Our 2nd annual garden tour will take place next week-end, June 5 & 6 in Salem’s beautiful Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District. This year’s self-guided tour, an annual fundraiser for the Lord & Schryver Conservancy, includes 8 unique home gardens all within walking distance. Below is a sneak peek at some of the gardens included.

The ticket price is just $20 per person, and free under age 16. Click here to purchase tickets. Farm fresh boxed lunches featuring health savories, sweets and beverage, generously supplied by Minto Growers, may be ordered ahead for $15.00. Parking is available on street, and in Court Street Church parking lot (except 10-1pm Sunday.)

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Historically Important Neighborhood

The Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District is the major intact remnant of Salem’s original central residential area. The district covers 40 acres and includes nearly 100 buildings and structures listed on the National Register of Historical Places. Many of the homes were occupied by prominent people of local historical significance. Lord & Schryver were well connected thoroughout Salem and knew several of these residents. Records show that in 1930, Nora Anderson, Salem’s “Cultural Entrepreneur,” hired Lord & Schryver to design the Entry Garden for her Colonial home on Court Street. The Anderson Garden is one of eight gardens on the tour!

Lord & Schryver Design Guidelines

Lord & Schryver followed general guidelines when designing home gardens. These Fundamental Requirements in Designing an Attractive Garden were published in The Sunday Oregonian on March 6, 1932.

1. Proper placement of house on lot, i.e. garden relative to house.
2. Division into areas, such as entrance, walks and drives, service areas and pleasure gardens.
3. Relation and circulation between those areas, so that you can go easily from one to another.
4. View line or axis.
5. Enclosure, such as fences and hedges.
6. Interest, meaning seats, bird baths, pools, etc.
7. Planting the proper plant in the proper place

You will see some of these elements in the gardens on the tour. We look forward to seeing you there! Limited timed entry slots are still available. Purchase tickets today!

In 1913-14, Elizabeth Lord and her mother, Juliet, traveled to the Philippines to visit Elizabeth’s brother, Montague, who had moved there to work in the pineapple and sugar industries.  This trip was Elizabeth’s first experience of Asia, and her diary reveals the strong impression the tropical beauty of the islands made on her.  The pair returned home via China, visiting the Great Wall carried on palanquins, and, against the advice of the American Embassy in Peking, taking a train to Manchuria and then south to Korea.  Upon returning to their hotel in Hong Kong after a three-day trip to Canton they learned of the beginning of World War I.  After traveling to Japan, they boarded a steamer for San Francisco. 

After Juliet’s death in 1924, Elizabeth made several more trips to the Philippines to visit Montague.  During these trips she also visited Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Borneo, where she walked across the island’s wilderness with several friends.

Impacted by the loss of her mother and trying to find her way, Elizabeth acted upon Montague’s suggestion to attend the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture for Women in Massachusetts.  Here she met Edith Schryver and in late 1928 the two headed to Salem, Oregon to open the first women-owned landscape architecture firm in the PNW. Their firm was very busy with residential and civic projects until 1934, when work slowed because of the Depression. The two decided to accept Montague’s offer to join him in Manila. Although Elizabeth was familiar with travel to Asia, this was a new experience for Edith.

Throughout their 40-year career, Lord & Schryver incorporated many design elements and plant recommendations from their extensive travels. If Elizabeth and Edith were here today, which large-scale design projects might they be working on? Here is a possibility…

Healing Garden at Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP)

In 2015, OSP’s Asian Pacific Family Club and its 120 Adult in Custody (AIC) members asked the Superintendent if they could raise funds to build a small koi pond as a peaceful refuge within the prison walls. Five years later, after much hard work and perseverance (with no taxpayer dollars spent) a beautiful Japanese-style healing garden has been constructed. AICs may now sign up to visit the garden as well as learn pruning, curatorial, and other horticultural skills.

Although Lord & Schryver probably would not have designed the traditional Japanese-style landscape plan, they may have advised on plant selection and helped with fundraising. Because the garden is not easily accessible, here is a short video.

And some spring 2021 photos.

Have a great week!

In the 1920’s, Rholin and Pauline Cooley started hybridizing iris as a backyard hobby. Soon thereafter, Dr. Kleinsorge, a local physician and iris breeder, encouraged them to start a nursery. The Cooleys bought land west of Silverton, opened a nursery, and printed their first commercial catalog in 1928. Over time, Cooleys became one of the largest iris firms in the US and the primary source of new iris cultivars through an extensive mail order catalog business.

Rholin Cooley in his test garden (1949) Preparing mail order shipments.

In the early 1940’s, the Cooleys contacted Lord & Schryver to prepare a plan for an iris display garden at their commercial site. The plan featured multiple paths winding through the iris beds. The Cooleys most likely installed this design in the fall of 1944 or 1945 in preparation for the American Iris Society’s 1949 convention. It was a showplace during the convention as well as during Silverton’s annual Iris Week celebrations. 

In 1951, Edith designed a second, more elaborate demonstration garden with pathways, boxwood hedges and iris beds swirling across the ground in a scroll-like pattern.  This newer garden was featured on color postcards and in catalogs from the nursery when the iris were in full bloom.

1950’s Cooley’s Iris Display

Sadly, Cooley’s Gardens closed its doors in October 2011. However, another local favorite, Schreiner’s Iris Gardens, remains open today.

The elder Mr. Schreiner, a native Minnesotan, was a serious iris collector with over 500 cultivars, many imported from Europe. In 1925, he published his first price list under the name Schreiner Iris Gardens. His first catalog, in black and white with no pictures, followed three years later.

Upon his death in 1931, his children took over the business, but with an eye out for better climatic conditions. After much research, they selected Oregon’s fertile Willamette Valley. Providing excellent soil, ideal climate, and a proximity to transportation, the valley’s offerings were unmatched. In 1947, the Schreiners finally left the unforgiving Minnesota climate behind and settled just north of Salem. 

Today, Schreiner’s has 100 acres of bearded iris under cultivation. A centerpiece is the stunning 10-acre display garden. Fully developed in the 1990’s, it sits atop the original Schreiner parcel first purchased in 1947. The beautiful garden and surrounding commercial fields receive thousands of visitors each May.

Jay Raney, LSC volunteer gardener, says: “Schreiner’s display garden is gorgeous right now!” He shared photos from his recent visit. In addition to iris, Jay saw lupine, allium, columbine, clematis, peonies – as well as shrubs and flowering trees. Attendance is restricted to 100 people at a time due to Covid and tickets must be purchased online.

See you there!