weeping Hemlock” (Arnoldia, Volume 78, Issue 2, November 29, 2020). Del Tredici writes:
“Sometime in the 1850s, “an old farmer,” Jefferson Horton, discovered a wild weeping hemlock growing on his property in Hortontown (Hopewell Junction), New York. […] Sometime prior to 1861, John Burrow learned about Horton’s weeping hemlock and obtained a layer, which he planted on his own property on Honness Mountain in Fishkill. Around Franklinia alatamaha the same time, Henry Winthrop In 1765 John Bartram was the Sargent also learned about the Royal Botanist in North America weeping hemlock and obtained for King George III. That year he a layer of it from either John and his son William discovered Burrow or Jefferson Horton. […] Franklinia growing along the J. R. Trumpy of Parsons & Sons banks of the Altamaha River in Nursery visited Fishkill in 1861 southeastern Georgia. Eight years looking for propagation material. later William Bartram returned After Burrow refused to sell him to the site and collected seed his tree, Trumpy visited Sarwhich he brought back to his gent who gave him some scions, father’s garden in Philadelphia. and he grafted these when he Fortunately a tree was successreturned to Flushing. At some 11
Tsuga canadensis ‘Sargentii’
point, Sargent obtained at least three additional weeping hemlock layers from either his own tree or from Horton’s tree. He planted one of them at General Joseph Howland’s estate, Tioronda, in Matteawan, New York; gave a second to his cousin C. S. Sargent, who planted it on his estate, Holm Lea, in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1871; and gave the third to his kinsman Horatio Hollis Hunnewell of Wellesley, Massachusetts.” Preserved from the wild, the green weeping cascade of Sargent’s weeping hemlock continues to grace many contemporary gardens.
Picea glauca ‘Conica’
The dwarf Alberta spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’) is perhaps the most ubiquitous dwarf conifer found in gardens. Arnold Arboretum’s Alfred Rehder and J.G. Jack found the original plant in 1904, growing in the wild in the mountains above Lake Laggan, Alberta, Canada. They were botanizing while waiting for a train. The story of discovering unique forms of plants is not limited to history books. Many years ago a striking fastigiated form Eastern red cedar, Juniperus virginiana caught the keen eye of Horticulturist Mike Connor. It is still growing along Rt. 104 in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
Juniperus virginiana on Rt 104 in Bridgewater, MA
As Superintendent of Horticulture for the City of Boston’s Parks Department in the 1970’s Mike Connor’s horticultural career was instru12
mental in preserving Boston’s Public Garden, the first public botanical garden in America. Its plants and statuary evoke its Victorian heritage. Mike and his staff meticulously grew standard forms of Lantana, Heliotrope and Fuchsia in glass greenhouses. This green and flowering oasis was in the heart of the city and a Boston icon. Mike instituted a key public survey whose instructive results sparked the genesis for forming the Friends of the Public Garden, one of the oldest parks advocacy groups in the nation. About fifteen years ago, well after retirement, Mike mounted a step ladder on the bed of his pickup truck to obtain cuttings of that fastigiated Junipier virginiana. He successfully rooted several cuttings. Red cedar is dioecious, and this tree is a female, sporting beautiful blue berry-like cones. Juniperus virginiana ‘Taylor’ is a columnar form introduced by the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, however it is a male clone and lacks the beauty of the blue cones.
Nursery spades in hand, my horticultural crew and I recently dug one of Mike’s fourteen foot tall trees. We prepared a three foot diameter root ball and transplanted it to a garden at Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth. We will propagate this beautiful narrow form of red cedar so future gardeners can add Juniperus virginiana ‘Mike Connor’ to grace their landscape.
Top: Digging Juniperus v. ‘Mike Connor’ Bottom from Left to Right: Digging Juniperus v. ‘Mike Connor’; Mike Connor and Warren Leach; Mike Connor with Juniperus virginiana ‘Mike Connor’
Warren Leach is a Horticulturist, Garden Designer, Nurseryman, Teacher and Lecturer with his wife, Horticulturist Debi Hogan they operate Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth, MA. The nursery contains and preserves the largest collection of Hemerocallis in the Northeast. Tranquil Lake Nursery has permanently preserved its twenty acres of land through APR.
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My Introduction to Bressingham Garden By Tom Birmingham
A New Fan Please forgive me. Like my purple fall Aster ageratoides ‘Ezo Muraski’ and the golden seed heads of my giant Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’, I was late to arrive. In this case, I was very late - 14 years - to a very important “garden party.”
The party was held on August 5, 2007, at The Gardens at Elm Bank, home to Massachusetts Horticulture Society (MHS). The special guest of honor was the distinguished English plantsman, horticulturist, and author, Adrian Bloom. The event was, shall we say, more involved than stomping divots at a polo match. It included 150+ volunteers armed with shovels, rakes, and wheelbarrows, who dug and hauled tons of dirt to reshape the former tennis courts of the Cheney-Baltzells’ 1907 neo-Georgian manor house. The result – a new work of immersive art known as the Bressingham Garden. Personally, I would never dare invite a small battalion of “armed” friends and neighbors to my house in the searing August heat to install 8,000+ perennials, 100+ trees, and 300+ shrubs. It just would not go over well – I’d have to supply too much beer and wine, and too little work would get done. However, in the case of the inaugural Bressingham Garden party, the guests really gave it their all, and built the foundation to something that would continue to amaze visitors for years to come.
Cheney-Baltzells’ Historic Tennis Courts & Mansion Circa 1920s In the foreground of this photo looking northeast are the historic tennis courts from the Cheney-Baltzell Mansion, which is seen in the background. Bressingham Garden is now where these tennis courts used to be located. Photo Courtesy of MHS Archives.
So, while I’m very sad to have missed this auspicious kick-off event, I was very fortunate this past July 2021, to finally visit The Gardens at Elm Bank, tour Bressingham Garden, and be initiated into the Adrian Bloom Fan Club. Better late than never, right?
And, oh, what a moment I had that overcast day visiting Bressingham Garden for the first time. Like a good party, all my senses tingled with excitement. Call it “love at first sight,” I just knew that this was the garden for me – good thing my wife is not the jealous type. Scanning across the 45,000 square feet of winding paths and the six densely planted garden beds, my eyes were flooded with a riot of reds and purples, greens and whites, blues, and yellows. My ears were filled with the chorus of songbirds and the wind rustling through the Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ grasses and leaves of the Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’. My nose was engulfed with the luscious smell of Monarda ‘Raspberry Wine’ and Lavendula angustifolia ‘Blue Cushion’.
And sure enough, as I would later find out, that is exactly what Adrian was trying to do – reel in more fans with his intoxicating displays of colors, shapes, sizes, sounds, and smells, the combinations of which he has honed over his now 50+ years in the business.
Cheney-Baltzells’ Estate Circa 1920s This aerial shot of the Cheney-Baltzell estate is looking west and provides another view of the historic tennis courts (highlighted with the arrow). Photo Courtesy of MHS Archives.
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Left: Bressingham Garden Build Day – 2007 This photo looking south is taken from the top floor of the CheneyBaltzell Mansion and shows the new Bressingham Garden under construction. Photo Courtesy of MHS Archives.
Bottom: Bressingham Garden & Cheney-Baltzells’ Estate - 2014 This aerial photo looking east shows the Cheney-Baltzell Mansion on the right and most of the Bressingham Garden on the left. Note how much the garden has filled in over the seven years since it was built. Photo Courtesy of MHS Archives.
Bressingham & Bloom Upon returning home that afternoon, I felt like jumping into my wet suit, waxing up my board, and hitting the surf hard, which would be great if I were a surfer. But I’m not, I’m a self-proclaimed amateur landscape artist who paints with plants and sculpts with stone. So, instead of tasting the salty water and kicking through the kelp, I jumped on the internet and surfed the web for all things Bressingham & Bloom.
At first, I was looking for more of the backstory – who was Adrian Bloom, when was Bressingham Garden built, was there a plant list available, and could I get my hands on the plans? And then I wanted to unpack my emotional reaction to this garden, and better understand why I felt so alive within his design. Later, I began thinking about who takes care of the garden, and whether there was a long-term plan to preserve it. Paddling through the e-waves, I quickly discovered that there are two Bressingham Gardens – V.1 at Foggy Bottom in Norfolk, England, and V.2 at The Gardens at Elm Bank. Both gardens incorporate a similar design aesthetic, including the use of an open flat field where multiple undulating garden beds are woven together using an emerald array of cut grass. This technique serves to both connect the entire space and preserve some expansive vistas, while also creating some intimate nooks and crannies to explore. At The Gardens at Elm Bank, each of the six beds (A – F) hosts a carefully curated collection of plant species organized by theme to help gardeners visualize how certain plants compliment and contrast one another. For example, Bed A empha-
sizes woodland plants and conifers, while Bed B focuses on shrubs, Bed C on native plants, Bed D on shrubs, Bed E on conifers and heathers, and Bed F on bamboo and other Japanese plants. Many of my favorite kingdom – the versatile conifer, are included throughout, such as the weeping spruce, Picea abies ‘Pendula’.
The e-currents also brought me to several book titles written by Adrian Bloom, including Gardening with Conifers and Bloom’s Best Perennials and Grasses. With so much else to read, I popped those in the shopping cart for later, and kept surfing. Finally, I beached myself on the MHS Library site, where I found a reference to the Bressingham Garden in the Plans, Blueprints and Drawings index. So, I took a screenshot and sent it along with an email to their library staff, who quickly responded and invited me to review their files in person.
Encore at The Gardens at Elm Bank Housed in the Education Building, the MHS Library is a “Jewelus bibliotheca.” It is the oldest horticultural library in the United States, and houses over 20,000 volumes related to early agriculture, horticulture and landscape design, rare books, and seed
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to the years it took Piet Oudolf to design New York City’s elevated High Line garden, and the detailed blueprints I have seen at Fairsted, the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline. Nevertheless, I was able to find some interesting email correspondence, plant lists, and garden plans. Most intriguing to me was the original “Build Day Proposal” outlining the educational intent, objective, project budget, on-going maintenance budget, endowment costs, and MHS’s responsibilities and next steps. The educational intent of Bressingham Garden is as follows:
“(To) educate visitors on plant form, size, utilization, and maintenance, to make informed decisions on choosing the right plant for the right place.” Based on my personal experience, including some sleuthing and help from the library – I’d say, “mission accomplished.” I was now more educated on the plants used at Bressingham Garden, how different combinations work, and had a better understanding of what it takes to make a durable garden.
However, no matter how much research I did, I still did not find the answer to my more ethereal question - why did I experience such a visceral reaction Bottom: Bressingham Garden V.2 Plan – Bed E upon seeing Bressingham Garden V.2 for the first This photo shows one of the six beds for the new Bressingham Garden as drafted in 2007, including certain plant names and locations. Photo Courtesy of time? So, I took a different tact and went within. Top: Bressingham Garden V.2 Plan – Overview This photo shows an overview of all six beds of the new Bressingham Garden as drafted in 2007. Photo Courtesy of MHS Archives.
MHS Archives.
and nursery catalogs.
Upon my return, I was warmly greeted by the Library Manager, Maureen O’Brien, who provided me with several hanging folders filled with their collection of Bressingham Garden records, and a few of Adrian’s books.
Thumbing through these primary and secondary sources, it became evident that this project came together quickly (under a year to plan and several days to execute), and was loosely structured (e.g., the design-related documents were all hand-written and filled with notes often indicating intent rather than final plantings). This was in comparison
The Bloom Look Over the years, my wife and I have been fortunate to visit numerous beautiful historical sites and gardens, including Newgrange, a 5,200 year old passage tomb located in Ireland’s Boyne Valley, and Rokuon-ji, the “Temple of the Golden Pavilion” in Kyoto, Japan. We most recently visited Beatrix Farrand’s refurbished “telescoping” garden at Bellefield, located adjacent to the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, a National Historic Site in Hyde Park, NY.
I have also read my share of inspirational science, nature and “mystery of life” books, including John Muir’s glacial masterpiece, Travels in Alaska, the German forester Peter Wohlleben’s incredibly insightful book, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They
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Fell, How They Communicate, and Justin Martin’s historical biography, Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted. There have even been numerous classes on Tai Chi, Qui Gong, and acupressure, which all address the universal flow of energy as well as numerous blog posts by the literary savant, Maria Popova. She writes piercingly insightful articles on many topics, including the importance of gardening to our health and wellbeing, including The Healing Power of Gardens: Oliver Sacks on the Psychological and Physiological Consolations of Nature and Gardening and the Secret of Happiness. And finally, there is my own garden, lovingly con-
So, like a promising swell, I jumped on the next wave of emotion, and then it hit me. I had been inspired by the “Bloom look” years before. It was the cover shot from the January-February 1997 issue of Fine Gardening magazine that first grabbed me. The caption reads: “Compose with Conifers for Year-Round Beauty.” I was captivated by the meandering fall garden filled with Thuja occidentalis ‘Sudworthii’, Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Gracilis’, Juniperus scopulorium ‘Moonglow’ all surrounded by golden grasses and red sedum, framed with large boulders and a manicured lawn. It was then, in 1997, that I knew my “tools needed sharpening” if I were to really become a serious landscape artist. Since then, living on what my
Clockwise: Composing with Conifers, Photo from the cover of Fine Gardening,” January–February 1997, Vol. No. 53. Accompanying article, “Composing with Conifers,” written by Nancy Britz, pp. 22-28. Bellefield Garden, Hyde Park, NY Photo by Tom Birmingham, 2021; Birmingham & Killeen Garden Photo by Tom Birmingham, 2021
structed over the past 26 years, which I affectionately describe as my “church, gym and couch.” Nestled among several towering white oaks, our 1905 farmhouse sits on a ½ acre suburban lot located in Canton, about 20 miles southwest of Boston. This is where I nourish my soul, rejuvenate my body, and clear my mind.
wife affectionately (I think) describes as the border between enthusiasm and obsession, our property now hosts over 100 different species of conifers and several hundred species of deciduous trees, ornamental grasses, and perennials. I have also either built or had built over 1000’ of stone walls and walkways.
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In the end I realized what really took my breath away that July day at The Gardens at Elm Bank was a culmination of things that took years in the making. It was all the toiling with the trowel, the calloused knees, and the dirty fingernails. It was the honing of an acute attention to detail and a deep sense of place. It was all the visits to other gardens and all the words of wisdom. It was the pulsating endorphins rushing through my body. And it was finally being physically immersed in my idealized sense of beauty. Like a surfer catching that perfect wave, I felt the awe of being one with the beauty of nature even if it was manmade.
removed (Photo 3). So, will Bressingham Garden V.2 make it to 50 or even 100 years old? If so, what will it look like then? Will diseases like the Dutch Elm Disease that so dramatically affected Elm Bank in the 1950s and 60s ravage the property (think the current hem-
Life After Bloom As part of my “Life After Bloom” (i.e., 2021 and beyond), I have been wondering about the value and importance of retaining the special nature of Bressingham Garden at The Gardens at Elm Bank. As fans of Beatrix Farrand know, she made her gut wrenching decision to dismantle her beloved home and research center, Reef Point, on Mount Desert Island in ME, after she could no longer sustain this property to her exacting standards.
Mr. Bloom, himself, points out in his book, Gardening with Conifers, the care and attention necessary to maintain a certain look and standard, especially with conifers. Unfortunately, I have learned the hard way that certain plants really want to grow on a given property while others naturally fade away (or get consumed by deer, rodents and disease). This sometimes requires thinning and removal and replanting over time regardless of how much thought you put into the original planning and design.
To help illustrate this point in this book, Mr. Bloom shares photos and text showing Foggy Bottom between 1967 – 2017, often from the same vantage point. I found this “time-elapsed photography” fascinating because it shows just how much gardens change and what plants needed pruning and cutting over time. Photo 1, below, was from 1985, and features a 10-year-old garden. The dark green Chamaecyparus lawsonia ‘Little Spire’ (C) is the focus here. By 1992, this tree begins to grow beyond the scale of the garden (Photo 2), and by 2014 needed to be
From top to bottom: Photo 1 – Bressingham Garden V.1 – 1985 Photo from Adrian Bloom, Gardening with Conifers, 2nd Edition, 2017, p. 30. Photo 2 – Bressingham Garden V.1 – 1992 Photo from Adrian Bloom, Gardening with Conifers, 2nd Edition, 2017, p. 30. Photo 3 – Bressingham Garden V.1 – 2014 Photo from Adrian Bloom, Gardening with Conifers, 2nd Edition, 2017, p. 31.
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lock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) disease)? Will climate change impact what grows in New England much less Wellesley, Massachusetts?
In 2014, Bressingham Garden V.2 already received a facelift when Adrian returned to dedicate a lovely Acer griseum in memory of his late wife, Rosemary. At the ceremony, Adrian encouraged the audience to recommit themselves to the garden’s upkeep and introduced the endowment program that Mass Hort had just launched.
including the character-defining features of the landscape (i.e., topography, vegetation, circulation, water features, structures, site furnishings, and objects).
For example, the section entitled “Vegetation,” raises the question of whether the plants at Bressingham Garden V.2 “…(D)erive their significance from historical associations, horticultural or genetic value, or aesthetic or functional qualities.” It also recognizes that “(T) he treatment of cultural landscapes must recognize the continual process of germination, growth, seasonal change, aging, decay, and death of plants.” Based on my experience and research, the significance of Bressingham Garden V.2 is its aesthetic qualities – how the combination of these plants can evoke such a strong Bressingham Garden V.2 & Cheney-Baltzells Mansion 2014 emotional reacIn the foreground of this photo looking northwest is the maturing Bressingham Garden with the Cheney-Baltzell Mansion in the background. Photo Courtesy of MHS Archives. tion.
I expect, like so many other historic properties and cultural landscapes have been through over the years, there will be lots of discussion about the ‘four treatments’: how to preserve, rehabilitate, restore and/ or reconstruct Bressingham Garden V.2. And at that time, what will be important for the then-caretakers to know? Will they need to identify exactly what plants were in which gardens and why? Will they want to recreate the garden plant-for-plant, or will they be satisfied with a facsimile if it emotes the same feelings I felt when I first stepped onto the grounds?
To help plan for the future, the Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes illustrate how to apply the National Park Service’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. This document addresses, among other things, how to apply the four treatments noted above to cultural landscapes,
Regardless of the answers to these questions, I believe that in addition to the wonderful care this garden has received over the past 14 years, it would be beneficial for future generations to better capture both the planting details and intended significance and meaning of this special place before memories fade or are otherwise lost.
Tom has spent his professional career in the energy and utility industries focused on mastering the art and science of corporate governance, risk and compliance (GRC). He recently retired from his position as V.P. of Corporate Compliance, and is currently focused on helping transition these industries to lower carbon energy alternatives. During 2021, Tom also helped to stand-up the Canton Farmers Market and hosted the Canton Garden Club tour at his home.
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From the Stacks
By Maureen T. O’Brien, Library Manager
Clothes form the intellect of the dandy.
Featured Collection ― Marshall Pinckney Wilder There is a lot of work going on in the Library, both with our Collections and our space. Recently the grounds and building staff cleaned and painted the space where we store the portraits and sculptures from Hort Hall in Boston. While emptying the space in preparation for its cleaning, we found an unidentified photograph of three happy men, whom we affectionately dubbed “The Three Stooges.” It is clear that they posed for the picture. They were all well-dressed and all have the same medal on their chests. The gentleman in the middle has his arms around his pals, thus explaining the disarray and ill-fitting appearance of his clothing.
the Society’s 1887 Transactions, beginning here. Wilder was a businessman, hybridizer of both flowers and fruits, a lecturer and author who traveled extensively. He was instrumental in establishing Massachusetts Agricultural College, now part of the University of Massachusetts, MIT, and many important agricultural organizations. In addition, Wilder served in
Josh Billings (1818-1885)
appeared in several films and in 1904 embarked on a round the world tour. He did all of this while coping with dwarfism and kyphosis with dignity. In the Windows – Books by Marshall Pickney Wilder and Books for Sale
Our Collections are Growing… Thank you to Penni Jenkins for her donation in kind. Come Visit…
The Library is open on Thursdays, from 9 am to 1 pm. We are also open by appointment (email: mobrien@masshort.org) and by chance.
Photograph of Marshall Pinckney Wilder Thanks to the sharp eyes with our two mystery men. of retired Society Librarian Maureen Horn, the center fellow having a bad hair day was the Massachusetts legislature, identified as Marshall Pinckney eventually becoming Senate Wilder (1798-1886.) So far, we President. have been unable to identify the other two men in the photograph. Research often leads one astray. Help us solve the mystery! If you Wilder’s grandnephew and have any ideas, let us know by namesake, is the more famous emailing mobrien@masshort.org. Wilder (1859-1915.) His papers are maintained by the Library of Wilder was the President of the Congress. This Marshall Pinckney Society from 1841-1848. He was Wilder was a popular American a busy man and obviously wellactor, monologist, humorist and liked and respected, as evidenced sketch artist. He was a favorite by the nine pages of tributes in of the British Royal Family,
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Thank you to all who donated books for the ongoing book sale in the Library. We encourage you to visit the Library to browse our treasures and add to your own horticulture library. A previously used and loved horticultural book, is an environmentally friendly and pennywise gift for your gift giving needs.
We are partnering with the Natick Public Library with a Little Free Library right outside the Education Building’s front door. You will find a variety of free books to take home, including horticultural magazines and pamphlets.
Tom Stuart-Smith: Drawn from the Land by Tim Richardson
Reviewed by Patrice Todisco
B
identifiably English. He has not, as friend and collaborator Piet Oudolf notes in the foreword, lost what he grew up with. A great plantsman as well as a great garden-maker and designer, Stuart-Smith has stayed true to his own style and understanding of landscape, informed by the woods and gardens of Serge Hill House.
Book Cover courtesy of Thames & Hudson 320 pp., Thames & Hudson, $75.00
alancing simplicity and complexity and the modern with the romantic, English landscape architect and garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith’s landscapes are tone poems that set a scene full of imaginative possibilities. “The experience of the garden is the sum of the emotions you feel while going around the place…” he writes, “…not an individual view.” His work integrates history, science, psychology, ecology and creative design to create garden spaces that forge connections between people and place. The result is transformational. Tom Stuart-Smith: Drawn from the Land is the first major overview of his career. Written by internationally respected
landscape critic Tim Richardson, it profiles twenty-four of his projects from around the world. These are accompanied by a series of essays, including two by Stuart-Smith detailing his influences, methodology, and insights on garden design. An illustrated career-timeline of Stuart-Smith’s work begins in 1986 with his own garden, The Barn, at Serge Hill in Herefordshire. Stuart-Smith grew up here, and it is a fitting start to his story. While he has designed gardens, parks and landscapes throughout the world for influential and affluent clients (including the Royal Horticultural Society, the Royal Academy of Arts and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II), Stuart-Smith’s work is still 21
Texture and form are more important than flower color, and he favors plants with ‘real backbone and distinctive color’ in repeated groups to create a ‘rhythmic simplicity’ that reinforces a feeling of continuity as one moves from space to space. Influenced by the European naturalistic planting designs of the 1990s, StuartSmith’s exuberant large-scale designs use mainly herbaceous perennials in rhythmic swatches or drifts. These can be used to represent deeper themes, such as at the 19th century Italianate parterre at Trentham, in Staffordshire, where a web of tall grasses replicates the form of nearby River Trent and its tributaries, stretching over the garden like a net.
Stuart-Smith’s work is grounded in ecological principles and he integrates natural forms frequently in his planting designs. The cell patterns of leaves found around the proposed garden at Broughton Grange in north Oxfordshire became the hedge layout of the parterre. At Cogshall Grange in Cheshire, an arrangement of boxed
The Barn © Andrew Lawson
hedges, running through lines of plantings, is organized according to a fingerprint pattern. These patterns provide a sense of being, balancing non-directional space with a composed and static sense of repose. Like a patchwork quilt composed of different fabrics, plants are organized by their own rules regardless of intention.
Trentham, Staffordshire, UK © Allan Pollok-Morris Mist rises from the lake in the distance, with clipped Portuguese laurels in Versailles tubs flanking the central path.
feels as if they are joining StuartSmith in his journey of discovery, where the idea of the garden has a parallel imaginary life that can be explored, reflected on and slowly discovered. On a practical note, be prepared to have either a planting guide or computer close by, as both the Latin and common names of plants are used extensively in the text.
management rather than an active design intervention resulting in a human signature,” it is the only project that he has not made a bird’s-eye drawing of, as he and his client are not certain what it will look like in the future.
This is a compelling book that offers unique observations into planting and landscape design. Included within are large and expensive gardens designed for wealthy clients and Stuart-Smith acknowledges that it may be a stretch to draw parallels from these to the more modest plots many of us enjoy. Fortunately, the content within Drawn from the Land provides universal insights on garden-making that transcend scale and size, affirming what Stuart-Smith hopes is his greatest contribution to the discipline, to “emphasize the sense of focus in a place, and to find a language of design, that gives meaning and feeling of a garden being rooted in its physical and historical context.”
At the beginning of every project Stuart-Smith makes a Stuart-Smith is increasingly large-scale pencil drawing of interested in creating gardens the entire scheme set, when that can be managed rather appropriate, within the wider than gardened and Drawn from landscape. These are completed the Land concludes with La before any work is done on site Granja Alnardo on the southern and speak to his training in slopes of the valley of the Ribera the natural sciences, empirical del Duero in central Spain. approach, and close observation Described as “horticultural of the natural world. Drawings experimentation and habitat are an important part of his work, and these are featured in Drawn from the Land along with 275 illustrations including spectacular full-color photographs of each project profiled. Richardson and Stuart-Smith are generous and articulate guides. Descriptions of Broughton Grange Oxfordshire, UK © James Kerr individual gardens draw The lower terrace, with miscanthus in the forethe reader’s imagination ground and the trees of the wider garden beyond. into each space, and one
Patrice Todisco writes about parks and gardens at the award-winning blog, Landscape Notes.
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