Content
Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, his partner, did not plan to have a structure in Central Park. Structures were to be subservient to nature but they modified their original plan and built a terrace, the central staircase that lead to the park’s only fountain, and a lake beyond. Jacob Wrey Mould was an assistant […]
“No great city can long exist without great suburbs,” said Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., the designer of Sudbrook Park, a suburb of Baltimore County, MD. The 204 acre estate of James Howard McHenry was one of three still surviving residential designs of Olmsted Sr.’s, including Riverside in Chicago, IL and Druid Hill in Atlanta, GA. […]
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN ANNOUNCES ‘TREEMENDOUS’ PLANS FOR 2011 Activities and Events during U.N. International Year of Forests Celebrate the Importance of Trees (ST. LOUIS): The Missouri Botanical Garden is celebrating the United Nations (U.N.) International Year of Forests in 2011 with a TREEmendous!year of activities highlighting the real value of trees and the critical role they play […]
Join Us for Lilies & Leaves A rare evening to celebrate the Dunn Gardens Seattle Golf Club Thursday, September 30, 6-8pm Enjoy Steve Lorton, legendary raconteur Susan Robinson, jazz singer extraordinaire Photographs by Douglas Houck Appetizers and Wine Come maintain historic beauty in a lovely way EVENT CO-CHAIRS Gayle Harris & George Vestal SUGGESTED DONATIONS […]
“Greenscapes Olmsted’s Pacific Northwest” written by Joan Hockaday charts the history of Discovery Park located on the western shores of Seattle, Washington. In 1900 the U.S. Army built Fort Lawton on its 600 acres. The City of Seattle was in negotiations with the Army from the start to incorporate the landscape architect, Olmsted’s plan for […]
The Kubota Garden, a public five acre garden in a suburb of Seattle, Washington, was originally a family business begun in 1927 by a Japanese immigrant, Fujitaro Kubota. Self-taught as a gardener, Kubota also designed the Japanese Garden in the Seattle Arboretum near the University of Washington and the Japanese Garden at Bloedel Reserve on […]
Arthur Dunn commissioned the Olmsted Brothers, a landscape architectural firm from Brookline, Massachusetts, to design the gardens of his summer retreat in the Seattle suburbs in 1915. The Olmsted firm was famous for their designs of Central Park in New York, the Biltmore in North Carolina, and Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The hallmarks of […]
Many may know that two years ago, Little and Lewis sold their garden of eighteen years and moved next door to begin anew. Like the former property, the new garden sits on about a third of an acre in a residential neighborhood, and is once again an exotic oasis surrounded by tall fir trees. The […]
We lunched at Bainbridge Nurseries founded by Junkoh Harui and his wife Christine. Next stop was a bamboo garden. What an experience. You don’t see bamboo much on the East Coast, but the two months of sun and 10 months of rain in the Northwest are a perfect clime to grow the 25 varied types […]
I met a woman on my trip to Seattle. She gave me pause. She was getting a divorce and would have to leave her garden behind. A met another woman with years more experience. She likewise said that eventually she would have to leave her garden. These images evoked feelings of sadness in me. What […]
The Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island (35 minutes by ferry from Seattle) is a lovely garden to inspire water colorists. Painters wait for the “sun breaks” when the sun dries out the swathe of grey. The water and light inspire. Here the Poulsbo Parks and Recreation artists enjoy the afternoon, painting the Bloedel Japanese Garden, […]
The pathways of Bloedel Reserve lead the visitor first through a meadow, then a forest, from forest to a marsh. As you approach the grand home, the gardens are manicured, moss, Japanese, reflection pool, rhododendron garden and a bluff walk overlooking Port Madison Bay near Agate Point on Bainbridge Island, a 35 minute ferry ride […]
