• Gaiety Hollow: Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver

Lord & Schryver Conservancy blog

~ A personal look at the ideas, inspiration, and hard work that go into the Lord & Schryver gardens.

Lord & Schryver Conservancy blog

Monthly Archives: December 2020

Curating the Collection

21 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by Lord & Schryver Conservancy in Uncategorized

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Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another. John Muir

Those of us who attended Keith Park’s presentation on Preserving the John Muir Sequoia experienced an insightful treatment of preservation horticulture in the real world. I was fortunate to have already learned of this preservation project at a National Park Service workshop at Fort Vancouver, WA last year. That workshop encouraged me to take a closer look at the Lord & Schryver plant collection that I oversee as the Garden Manager |Curator.

Much behind the scenes work goes into collecting, curating, and preserving the amazing collection of plants at Gaiety Hollow. Visitors to the garden have most likely noticed small metal tags hanging from the woody plant material. These tags hold accession numbers linked to a database that records the key characteristics of each plant, including the era in which they were introduced to the garden.

  • H prior to the number signifies Historic Era, a specimen that Edith and Elizabeth planted in the home garden.
  • C prior to the number signifies Conservancy Era, like this Sasanqua Camellia that was recently replanted to recreate the espalier on the front of the house.
  • S prior to the number signifies Strand Era, when the Strand family owned the home.

Plants age, become diseased, and sometimes simply up and die without any reason or warning. Maintaining detailed records helps curators track plant growth and anticipate future problems. Taking cuttings is a popular propagation method, however, caution is required as one can potentially clone the same pathogen that caused the specimen’s demise. Propagation by seeds is another avenue, although genetic variability may be an issue.

  • The Holly leaf Osmanthus at the end of the West Allee was purchased by Edith and Elizabeth in 1954.
  • Volunteers collected seed pods last summer.

The Osmanthus heterophyllus acc# H0076 at the end of the West Allee is a good example of the Conservancy’s work in preservation horticulture. Billing records show that Edith and Elizabeth purchased an Osmanthus illicifolius (heterophyllus) in 1954. This is likely the same plant that is currently suffering at the end of the West Allee. It has tip dieback, yellowing foliage, and is struggling to find it’s place under the now much larger Osmanthus fragrans and the ever growing Holly Hedge. Fortunately, it put out a great crop of seeds this past summer so we have other options than cloning.

  • The seeds pods were dried and cleaned, with half readied for sowing and the other half for saving.

One benefit of collecting seeds is that if handled right, many species can be stored for long periods of time. Seed banks have been created that specialize in this sort of preservation. Seeds must be kept cool and dry to maintain viability for long periods of time. Saving seeds is a key aspect of preservation horticulture that gardeners can practice themselves. The Rae Selling Berry Botanic Garden is a famous example of a private estate garden turned botanic treasure. It eventually morphed into the Seed Banking program at Portland State University to preserve rare native plant seeds.

Whether it be sticking cuttings, making layers, or collecting and sowing seeds, preserving Gaiety Hollow’s plant collection is ongoing work as plants age, or new pests and diseases threaten the collection.

Mark

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Holiday Cheer

15 Tuesday Dec 2020

Posted by Lord & Schryver Conservancy in Uncategorized

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Making a holiday sign for the front gate at Gaiety Hollow has put me in the holiday spirit! If you haven’t seen it yet, we hope that our sign brings you some joy this holiday season.

The idea originated when Pam said she wished we had a front sign, so people knew where Gaiety Hollow was located. That wish, together with a piece of luan plywood from my home shop and several rainy weekends, resulted in a lighted holiday sign! I have always been enamored by old world craftmanship but sadly, the days of hand painted signs are long gone in this age of vinyl, plastic, and 3D printers. There is much exquisite craftmanship in the fence work and brick work at Gaiety Hollow… a vinyl banner simply wouldn’t do!

The sign has received many compliments and it seems to fit in well with the house and garden.

Just a quick bit about the construction. I had some thin scrap plywood laying around my home shop that I thought would fit the gate perfectly. Chet Zenone helped me cut dado joints from some scrap cedar left over from the Reserve Garden fence project. We used that to frame and reinforce the sign, and also protect the end grain. The hand lettering was the tricky part, but also proved to be a welcome chore to distract an often- overthinking mind on a rainy socially distanced weekend. I had clearly forgotten how therapeutic painting can be when it’s more than just rolling Strand Green on 5oo pieces of lathe!

  • Over 400 holes were drilled for the lightbulbs.
  • A paper sign was made and the letters cut out with an exacto knife.
  • I could have been a slave to the age-old sign making trade if I was born a 100 years ago.
  • The hand lettering was the trickiest part. I have done inlay work in custom guitars. Painting to the hand cut lines was a similar action and muscle memory is real!
The Susan Napack-designed font perfectly captures the essence of Gaiety Hollow.

Drilling out the 400 plus holes for the lights was a bit of a chore, but the design allows the sign to look good both day and night. KC Meaders provided some custom metal brackets from his blacksmith shop so the sign can be easily mounted on the existing gate and taken down without any tools.

Like so many Conservancy projects this was a labor of love, made totally of donated goods and with help from volunteers. In this time of giving and as we wrap up the year, it is important to recognize how much love and energy has poured into this garden for the past 90 years. I think back on how much work it must have been for those carpenters who built the original fences, pergolas, and gates for Elizabeth and Edith. When I think of them nailing together all that lathe with a hammer and tacks, I thank the heavens I was born into the age of air compressors and nail guns! But I will always appreciate the look of something handcrafted.

I hope you appreciate our handcrafted sign as it hangs from the gate for the holiday season. We at the Lord & Schryver Conservancy wish you joy and cheer and a soon to be Happy New Year!

Mark

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Fungi in the Garden

07 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by Lord & Schryver Conservancy in Uncategorized

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“Nature alone is antique and the oldest art a mushroom.” – Thomas Carlyle

I’m dedicating this blog post to the fungi in the garden as ’tis the season where the fungi are perhaps the most interesting thing blooming. I recently took a photographic journey around the Gaiety Hollow and Deepwood gardens. LSC volunteer gardener, Jay Raney, contributed some wonderful photographs of mushrooms at Bush’s Pasture Park.

  • Fungi in the lawn at Deepwood
  • The famed fly agaric
  • Fungi at Bush’s Pasture Park
  • Amanita muscaria
  • Perhaps a yellow stagshorn fungus, Calocera viscosa?
So many interesting things to find on winter walk in the woods!

I wish I knew how to identify more mushrooms as they are a great food source if you know which varieties are edible! Mushrooms provide Vitamin D which is beneficial for the immune system and mental health.

  • Agaricus xanthodermus is a common find in the Gaiety Hollow garden.
  • Armillaria or honey fungus are not a welcome site as they can be a deadly pathogen to trees.
  • Agaricus xanthodermus in Gaiety Hollow’s Evergreen Garden, a good thing that indicates a healthy soil biota.
  • A. xanthodermus produces massive fruiting bodies that are unfortunately inedible.
  • Armillaria growing on a stump.

Research shows that many mushrooms have medicinal properties. Oregon recently approved research into Psilocybine mushrooms for treating depression and other disorders. If you haven’t seen the documentary Fantastic Fungi, I strongly recommend it. It includes fascinating information from Paul Stamets, the legendary mushroom guru, as well as incredible nature art.

A big thanks to Diana Reeck, a local member of the Mushroom Society who visited Gaiety Hollow this fall. Diana helped me identify some of the mushrooms we have growing in the garden.

  • If you’ve never had licorice fern root, it’s an interesting experience. The Native Kalapuya people used it as a sweetener and to me it’s almost as sweet as saccharin.
  • Boletes can be identified by the presence of pores instead of gills on the underside of the cap.

This time of year it’s exciting to see a new mushroom popping up in the garden. It reminds us that even though many plants have gone dormant for the winter, so much life is still happening beneath the soil.

Happy Holidays,

Mark

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