14 Wednesday May 2014
Posted in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver, Uncategorized
Tags
awards, capital campaign, Gaiety Hollow, garden, Historic Gardens, Lord & Schryver Conservancy, Oregon Community Foundation
The good news here is that the Oregon Community Foundation has contributed $25,000 toward our capital campaign. Thank you OCF!!!
05 Monday May 2014
Posted in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver, Uncategorized
Tags
Aegopodium, boxwood, brick pathways, Gaiety Hollow, garden, Historic Gardens, Lord & Schryver, Lord & Schryver Conservancy, weeding, white oak
Did you know that this beautiful garden is almost totally maintained with volunteer labor? Every Friday morning from 9:00 to noon a small group of very hard-working volunteers does the “dirty work”…the weeding, the pruning, the sweeping and raking…and we need help. I might just say that if you love to work in a beautiful garden, if you have skills or if you want to develop skills, if you like the idea of contributing to a fascinating historic resource in your community… consider joining this merry band. Just showing up to take some photos I’ve learned a thing or two from this group. Think about it…WE NEED YOU.
So here’s what they were up to this week plus a report on some of the ongoing projects I’ve been reporting on.
One project this week was work on the bricks which need cleaning and re-sanding…
pruning…weeding…
the big problem is the Aegopodium…it’s everywhere…
The boxwood is beginning to regrow…!
and Woody has built a very ingenious tool cupboard in his work area…
The new Oak Tree has some leaves!
See you Friday morning…PLEASE!!
15 Saturday Mar 2014
Posted in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, House, Lord & Schryver
Tags
boxwood, camellias, Gaiety Hollow, garden, garden design, Historic Gardens, house remodel, Lord & Schryver, Lord & Schryver Conservancy, pruning boxwood hedges, white oak
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…
and I checked the boxwoods…the severe pruning has begun…
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…
and then the camellias are all in bloom…
…a quick check of the new tree…
and then I headed inside where the renovations are almost complete. The former living room has become the meeting room…
the dining rooms views remain the best in the house…
and upstairs, the room over the garage that was Lord and Schryver’s office will become the “library”/”archive” room…
and the carpet has been removed from the stairs…
A quick fond view…
and I was off. Next time: the removal of the front sidewalk…will the trees live??
01 Saturday Mar 2014
Posted in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver
Tags
Elwood, Gaiety Hollow, garden, Historic Gardens, Lord & Schryver Conservancy, stump grinding, stump removal, tree planting, white oak
The last photos have rolled in this evening showing the oak in situ, the magical machine that grinds stump by remote control, and the Townsend’s warbler doing a good imitation of a hummingbird.
After we left the intrepid team worked on and on (THANK YOU ADAM!!!) and the tree is in place. It went like this…
And earlier Gretchen was telling me of the miraculous stump grinder from Elwood that works remotely…the guy hardly even needs boots…
It was a long day for our intrepid crew…a day that proved above all else that FOCUS and PERSEVERENCE are part of the L&S story. Congratulations Gretchen, David, Woody, Joyce, ADAM….hooray!
and here are Woody’s photos of that Townsend’s warbler pretending to be a hummingbird.
01 Wednesday Jan 2014
Posted in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, Lord & Schryver, Uncategorized
Back in 1973 David Duniway, former State Archivist…then Executive Director of Mission Mill Association, wrote a short bio of Elizabeth Lord who was honored that year in Panegyric II, an event that honored contributing citizens. He quoted Elizabeth Lord as saying:
“Salem people have never seemed to realize the great privilege we possess to make this city one of the outstandingly beautiful cities in our country.”
Consider volunteering this year in the Lord and Schryver gardens at Gaiety Hollow, Deepwood or Bush’s Pasture Park. Consider donating to the Gaiety Hollow fund to secure the purchase of the home garden. Consider visiting all of Salem’s garden resources this spring and summer. Consider thinking of Salem as a gem.
19 Thursday Dec 2013
Posted in Gaiety Hollow, Garden, House, Lord & Schryver, Uncategorized, Vintage Photos
Tags
Asahel Bush II, boxwood, Bush House Museum, Clarence Smith Architect, Gaiety Hollow, garden, Garden in winter, Historic Gardens, Lord & Schryver, Lord & Schryver Conservancy, pruning, vintage garden photos
Gaiety Hollow is right across the street from another Salem historic house and property…the home of Asahel Bush II, a beautiful Victorian house museum built as the Bush family home in 1877-78, and lived in by family for 75 years. The house was once an estate in the center of a working farm, but is now a city park with walking paths, an art center, an historic greenhouse. Here’s a vintage photo of the house…
In the 1930’s and 40’s Lord and Schryver planted many crab apple trees on the edge of the Bush family farm, with Sally Bush’s blessing. As the property was right across Mission Street, Lord & Schryver could observe the growth patterns and hardiness of the various sample trees, which helped them in choosing the right tree for the right client garden. These days the Bush house is a museum, housing much of the Bush family material, furnishing, photos, etc. As part of the volunteer structure that supports the museum, there is a committee that oversees restoration efforts, acquisitions, etc. Tuesday they came across the street to take a tour of Gaiety Hollow…both house and garden. They were welcomed by Bobbie Dolp, president of the L&S Conservancy, and garden designer, Lord and Schryver historian and plantswoman Gretchen Carnaby. Bobbie is the woman in the red coat (so we could keep track of her)…
It was a cold and damp Oregon day, but a very good time to visit the garden as the garden structure…”the bones” if you will…are apparent. And here Gretchen Carnaby points out a crab apple tree by the front door which will be receiving a heavy pruning this winter…
Then we took a look at the “allee” planted with broad leaf evergreens so it has both a distinct Spring and winter look. At the far end, from the planning of the garden until 2011, there was a beautiful 300 year old oak tree…
a tree that has been sadly lost…
…but that is really the essence of any garden, perhaps the lesson that gardens teach us…individual plants die and then we make a plan taking into consideration the new set of conditions.
Here’s a vintage photo of the flower gardens in their hey-day…
and the blank slate the Conservancy has to recreate the gardens as designed (the planting plans exist)…
We moved into the house…where we got an over-view of the house construction (Architect Clarence Smith, date: 1932) and we were reminded how masterful the garden design was as there is a beautiful aspect from every window…
We also talked a bit about the boxwoods…original plants to the garden and now VERY overgrown. They will be heavily pruned this spring, and to get ready for that “windows” were made in the tops of some of the hedges to encourage light into the dark interiors of the plants…
the ribbon boxwoods will probably lose a full foot in the pruning…
we’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime, we wish you a very happy holiday from the Lord and Schryver Conservancy. Consider including the Conservancy in your year-end donations so this good work can go on.
Lord & Schryver Conservancy blog 