Tag Archives: garden design

How things change…

03 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver, Open Garden, Restoration, Spring, Uncategorized

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in a single week!

I was out of town for ten days and my how the plants have grown. Tulip season has drawn to a close. The tree peonies that Edith and Elizabeth planted are almost done blooming (the heat today and tomorrow will finish them off). The herbaceous peonies are growing leaps and bounds and some will open any day now.

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The Viburnum burkwoodii and lilacs are filling the garden with intoxicating scent.

The Rhododendron are beginning to show off.

I am planting our summer annuals and perennials. I hope that the heat and the sun makes them grow big and strong! Lobularia maritima in the Drying Garden smells like honey.

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And I have a few seedlings growing in pots that will fill in the Flower Garden and Drying Garden later this month.

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Our next Open Garden is on May 14th–Mother’s Day. Come visit the garden with family and enjoy the beauty and peace that the garden brings.

Spring tours

19 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver, Spring, Tours

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Today was the perfect day for a tour of the gardens. After all the rain last night, the gardens looked clean and new.

We had a lively group of folks come from the Willamalane Park and Recreation District for tours of both Deepwood and Gaiety Hollow and a catered lunch in the gardens at Gaiety Hollow. Everyone had a wonderful time. We hope to share the gardens with more groups throughout the season. Know someone interested in a private tour? Have them contact Bobbie.

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We have two tours open to the public this coming Saturday. Join us at 9am at Deepwood Museum and Gardens. Tours will leave from the kiosk near the parking lot. At 10:30am, there will be a tour at Gaiety Hollow. Meet at the front door.

 

 

“April, come she will

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

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

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When streams are ripe and swelled with rain…”

This spring has been unusually wet here in Salem. It has made for a sometimes difficult situation for gardeners trying to get work done and trying to time flower combinations. Last Friday’s wind and rain finished off the cherry blossoms and blew away many of the Magnolia flowers. Our dauntless board chair, Bobbie Dolp, was outside in the horizontal rain, string-trimming and pulling dandelions from the lawns in preparation for our first Open Garden this past Sunday.

Many thanks to the volunteers to helped greet visitors on Sunday and thank you to all who came to see and enjoy the gardens. We hope that you come again to see the seasons  change as we dig deeper into rehabilitating the gardens.
As the early spring flowers fade, new blossoms open to take their place. Tulips are in full glory in the Flower Garden and more are showing color every day.

 

Elizabeth and Edith’s forget-me-nots form a backdrop to tulips and a blanket under the roses.
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Rhododendrons are beginning to open on the west side of the gardens.

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Our next Garden Tours are April 22nd. We hope that you join us.

Sunshine and volunteers

11 Saturday Mar 2017

Posted by in Bill Noble, Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver, Spring, spring annuals, Vintage Photos

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Yesterday felt like the first true day of spring. The sun was shining and we could see blue blue sky between the white fluffy clouds. For the first time this season, the volunteer gardeners were able to get some work done at Gaiety Hollow. Not only did they finish planting all the spring annuals, but they also tackled the hellebore leaves. What a weight off my shoulders!

Primrose
Pansies
Bellis daisy
Hellebores
Grape hyacinth

The carpenters were also out working in the sunshine. One crew on the Pergola; one crew repairing the garage doors. If we get a spate of nice weather, we hope that both projects can be finished before the tour and open gardens begin.

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Chris and Tom work on the Pergola

In other news, we are really looking forward to Bill Noble‘s visit this coming week. Before starting his own consulting business, Bill was Director of Preservation at the Garden Conservancy and worked closely with noted gardens such as Longue Vue, the Gardens at Alcatraz, the Ruth Bancroft Garden, the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden, and Hollister House Garden. He has been a great resource for the L&S Conservancy for several years. He will  be meeting with the board and committees this coming Friday and Saturday. And then, on Sunday, March 19, he will give a presentation on the Cornish Colony at 2pm in the WHC Dye House.

Bill

Edith Schryver cut her teeth at the Cornish Colony while working for Ellen Biddle Shipman. Shipman was one of the foremost designers of her time and known for her formal gardens and lush planting style. She was of the first generation of women to break into the male-dominated landscape architecture profession. There is no doubt of her influence on Edith Schryver.

Charles Platt Garden
Charles Platt Garden
Charles Platt Garden
Charles Platt Garden

 

Don’t miss this presentation! Not only is Bill a dynamic speaker, not only will he tie the Cornish Colony to the story of Edith and Elizabeth, but…There will be birthday cake!

Edith’s 116th birthday is on March 20th, but we are celebrating a day early with everyone who attends Bill’s lecture. Come for an energetic and lush presentation, stay for the cake! We hope to see you there. Don’t forget to register online.

Summer Arbor Project

26 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver

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Stepping into the garden this morning was the usual pleasure…in this case the pleasure of high summer in a gorgeous garden…a cool summer morning, a riot of blooms…

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but pretty much immediately I knew something was afoot…

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the skilled volunteers have the slow and tricky problem of replacing all the wooden members of the gorgeous grape arbor (without disturbing the vines)…board by board.

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during the Strands’ years in the garden their son Dale had carefully tried to preserve the arbor and it’s original fabric…

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but these “fixes” have now rotted as well…another solution involving concrete bases so wooden members are not in contact with the soil…as well as pressure treated wood for the bases…

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It’s slow and painstaking work but they are making headway…and then there’s the matter of paint…

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Stay tuned for a progress report.  One more glance…

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November News…

18 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, House, Lord & Schryver, Pruning

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We entered the garden through the back gate today, late in the afternoon, and there was a meeting going on so the lights were all on and the house looked inviting…

lights on

A walk through Gaiety Hollow this blustery afternoon revealed that MUCH work has been done in my absence…volunteers have finished trimming all the boxwood and it looks very good, even on a dark, wet and dreary day…

alle looking north (1)

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Elwood’s Tree Service has done some professional trimming (best done by somebody nimble on the top of a ladder)-26

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and the holly hedge is amazing…-27

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There has been lots of planting…two white lilacs…

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a crab apple…

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and a beautifully shaped Japanese maple near the house…

Japanese maple

a small holly near the back porch…

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lights on (1)

always more to do though…foundation plantings…

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and then the wear and tear of time and weather always brings new projects…

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but in spite of the wind and rain, this garden always makes me happy…and now beginning to feel festive…!

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Dog Days

20 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver

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The fierce heat of August is upon us here in the valley, but the garden still looks beautiful…

Gaity Hollow panorama

In spite of the 97 degree heat the board met Tuesday…

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Board 2Board 3

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And on Wednesday, the 100 degree day, Christopher,  Tom,  and Jack were cheerfully there early to work on the replacement fence…

August gate

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Christopher and Jack Tom, C & J

Thanks guys…looking good!

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Working with Wood

26 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver, Uncategorized

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Let me share with you a remarkable series of emails I’ve gotten from our arborist, and master carpenter, Woody Dukes…While I was away Woody and a crew of volunteers have been working on the wooden hardscape in the Gaiety Hollow Garden.  Woody’s photos and descriptions are fascinating and fun to follow…the discourse begins in early May as follows:

“Christopher Hackett and I have been working on a couple of projects including yesterday (Tuesday 5/3) morning measuring and cutting pieces of a new gate to replace the rotting one that opens into the Reserve Area.”

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“Rot was pervasive in the bottom part of the gate that threatened it’s ability to stay in it’s jamb. The wood around the lower hinge was soft enough for the screws to let go.”
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“So I increased the number of pixels which cleared up the image a bit from the original. Something that I notice is that there is not a full bench there. It has no depth in the center. I only see the seats in the two back corners. This tells me the original structure was shallower than the current one. There is also a center post in back which leads me to believe that this bench was intentionally and originally a part of the fence. The panel widths are equal with the center one split evenly in two.”

flipped garden image

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“It only changed when I had to do a major repair because the support for the bench, which was sitting on concrete blocks, and attach anchoring cables to the rear posts (around 2010) because the whole structure was tilting into the garden and was approaching structural failure. I had to modify the design by adding a rectangle of 4x4s add more stability to a major portion of the north fence.”

Woody on blocks

Woody diagram

Woody bench gone

Camellias, Boxwood and the Renovation

15 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, House, Lord & Schryver

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When I got to the garden today the crew was just finishing up the Friday morning work party…trying to rid the garden of “invasives”…a thankless task…

goodbye invasives

and I checked the boxwoods…the severe pruning has begun…

radical trim

but you can see from this view of the unpruned on the left, recently pruned on the right, that this will be the right thing to do…

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and then the camellias are all in bloom…

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…a quick check of the new tree…

new tree

and then I headed inside where the renovations are almost complete.  The former living room has become the meeting room…

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the dining rooms views remain the best in the house…

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and upstairs, the room over the garage that was Lord and Schryver’s office will become the “library”/”archive” room…

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and the carpet has been removed from the stairs…

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A quick fond view…

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and I was off.  Next time: the removal of the front sidewalk…will the trees live??

 

 

 

The Garden Bench

06 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver, Vintage Photos

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Gretchen reminded me that the vintage image of the garden from the house needed to be “flipped”, and when I made that correction I got looking at the image…here is a larger version…

flipped garden image

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and here’s that same view from the second floor of the house this past year…

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and the garden seat this summer…

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and again this fall…

bench this fall

and here are Irene and Jon using this lovely spot as a “photo op”…

Jon & Irene

and I suspect this isn’t the first time.  Wouldn’t it be fun to find some other photos in this same spot?