• 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

Tag Archives: Historic Gardens

Update: Brick walks

12 Tuesday Dec 2017

Posted by Lord & Schryver Curator/Garden Manager in brick paths, Flower Garden, Gaiety Hollow, Garden, gardening, landscape architecture, Lord & Schryver, Restoration, Uncategorized, winter

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brick pathways, brick restoration, December, gardening, Historic Gardens, historic preservation, Oregon, Restoration, Volunteering

It has been more than a month since I last posted about our brick walk restoration project. They are not finished, but we hope to have them completed by the end of this week. I should note that we have concentrated our efforts on the paths in and around the Parterre Garden (sometimes called the Flower Garden) because they were in an obvious state of disrepair.

Returning visitors to Gaiety Hollow will immediately notice how much better the walks look and feel under your feet. They are now straight and level. The bricks that edge the path are all new and give the paths a crisp, clean look.

We aren’t completely clear on the history of the brick paths. There is speculation that parts of the paths were originally part of Elizabeth Lord’s mother’s garden. The modes Lord house was located at the corner of High Street and Mission Street, but the property encompassed approximately 1/4 of the city block. Juliet Lord was well known for her extensive flower gardens and Elizabeth credited her mother for teaching her to love gardens. Undated hand-colored lantern slides show the Gaiety Hollow property, but we are uncertain if they are of Juliet Lord’s gardens or Edith and Elizabeth’s gardens.

Undated; the Parterre Garden, looking north

We can say, however, that the paths were constructed by the early 1930s. Edith and Elizabeth moved into the Gaiety Hollow house in 1932. Dated photographs and plans from the 1930s show the layout of the paths.

Early plan for Gaiety Hollow

In the intervening 85 yeas, the paths fell into disrepair. Between the untold number of enthusiastic gardeners who have trod these paths, and the countless wheelbarrows of compost rolling over them, and seasons of freezing and thawing, many bricks had sunken, shifted, and broken. We discovered that a few of the paths had been redone during the intervening years and set in concrete mortar. Those paths we left as-is. Other paths were set on sand and gravel and had severely degraded. A laser level indicated that they were 2 inches lower than the paths on mortar!

When we took on this project, we decided that we wanted to restore the paths to how Edith and Elizabeth knew them. Visitors will feel like they have stepped back in time to the years Edith and Elizabeth were living and working at Gaiety Hollow (1932-1969).

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There are changes that will be new to visitors, but they would not be new to Edith and Elizabeth. We have chosen to reconstruct the brick pedestal that stood at the intersection of the Parterre Garden until 1970. We removed the wide brick path leading to the Pergola and replaced the narrow path and grass strips that were there until around 1970. We also removed the degrading pavers in the north path and replaced them with grass that we can see in an early photograph and plan.

Undated historic photograph
Undated historic photograph
Earlier this week
Earlier this week

We did elect to make a few changes: We raised the grade of some of the paths slightly to improve drainage and all the bricks along the path edges were replaced. Visitors should not notice the grade change. The new bricks fit well with the old, but visitors will perceive that they are newer and it will create an opportunity for us to explain the garden’s story.

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When you visit the gardens next season, you might notice a few quirks in the paths and the patterns of the bricks. Someone repairing the paths years ago must have made a few changes. We replaced the bricks exactly as they were (to the consternation of mason Julian).

All in all, the Parterre Garden has been restored to its original beauty. Visitors will be able to clearly see Edith and Elizabeth’s vision for the garden and the geometry of the design.

A small group of dedicated volunteers planted our spring blooming bulbs last week (Thank you!) and I am making plans for the perennials that we will plant in the spring. I hope that you visit us in 2018 and enjoy the progress we are making.

 

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Many thanks to our grant partners, the Oregon Cultural Trust and the State Historic Preservation Office, to our donors, and to our volunteers, for making this project possible.

HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS AND PLANS COURTESY OF THE LORD & SCHRYVER ARCHITECTURAL RECORDS, COLL 098, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON LIBRARIES, EUGENE, OREGON.

 

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One Last Open House

08 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by Lord & Schryver Conservancy in annual flowers, Flower Garden, Gaiety Hollow, Garden, House, Lord & Schryver, Open Garden, Summer

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annuals, Gaiety Hollow, garden, Historic Gardens, Lord & Schryver Conservancy, Lord and Schryver, Zinnias

I had a meeting at the house this morning so I snuck in the back gate a little early to see the garden…gorgeous even on an overcast and smoky morning…the last open house of the season is coming up this Sunday the 10th, $5 each for adults…545 Mission Street starting at 10:00 a.m….you won’t be sorry.  The zinnias are beautiful and so is everything else!  Come walk through for a summer memory.

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Evening in the Garden

19 Wednesday Jul 2017

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

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brick pathways, Deepwood Gardens, Gaiety Hollow, garden, Garden Tours, Historic Gardens, Historic House and Garden, Lord & Schryver, Oregon, women landscape architects

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!

 

 

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The Garden is READY!

20 Tuesday Jun 2017

Posted by Lord & Schryver Conservancy in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Open Garden, Summer, Tours

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Tags

Gaiety Hollow, garden benches, Garden Tours, Historic Gardens, Lord & Schryver, Lord & Schryver Conservancy

Garden manager and curator Lindsey Kerr is away this week so I’m jumping back in for a quick post.  The garden will be open this Saturday at 10:30 for touring ($5.00 per adult) and if you haven’t been in a while it is worth the trip.  Lindsey Kerr has worked miracles in the garden along with the team of volunteers who trim and weed and tidy…not to mention to the volunteers who are replacing the hard-scape in the garden…i.e. the rotting wooden fences, benches and gates. But first…the garden.   I stepped in the gate this morning and was just delighted…

Fresh, organized and the smells…yum.   Lindsey has been working with the many garden plans and lists that Lord and Schryver made for  their own garden over the years, and has replanted many of the old-fashioned favorites they often used.  Noticable this summer are the Canterbury Bells…the bells are back!

and this morning I sat briefly in my favorite shady benches for views of the garden…

And the pergola and bench under the grape arbor are COMPLETE!  (I spent a whole week here a few years ago drawing!)

Mark your calendar…Saturday June 24th!

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Volunteer Appreciation!

24 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by Lord & Schryver Conservancy in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, House, landscape architecture, Lord & Schryver, Spring, Uncategorized

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"Documenting the Cultural Landscapes of Women", April, Gaiety Hollow, garden, Historic Gardens, Lord & Schryver, Restoration, spring garden

I came in the back gate today for the event, and a quick walk through this garden makes you appreciate anew the power of commitment, focus and pure love of place.

This garden has been maintained and renovated and cared for thoroughly for years by volunteers.  Just this year we have been joined by garden curator Lindsey Kerr, the first salaried position.  Lindsey quickly saw the volunteers were key and she has intuitively networked with everybody…gardeners, carpenters, artists and photographers, archivists…the large team of people whose interest in the work of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver has made this project go forward for two decades.  Lindsey wasn’t with us today, but I snuck up to her office (stopping on the landing for a quick look in to Lord and Schryver’s office)

for a couple of the views she sees everyday…

From up here I saw the clematis on the newly-completed pergola renovation just bursting into bloom (as planned by L&S)…here’s Lindsey’s photo of last week and then how it looked today…

We were offered refreshments,

and a look at some of the drawings of Lord and Schryver on the walls in the public rooms…(I liked this one which was Edith Schryver’s senior thesis project at the Lowthrope School)

and then to stroll the garden, returning to the house to tell what was our favorite spot in the garden…

Today all these volunteers were appreciated in the best way…each of us was handed a thank you note or two and asked to tell what we do for the garden and the conservancy, and in the story-telling there was a grace and a humor and a sense of commitment that seems rare in these days.

The Board master-minded a surprise gift for Board Chair Bobbie Dolp who really has worked full time doing everything from grant-writing to weeding…her favorite vintage photo of the house…(with a drawing by me of a cherry original to the garden)…she liked it…

…and before I forget I rounded the corner of the garage today to see the crab apple planted last fall in full bloom…

Volunteers we appreciate you!!!  Thank you for this work.

 

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A Wet Spring…

18 Saturday Mar 2017

Posted by Lord & Schryver Conservancy in Bill Noble, Drying Garden, Gaiety Hollow, Garden, House, Lord & Schryver, Spring, spring annuals

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Bill Noble, boxwood, brick pathways, Gaiety Hollow, Historic Gardens, Lord & Schryver, Lord & Schryver Conservancy, pruning boxwood hedges, spring garden

I was in the garden today…dodging raindrops on the way into a meeting…and I reflected on how beautiful this garden is…even on the very dreariest of wet spring days…

I noted some boxwood trimming had begun…

the pergola construction was well underway…

making us glad that this structure will be there providing shade next summer…like it did last summer…and for many summers to come…

the rain has helped the new lawn in the drying garden flourish…

and once inside…the fire was going and Bobbie was welcoming Bill Noble to the meeting.

Bill is here in Oregon lecturing on the Cornish Colony in New Hampshire.  His lecture in Salem is this coming Sunday (March 19th) at 2:00 in the Dye House at the Willamette Heritage Center.    I KNOW you won’t want to miss this one.   Bill formerly was with the Garden Conservancy and now works as a consultant to many famous gardens, including our own.  He is a knowledgeable and lively person, pictured like this for publicity purposes…

and here are my meeting notes…

but today we had a little fun…

See you Sunday!

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Spring ??

23 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by Lord & Schryver Conservancy in Driveway, Drying Garden, Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver

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Gaiety Hollow, garden, Garden in winter, Historic Gardens, Lord & Schryver, Lord & Schryver Conservancy, Restoration

Probably not, but today, in this part of the world, it was sunny and 46 degrees and it felt so spring-like I thought that Gaiety Hollow might be the place to go.  I wanted to see how the sod had survived in the new garden “room” and what progress had been made on the driveway…I’ll let the pictures tell the tale…

spring-1

new-garden-2

driveway-1

driveway-2

and there were a few little signs, even though we know very well there’s more winter ahead!

spring-2

Bonnie Hull, Garden Correspondent

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Happy New Year!

28 Wednesday Dec 2016

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

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"Documenting the Cultural Landscapes of Women", Gaiety Hollow, garden, Garden in winter, Historic Gardens, Lord & Schryver, Lord & Schryver Conservancy, vintage garden photos

I was back in the garden today, finally.

view-south

Winter in the garden means work of the chilliest sort.  Curator/garden manager Lindsey Kerr is working on the beds, and the workers from Autumn Leaf Landscaping are digging out the “Drying Garden”…

drying-garden

As I was having a chat with Lindsey Kerr and she mentioned to me a couple of photos from the 1980’s of how that section of the garden used to look… and sent them along…

2

We cordially invite you to join in the efforts of the Lord and Schryver Conservancy to not only retrieve this beautiful 20th century garden, but to help it survive on into the 21st century with new audiences and new activities…none of which can go forward without the help of our generous donors.  Thanking you in advance!

Note original grass, espaliered Camellia sasanqua.

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Stormy Weekend

15 Saturday Oct 2016

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

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brick pathways, Gaiety Hollow, garden, Historic Gardens, Historic House and Garden, Lord & Schryver, Lord & Schryver Conservancy

We’re in the middle of stormy weekend here…we left the fireside for a coffee and I did a quick tour of the garden.

fall-1

Interestingly, aside from the grape leaves on the arbor, the fall color visible is mostly from trees in the neighboring yards…Gaiety Hollow is still green, but fading.

fall-7

fall-5

fall-3fall-4

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fall-9

Arbor progress is being made…in spite of less than ideal conditions…

fall-11

fall-10

and a few tiny bits of color have floated into the pool…

fall-8

Stay dry out there!!

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Meet Lindsey Kerr!

30 Friday Sep 2016

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

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Gaiety Hollow, garden, Historic Gardens, Lindsey Kerr, Lord & Schryver, repair of wooden garden structures, Volunteering

Today was our new garden advocate/curator’s first meeting with the volunteers at Gaiety Hollow.  Lindsey Kerr is newly arrived from Connecticut where she has been managing a private estate garden since finishing her graduate work.  I went along to meet Lindsey so I could introduce her to you, but first had to wander the garden.  On Friday the story is a little different than my usual solitary adventures.  The people who do the work to keep this garden beautiful are actually in the garden every Friday…

morning-in-the-garden

Serious dead-heading was going on…

deadheading

molly-deadheading

work on the bench and the arbor progresses…guess who?

geuss-who-1guess-who-two

Name tags were in order today…

name-tags

tools and snacks at the ready…

snacks-ands-tools

…special delivery from Amazon…

amazon

Gretchen and Lindsey talk boxwood…

gretchen-and-lindsey

a maverick.

maverick

I take a turn through the garden…

statuary

allee

our vintage view for today…

knight-library-home-garden-west-allee-looking-south-lantern-slide

fun

before getting down to work.  I wanted to get a picture of Lindsey and the volunteers “in the garden”…so here they are.

in-the-garden

And here’s Lindsey Kerr.  As she settles in, she will be in the garden everyday.  She’ll be learning about Oregon plants and climate, as well as trying to absorb the history of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver as plants-women and architects.  She feels this is especially important so that she understands the right plant choices and care of the garden going forward.  She is interested in meeting you and looks forward to jumping into the Gaiety Hollow community with both feet.  Soon she will be writing blog posts about her daily activities in the garden as well as her thoughts for the future.  You will enjoy meeting her, I know.

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In the meantime…watch for those spider webs…this one especially beautiful this morning, filled with dew.

spider-web

 

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