Category Archives: Deepwood

Winter Projects Update

18 Wednesday Dec 2019

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While most gardeners have put garden to bed for the winter and are enjoying the crisp, frosty mornings of the Holiday season, the Lord and Schryver Conservancy has been busy with several construction projects.  One is the much anticipated second phase of the Deepwood Lower Terrace Pathway project.

Robert Crown and his crew from Riverdale Landscape Construction have begun removing the old brick retaining wall and steps for renovation. This excavation work has revealed the footings for the old Rose Tunnel. This metal structure was likely the home for 12 climbing roses that were originally planted in 1934 and then again in 1949. One can only imagine what it must have been like to stroll under the Rose canopy when it was in its full glory in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.

The Addendum to the Historic Deepwood Estate Historic Landscape Report suggests this structure is not currently suitable for replacement due to the deep shade cast by the  overhead tree canopy.  However, the location of the original footings has been carefully documented and perhaps someday if the tree canopy were opened up, this element could be restored to the garden.

The old rose tunnel seen from the from the Great Room lawn. Note the sunny exposure that allowed for a Rose Blossoms. Unfortunately the area has become dense shade, making the growing of roses a difficult task were one to try to restore this feature.
The brick wall and pathway before the restoration work of the Lower Terrace and the retaining wall pathway
The old Rose tunnel in bloom it must have smelled amazing to walk under the canopy of climbing roses
The old foundation pillars of the rose tunnel were excavated
The guys from Riverdale Landscape Construction hard at work hand excavating the pathway

For now, the focus is on restoration of the pathway, steps and retaining wall to a more structurally sound version of its former self. We are adding drainage behind the wall as well as channel drains to alleviate the runoff issue down the steep path. The pathway will get base rock and a stabilized, decomposed granite surface that won’t wash out during the heavy rains.

The Lord and Schryver Conservancy is extremely grateful to a generous donor who made this project possible. Without such help, the wonderful Deepwood gardens would be but a shadow of its former glory. It’s exciting to be working toward the restoration of this gem of a City Park.

Mark Akimoff

Garden Manager|Curator

 

Deepwood Update!

15 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by in Deepwood, Restoration, Uncategorized

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The Lower Terrace Rehab project is almost complete, the guys from Aspen Creek have done a wonderful job on this project. Here is a sneak peak of the area:

The vines to climb it are yet to be determined, but the rehabilitation of the Lilacs and the Peony plantings are being followed per the treatment plan. The peonies may be a challenge because of the heavy shade now covering the area from the dominant Magnolia canopy that has matured over the garden. However there are species of Peony such as the Japanese Forest Peony, Paeonia obovata which are very well adapted to shade and understory plantings. Sometimes as gardeners we have to adapt to the changing weather patterns, and changing seasons, as well as the changing availability of sun or shade as it may be.

I for one am super glad to have the rain back!

Cheers,
Mark

 

Deepwood Projects

11 Thursday Apr 2019

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Thursdays are Deepwood days and some fun projects are underway! Besides the usual planting of the teahouse garden, the great room has had some new flower additions this spring. We also replaced a historic Malus ‘Firebird’ Crabapple in the Scroll garden.

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The Teahouse Garden is looking splendid with the early season tulips, and the trade mark Lord and Schryver Forget-me-nots providing the foil for the spring bulbs.

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Thanks to a generous donor the Lower Terrace renovation project is underway!  This photo shows after the removal of the patio pavers that were crumbling away. The project is getting the steps redone, a new pathway surface to prevent erosion, the patio relaid, and the historic arbor rebuilt. The Lord and Schryver drawing hanging at Gaiety Hollow shows the arbor with Clematis on the West side and a canopy of Lilacs with Peonies underneath. Stay tuned for updates on this wonderful restoration taking place. 

Hated weeds, take 2

21 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by in Deepwood, Gaiety Hollow, gardening, Uncategorized, weeds

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Last week, I left you all with a cliff-hanger. What is this weed that I loath?

Campanula rapunculoides

Campanula rapunculoides

This is Campanula rapunculoides aka creeping bellflower or rampion bellflower. It is native to Europe and Eurasia and was brought here as an ornamental garden plant. However, it quickly takes over a garden and makes it look messy and weedy. Over time, it will choke out favorite plants.

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Flowers

Like the Arum that I wrote about last week, C. rapunculoides has underground root structures that make it difficult to eradicate. Pulling the leaves will not remove the roots. A few surface roots will come up but, little do you know, 6 inches to a foot below the surface lurk large, fleshy, white tuber-like roots that hold energy to regenerate the plant.

campanula rapunculoides roots

Roots with top growth and leaves

To get rid of the plant, you must remove all of the underground root structures. C. rapunculoides is resistant to some herbicides. Other herbicides must be applied more than once to fully kill the plants. In a garden setting, where C. rapunculoides likes to grow inside your perennial, it can be very difficult to apply an herbicide effectively.

Growing in a peony
Emerging flower stalk
Growing with Veronica

Digging it out seems to be the only way to remove it in a garden. I have resorted to digging up perennials–like the peony in the photo above–and sorting out the roots before replanting. Undoubtedly, I have missed a few roots and constant vigilance is demanded to prevent it from taking over again.

C. rapunculoides

Hiding in the Phlox at Deepwood

When it is impossible to dig out the roots, like when it is growing in a boxwood hedge, the top growth can be pulled or an herbicide dabbed on. If the leaves and stems are removed as soon as they appear, eventually the roots will be depleted of energy and die. Always read the label of herbicides and do some basic research before applying to make sure that C. rapunculoides is susceptible and that conditions are favorable for the most impact. Remove all flowers before they spread their thousands of seeds to the wind.

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Growing in a calla lily

I want to stress that this plant is not classified as invasive in Oregon. However, it is an nuisance in the garden and one of the plants I am working hardest to eradicate. It is listed as invasive in other states.

I also want to point out that not all Campanula are evil. Lord & Schryver loved their Campanula medium, Canterbury bells, and so do I. They are lovely annual or biennial plants that die after flowering. They have no fleshy underground roots or runners to carry them to other places in your garden. There are many other Campanula species and cultivars sold in the nursery trade. Below are three different kinds of Campanula we grow at Gaiety Hollow and Deepwood.

Campanula medium aka Canterbury bells
Gaiety Hollow and Campanula persicifolia
C. glomerata at Deepwood

 

Next week, we’ll cover one more weed. It  might be called “the scourge of Gaiety Hollow.” Can you guess what it is?

 

Evening in the Garden

19 Wednesday Jul 2017

Posted by in Deepwood, Gaiety Hollow, Garden, House, landscape architecture, Lord & Schryver, Open Garden, Summer, Tours

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We took a twilight tour of the gardens at Gaiety Hollow this evening and as usual found the garden beautiful and restorative.

If you want to ease into the Salem Art Fair this weekend let me suggest the Lord and Schryver tours which are Saturday the 22nd at 9:00 at Deepwood Museum & Gardens and at Gaiety Hollow beginning at 10:30.  The cost is $5 for those 16 and up.

So why do this?  Why go visit gardens planted in the 1930’s by people long gone?  Well in Garden Curator Lindsey Kerr’s absence I’ll suggest a few reasons.

These women, Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, lived here in Salem.  They designed cutting-edge gardens of great beauty for Salemites and for others across the Northwest.  They were rigorous, talented and interesting, and if you live in Salem they are a part of your history!  Come see the garden and learn their story, your back-story.

Walk through these garden gates and step back in time.  For the most part people don’t design or maintain gardens like this anymore. We are now into efficient, low water, low maintenance gardens. Here is a chance to see a house and garden designed and now maintained from another world altogether…and it is a captivating garden and a captivating world.

Come and see plant varieties and combinations that are “old fashioned” and yet totally up to date. Giant white hydrangeas, Nicotiana alata spilling out of beds, delphinium, grapes…ideas abound in this historic garden for modern gardeners.

Escape.  And this garden has been providing a breathing space for me and many others for years…always delightful, ALWAYS ALIVE, always a balm.

See you Saturday!

 

 

The gardens at Deepwood

01 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by in Deepwood, Garden, landscape architecture, Lord & Schryver, Restoration, Spring

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Even though this blog is named for Lord & Schryver’s home garden, I want to take this week to look at the gardens at Deepwood Museum & Gardens.

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The gardens at Deepwood were one of Lord & Schryver’s earliest commissions. Alice Brown hired the firm in 1929 to help her create gardens spaces around her Victorian Era house. The house was built in 1894 and was considered one of the most beautiful and impressive in Salem at the time. However, it was built on a rise and the basement exposed. The surrounding landscape was not designed in tandem with the building’s architect.

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Leaping forward to 1929, five years after Alice and Clifford Brown purchased the property, Alice decided that she needed help in designing the gardens around her home. Lord & Schryver, with their newly opened firm located within walking distance, made perfect sense. The gardens at Deepwood were designed and created over many years. In fact, the Scroll Garden was not created until 1936-37. The house and landscape were a challenge for L&S because they preferred to work with the architect to integrate the house and gardens. Although the sum of the gardens does not fit L&S’s standard design elements, the individual gardens are classic Lord & Schryver.

The Scroll Garden

In the early 1980s, after the Deepwood estate had been purchased by the City of Salem, a group of volunteers came together to rejuvenate the gardens. Deepwood was the only publicly owned Lord & Schryver designed garden and provided an opportunity to beautify a community asset. Over time, an intrepid group of enthusiasts–including a few of the original volunteer gardeners–met to study Lord & Schryver and formed what is now the Lord & Schryver Conservancy. The gardens today exhibit L&S’s design principles, educate the public about their pioneering landscape designs, and provide a place of beauty and respite.

C. glomerata at Deepwood

Today, volunteer gardeners still care for the historic gardens at Deepwood every Thursday morning, 9-noon. The gardens are inside the iconic green fence and open to the public every day of the week, free of charge, 5am until midnight. We hope that you visit and enjoy the many years of hard work and love that has renewed the gardens.

Megan
Lysa
Donna
David

Gardens–and trees!–in bloom

25 Thursday May 2017

Posted by in Deepwood, Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver, Tours, trees, Uncategorized

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The Tea House garden at Deepwood Museum & Gardens is already putting on a beautiful show. Poppies, iris, roses, foxglove, allium, and many more flowers were in bloom this afternoon. Most of the summer annuals have been planted and are ready to flower. The heat earlier this week made many of the plants grow quickly.

Foxglove
Iris
Rose
Poppy
Allium

An exciting bit of news for the historic garden nerds among us:

A few years ago, the much loved hawthorn tree next to the Tea House was removed.  In searching through records, volunteers discovered that Lord & Schryver purchased a white hawthorn for Deepwood in 1932.  They were perplexed as the tree blooming by the Tea House had a pink double flower. They contacted nurseries and searched online to find a replacement but there appeared to be none available in the US.

When the tree was removed, however, two shoots coming up from the roots were saved. One was left at Deepwood–to hopefully thrive and replace the historic tree–and one was taken to Gaiety Hollow to serve as a back-up . The volunteers waited to see what the young hawthorns would turn out to be. Would they come true to the historic tree? Or was the old tree grafted and the shoots would be from the root stock?

Well, this week the volunteers got a beautiful surprise. The young trees both bloomed masses of fluffy white double flowers–matching Lord & Schryver’s records–and then faded to pink–just as our volunteers remembered.

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Not the most beautiful photo, but it’s double and pink!

As photos were shared by email and text, you might have heard a few cheers echoing across the Valley.

Unfortunately, the intense heat made the hawthorn flowers fade and disappear all too quickly. But, the gardens at Deepwood are full of flowers and more than enough reason to visit. There will be a tour of the gardens this Saturday at 9am for those interested in hearing more stories about their creation and rehabilitation.

A second tour will take place at Gaiety Hollow at 10:30. The old hawthorns at the front gate are in full bloom and simply covered in clusters of white flowers. It is no wonder why Lord and Schryver chose to plant these trees with a view from their bedrooms and studio!

Hawthorn
Looking out the front door
View from Elizabeth’s bedroom

The annual display in the Flower Garden is also taking off, with campanula, roses, peonies, petunias, ageratum, alyssum, and daisies all blooming together. Come for a visit!

Annual flower displays

16 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by in Deepwood, Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver, Spring, spring annuals, Uncategorized

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One of my favorite parts of caring for the gardens at Gaiety Hollow and at Deepwood Museum & Gardens is designing the annual flowers displays. What could be more fun than choosing flowers for two different gardens?

I start by considering which plants we know Lord and Schyver purchased for the gardens (documented in purchase records, photos, or journals). I think about how much room we have in the gardens,  what are the current growing conditions (sun, shade, water needs, etc), and how textures and colors will work together. I make lists and plans and then hit the local nurseries. That’s the fun part.

When the local nurseries don’t have the plants I am looking for or they don’t have the right color, it’s time to get creative. Or maybe I should wait a couple days to see if what I want comes in on the next truck? It’s always a risk.

Heliotrope
Argyranthemum
Pink Canterbury Bell
Vanilla marigold
Petunia
Joe the Cat at Godfrey Nursery

 

I’ve started from seed a few plants that I cannot find locally. They don’t look like much right now, but my imagination tells me that they will be beautiful this summer.

Verbena
Nicotiana

Last week, our Thursday and Friday volunteers planted all the annuals I had purchased for Deepwood and Gaiety Hollow. Dare I tell them that I bought more plants today? It’s so exciting to see the little plants in the ground. I’m a terribly impatient gardener, however, and find myself staring at them and willing them to grow faster.

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All plant information goes in an Excel spreadsheet for record-keeping

I hope that you visit and re-visit the Gaiety Hollow and Deepwood gardens throughout the season to enjoy the flowers and to see the changes taking place.