ELISABETH C. MILLER LIBRARY UW Botanic Gardens Box 354115 Seattle, WA OtP % ? 98195-4115 m Foundation ' V Mr '«P <•■* 5 \ r* ?Vi fern /: v > fjspgs:.. v Wv ■ -, . f .W' v v *N^z < A \ >1 > PEaajfl The Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin is a benefit of Arboretum Foundation membership. For information on membership or advertising opportunities, contact the Arboretum Foundation at 206-325-4510 or gvc@arboretumfoundation.org. — University of Washington Botanic Gardens — The University of Washington manages the Arboretum’s collections, horticultural programs, facilities and education programs through the University of Washington Botanic Gardens. It owns some of the land and buildings and all of the collections. - Washington Park Arboretum - The Arboretum is a 230-acre dynamic garden of trees and shrubs, displaying internationally renowned collections of oaks, conifers, camellias, Japanese and other maples, hollies and a profusion of woody plants from the Pacific Northwest and around the world. Aesthetic enjoyment gracefully co-exists with science in this spectacular urban green space on the shores of Lake Washington. Visitors come to learn, explore, relax or reflect in Seattle’s largest public garden. The Washington Park Arboretum is managed cooper¬ atively by the University of Washington Botanic Gardens and Seattle Parks and Recreation; the Arboretum Foundation is its major support organization. - Graham Visitors Center - Open 10 am — 4 pm daily; holidays, noon — 4 pm. Closed University of Washington holidays. The Arboretum is accessible by Metro Transit buses #11, #43 and #48. For more information: www.transit.metrokc.gov - Arboretum Foundation - The Arboretum Foundation’s mission is to create and strengthen an engaged community of donors, volun¬ teers and advocates who will promote, protect and enhance the Washington Park Arboretum for current and future generations. 2300 Arboretum Drive East, Seattle, WA 98112 206-325-4510 voice / 206-325-8893 fax gvc@arboretumfoundation.org www.arboretumfoundation.org Office hours: 8:30 am — 4:30 pm weekdays Gift shop hours: 10 am — 4 pm daily Officers of the Arboretum Foundation Board of Directors Paige Miller, Executive Director Barbara Wright, President Susan Black, Vice President Steve Cory', Vice President Allan Perrin, Vice President Kathleen Pierce, Vice President Della Balick, Secretary Paul (Skip) Vonckx, Treasurer John Johnston, Immediate Past President 206-543-8800 voice / 206-616-2871 fax Office hours: 10 am — 4 pm weekdays www.uwbotanicgardens.org Sandra Lier, Executive Director - Seattle Parks and Recreation - The City of Seattle owns most of the Arboretum’s land and buildings. Seattle Parks and Recreation is respon¬ sible for park functions throughout the Arboretum and manages and operates the Japanese Garden. 206-684-4556 voice / 206-684-4304 fax — Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin — Jan K. Whitner, Constance Bollen, cbgraphics Editor Graphic Design Cynthia E. Duryee, Joy Spurr, Photography Copy Editor (unless otherwise noted) Editorial Board Janine Anderson, Garden Designer & Writer Constance Bollen, Graphic Designer Walt Bubelis, Edmonds Community College Niall Dunne, Communications Manager, Arboretum Foundation Cynthia E. Duryee, Writer/Editor Daniel J. Hinkley, Author, Lecturer, Horticultural Consultant Steven R. Lorton, Former Northwest Bureau Chief, Sunset Magazine Ciscoe Morris, Horticulturist Christina Pfeiffer, Horticultural Consultant Richie Steffen, Coordinator of Horticulture, Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden Brian R. Thompson, Elisabeth C. Miller Library, University of Washington Botanic Gardens Cass Turnbull, Plant Amnesty Founder Martha Wingate, Writer Phil Wood, Garden Designer & Writer Botanical Editors Randall Hitchin, Plant Collections Manager, University of Washington Botanic Gardens Martha Wingate Spring 2009 Volume 71. Issue 1. © 2009 The Arboretum Foundation. ISSN 1046-8749. TENTS 2 Spring in Uncertain Times — Paige Miller 3 Plants for the Arboretum’s Cascadia Forest — Phil Wood and Bob Lilly g Carpinus fangiana — Daniel J. Hinkley 12 A New Management Plan for the Union Bay Natural Area — Kern Ewing "| g Careless Grace: The Gardens of Lord & Schryver — Ruth Roberts , Gretchen Carnaby and Bobbie Dopp 27 New Plantings at the Japanese Garden — Jan K. Whitner 30 In a Garden Library: A Manager’s Favorites: Highlights from the Miller Library — Brian Thompson ABOVE: The Arboretum’s spring floor is spangled with the blooms of Trillium ovatum and other Pacific Northwest native plants. (Photograph by Stephanie Jeter) ON THE COVER: The region’s public gardens offer stunning vignettes of spring-flowering plants. Richard A. Brown, executive director of Bainbridge Island’s Bloedel Reserve, photographed a glen in the Reserve filled with Japanese primroses ( Primula japonica ), their spiky stems and flowers set off by the broad leaves of Western skunk cabbages ( Lysichiton americanus). Spring 2009 ^ 1 Spring in Uncertain Times here is no way around saying it: it has been a hard winter. We have seen it all — deep freezes, heavy rains and floods, blankets of snow, icy glazes on branches, streets, and sidewalks. And it shows in our gardens: toppled state champion trees here in the Arboretum, limbs snapped off broaclleaf evergreens in our home gardens, gelatinous piles of last year’s glories in our perennial borders, the complete loss of winter crops in our vegetable gardens. A stroll among the mins can leave one quite glum. But the news indoors has not necessarily brought much respite. Every week there has been more bad news to absorb — bank failures, company closures, job losses, another drop in the stock markets. Even my favorite source of winter cheer, attending the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, was a source of uncertainty this year as we walked out the doors not knowing if there would ever be another one. There is a sense of insecurity and fear that creeps into conversations with old friends. How bad will it get? How long will it last? Will it ever be normal again in my lifetime or is this “the new normal?” Amd just when the dark and the gloom have done their worst, you pause and think. The days are getting longer. Across Arboretum Drive in the Witt Winter Garden, the witch hazels and viburnums are pouring forth their magic on a sunny day. The little reticulata irises and species crocuses are up and smiling. Amid the flattened, old leaves of the helle¬ bores, the new flowers are poking out. Yes, spring with its promise of warmth and renewal is on its way. If the economy is precarious and uncertain, there is solace in the rhythm of the seasons and the knowledge that once again spring will bring the opportunity to plant and to weed, to rest in the sun, and to look forward to summer’s bounty. Cheers to you all, Paige Miller, Executive Director, Arboretum Foundation 2 Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin Plants for the Arboretum's Cascadia Forest By Phil Wood and Bob Lilly iving in the Pacific Northwest, we are surrounded by tall, dark evergreens that seep into our uncon¬ scious and shelter below them a multitude of textures and ephemeral blooms. As designers, we drew upon these iconic images when creating “Entry to Cascadia,” the Arboretum Foundation display garden at the 2009 Northwest Flower and Garden Show. We chose plants for the show garden from the list of plants generated for the Cascadia Forest currently being built as part of the ABOVE: Plants for the Arboretum’s Cascade Forest. Clockwise from top left: Berberis aquifolium , by Craig Big Eagle; Darlingtonia calif ornicz, by Noah Elhardt, licensed under GNU Free Documentation License; Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ; and Kites sanguineum White Icicle,’ by Joseph Abken. Spring 2009 3 Arboretum’s new Pacific Connections Garden (PCG). When the PCG is completed, it will feature plants from five eco-geographic regions around the Pacific Ocean: Chile, Australia, New Zealand, China and our own Cascadia. The PCG is the first garden to be installed in the Arboretum since its new master plan was adopted in 2000. The Arboretum’s original plan, prepared in 1936 by the Olmsted Brothers landscape firm, placed plants in taxonomic groups — for example, the oaks were planted in one area, while the pines were grouped together in another. The new master plan sites plants as they are found in distinct eco- geographic regions in the natural landscape; it also recreates plant communities, or associa¬ tions, as they are found in natural eco¬ geographic regions. Compare this change in arranging plant communities to the changes you see at Woodland Park Zoo. Several decades ago, all of the animals were grouped by species — felines in , one house, bears in adjoining pits — but now some of them are displayed together in eco-geographic exhibits, such as an African savannah. This design approach means we all can start to learn, beginning with our childhood visits to the Zoo and the Arboretum, how the world is put together — one community at a time. Because its geography is a complicated patchwork of landforms and water, the Pacific Northwest offers diverse microclimates filled with many plant associations. The PCG’s Cascadia Forest will focus on plants from the ABOVE LEFT: The dainty flowers of salal ( Gaultberia shallon), a Pacific Northwest native. UPPER RIGHT: Picea engelmanii grows in upper elevations in the Siskiyou Mountains. LOWER RIGHT: The broadleaf evergreen Umbellularia californica appears at mid-elevation in the Siskiyous. 4 Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin Siskiyou Mountains in southwest Oregon, an area of great bio-diversity with many endemic plants (i.e. , those that grow only in the Siskiyous). As important as plants are to landscapes and gardens, a good garden needs an under¬ lying structure. All gardens benefit from good bones — the hardscape — whether it consists of natural stone and watercourses or of human- made features that hold the design together. For the show garden, we designed a stone circle and a path leading into a forest, borrowing from a similar feature installed at the recently completed first phase of the Arboretum’s Cascadia Forest. Plants for the PCG will be grown from seed collected in the wild by the Arboretum’s plant collections manager, Randall Hitchin, and his team, and grown in the greenhouses at the Center for Urban Horticulture by plant propagator Barbara Selemon and her crew. Because we did not have the time to grow our plants from scratch for the show garden, we obtained them from nurseries. In the planting design for the show garden, we emulated the plant placements and associ¬ ations found in the plan for the Cascadia Forest, which in turn mirrors the way plants grow in the Siskiyous. We placed conifers at the highest elevation, mixed conifers and broadleaf evergreens at mid-elevation, and chaparral, a mix of small shrubs, at the lowest elevation. The conifer specimens that we used at the show were relatively small. These same ABOVE: The Arboretum display garden, “Entry to Cascadia,” for the 2009 Northwest Flower and Garden Show. (Photograph by Jacob Smithers) Spring 2009 5 Perennials Annuals Grasses Shrubs Herbs Saturday, April 25 9 AM — 5 PM Sunday, April 26 10 AM — 3 PM Member Pre-Sale & Party Friday, April 24 5:30 — 8pm Warren G. Magnuson Park Special Events Center (Bldg. 30) Lots of Free Parking Benefits Washington Park Arboretum 206.325.45iO www.arboretumfoundation.org Dozens of Nurseries & Vendors! species, when planted in the Cascadia Forest, will soar in time a hundred feet or more in the air and create an understory for smaller plants. The conifers in the Siskyou Mountains include several species of true or silver fir (Abies) such as white fir (A. concolor) and noble fir (A. procera). Pines include Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi) and sugar pine (P. lamber- tiana). Among the spruces are Brewer’s spruce (Picea breweriana) and the Engelmann spruce (Picea engel ma n ii) . The middle level of planting in the show garden featured broadleaf evergreens. Tan oak (Lithocarpus densiflorus ) and California bay laurel (Umbellularia californica) are native to the Siskiyous. We also used Oregon grape (Berberis aquifolium), a plant common to Western Washington. Broadleaf evergreens are valuable in any garden design because they offer contrast to conifers and deciduous plants. In the chaparral section of the show garden, we used two mahonias: long-leaf Oregon grape (Berberis nervosa) and creeping mahonia (B. repens). Another valuable evergreen native groundcover in the show garden was kinnikin- nick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi ). The Cascadia Forest will feature many other plants from the genus Arctostaphylos , including A. canescens and A. viscida — all wonderful plants that are hard to find in nurseries. We also created a low spot in the show garden to represent a small bog — the natural habitat for the cobra lily (Darlingtonia califor¬ nica), an insect-eating plant native to the Siskiyous. In creating plant combinations for the show garden, we found it helpful to observe the forests around us, where Western sword ferns ( Polystichum munitum) carpet the ground under the forest canopy and red-flowering currants (Ribes sanguineum) hug the woodland edge. We also thought about the dramatic effect of contrasting leaf textures, using the glossy, rounded leaves of salal (Gaultberia shallon) against the sharply pointed foliage of 6 ■*> Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin Oregon grape ( Berberis aquifolium). Another contrast, which is especially effective in winter, places the red-tipped twigs of vine maples ( Acer circinatum ) against dark-green conifers. In summer, the light-green foliage of the vine maple provides contrast to the surrounding conifers. By using native plants in our gardens we can foster wildlife and connect to the natural world. Study the microclimates in your own garden and choose native plants that will thrive in them. If you are gardening in a spot that still has remnants of the natural forest, learn how to foster the natives and keep out invasive plants. (We all know we are talking about Himalayan blackberry and ivy!) Doing so allows us to garden harmoniously with nature. Whether you are looking for planting design ideas or want to know more about the natural flora around us, the Cascadia Forest will provide an excellent resource. As Arboretum Foundation Executive Director Paige Miller says, “We are excited to show to the public the wonderful palette of native plants that will be featured in the new Cascadia Forest display at the Arboretum.” ^ For over 10 years, Bob Lilly has been chair of Florabundance, the Arboretum’s spring plant sale, and co-chair of the Bulb Sale; he also has worked on the Arboretum’s display gardens at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, acting as sole designer for two of them. Phil Wood is a consul¬ tant for the Arboretum’s new Cascadia Forest, was co-designer of the Arboretums’s 2009 Flower and Garden Show display garden, and is a member of the “Bulletin” editorial board. Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden www. rhodygarden. org Explore a beautiful woodland garden featuring 22 acres of rhododendrons, ferns, perennials and flowering trees. 2009 Spring Plant Sale April 4th & 5th Peak season is mid-March through mid-May For information on the garden, guided ft tours, wedding rentals, — membership program and admission fees please call 253-661-9377 Located in Federal Way, Washington Pacific Office Automation thanks the many dedicated employees and volunteers whose hard work makes it possible for all of us to enjoy the Arboretum. Spring 2009 c*-' 7 Carpinus fangiana Story and Photographs by Daniel J. Hinkley he genus Carpinus remains a seminal taxon in my understanding and appreciation of the world of trees. In the deciduous woodlands of northern Michigan, my father taught me to distinguish musclewood ( Carpinus caroliniana ), the only New World representative of the genus, from the equally prominent and closely related hop hornbeam Ostrya virginiana. Little did I realize, at the time, that the trajectory of my life later would intersect with many of the 35-odd species of Carpinus found in Japan, Korea, Turkey, Nepal, Taiwan and Mainland China. The genus name is the original Latin moniker applied to the two European species, Carpinus betulus and Carpinus orientalis. The universal common name of hornbeam refers to the hardness of its wood, although the vernacular name of musclewood, through which I first made its acquaintance, refers to the ripped musculature of its framework. For many years the genus was included in the family of birches, Betulaceae, but current taxonomic research suggests it belongs with the Corylaceae family, which also includes the hazelnuts (genus Corylus ) and the hop hornbeams (genus Ostrya ). The leaves of all Carpinus alternate on the twig, generally are ovate and linear in shape, and display prominently serrated or dentated surfaces. (The alternate leaf arrangement of Carpinus makes it easy to distinguish this genus from a maple species, Acer carpini- folium , whose oppositely arranged foliage is otherwise duplicitously similar in appearance to that of Carpinus .) The flowers of all species of Carpinus are monoecious, with male and female flowers appearing along separate, pendulous catkins in spring. Although the male catkins are jettisoned after they deliver pollen, the numerous female flowers on each catkin expand to express jagged, papery bracts that attend small nutlets. The genus represents a large contingent of small and elegant deciduous trees that are hardy for gardens in the Pacific Northwest — except for the exceedingly lovely but tender Carpinus viminalis that hails from low eleva¬ tions of the eastern Himalayas. Carpinus japonica, a specimen of which grows on the north side of the Arboretum’s lagoon is, in my opinion, one of the most poised, yet sadly overlooked, small trees for West Sound landscapes. I would venture a guess that the highly sculpted, fanciful (and enormously time- consuming) vaulting hedge of Carpinus betulus ‘Fastigiata’ in my former garden in Kingston will remain a cynosure for those who visited it before the garden closed in 2006. If there is a given in the world of plants, it is that within the ranks of each genus there lurks an unknown that can rewrite perceptions of the genus at large. So it is with Carpinus — and with my introduction to Carpinus fangiana. Professor Fang Wenpei (1899-1983) is considered one of the most esteemed and OPPOSITE: UPPER: A hedge of Carpinus betulus ‘Fastigiata’ at the author’s former nursery, Heronswood. LOWER LEFT: A rare Carpinus betulus ‘Columnaris Nanus’ in a private arboretum in Belgium. LOWER RIGHT: Carpinus fangiana. 8 Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin ’ - 2. -ft.' '. !V •$> > 'Pf^k V-' • . 2 *Sti 2- ■ :. ' >.*?•*! ill,. •>'■ • V ,C •**. ' /?£ - WwM Spring 2009 9 influential botanists of post-revolutionary China. Working as a botanist in the Department of Botany at Sichuan University, he made his life’s work the study of the rich biodiversity of flora in the mountains of western Sichuan. Roy Lancaster, an eminent plantsman from the United Kingdom, met with Fang during Lancaster’s first trip to Sichuan in 1971; in his classic “Travels in China,” Lancaster expresses his profound appreciation for meeting this botanical titan before his death. As an aside, I met with Fang’s son, who carried on his father’s botanical legacy, during my first trip to Sichuan in 1996. Yet it was in the collection of the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden (UBCBG), through my association with the sadly deceased plantsmen Gerald Straley and Peter Wharton, that I came to know Carpinus fangiana — the tree whose name honors the work of Professor Fang. To say 1 was awestruck by its physical attributes would be akin to saying Audrey Hepburn was simply a pretty woman and not an extraordi¬ narily talented actress with a fully . grounded personality. I was besotted. The foliage of Carpinus fangiana is lengthy. I mean really lengthy — to the dimensions of eight inches by two inches on a cleverly cultivated specimen. The pendulous catkins of female flowers — with the squat bracts mentioned above — extend to an astounding length of 10 inches or more. As they remain intact from late summer until early winter, this striking effect is far from ephemeral. Unfortunately, it seems it takes more than one Carpinus to tangle. Although the clone from UBCBG flowered and “fruited” consistently, the resulting nutlets were as empty as an interview with Britney Spears. During a trip I sponsored in 1997, Eric Hammond, my head propagator at my former enterprise (Heronswood Nursery), collected a single seedling of this species from western Sichuan. Being quite variable in appearance, Eric’s collection specimen did not possess the pulchritude of the UBCBG clone; nonetheless it did proffer itself as a possible suitor for the UBCBG tree. Unfortunately, this proposed marriage was not consummated before Heronswood was shuttered in 2006. During the autumn of 2008 I visited Sichuan Province again, this time on behalf of the University of Washington Botanic ABOVE: A Carpinus fangiana photographed in western Sichuan Province in fall 2008. 10 Washington Park, Arboretum Bulletin Gardens, and as a consultant for Monrovia Growers Inc. My perennial collecting compan¬ ions, Scott McMahan and Ozzie Johnson of Georgia, also were part of the team. We collected plant material in a mountainous area approximately 200 miles southeast of Chengdu, Sichuan, where Davidia, Idesia, Tetracentron, Acer and Cercidiphyllum predominated in the landscape. At the end of a long and exceedingly disappointing trek (due to the profound paucity of seed proffered during this particular autumn), we came upon a sole, fruited specimen of Carpinus fangiana overhanging a dry river bed. The remaining infructescences that still adhered to the branches were a staggering one foot in length, although most had, disap¬ pointingly, fully jettisoned their seed. For the next three hours we moved individual rocks and pebbles in an area beneath the mother plant to gather the nutlets scattered by this specimen. Under the name Carpinus fangiana DJH 8066, these collected nutlets are now with the propagation staff at the Center for Urban Horticulture and, hopefully, a small grove of Carpinus fangiana will be planted in the Chinese forest area of the Arboretum’s Pacific Connections Garden in the near future. With several clones planted together, viable seed should be produced, and this splendid, small tree ultimately will become more widely avail¬ able for use in gardens throughout North America. / 5 Acres of Superior Quality Plants Perennials • Annuals • Shrubs • Roses Rhododendrons • Japanese Maples Reference Library • Knowledgeable Staff • Display Gardens Demonstration Containers 425.454.1853 8300 NE 24th Street • just off 520 in Medina, WA Spring 2009 23 THE LORD & SCHRVVER CONSERVANCY juring the 1980s, a growing awareness of the treasure embodied in Lord and Schryver’s legacy gathered momentum, spurred by concerns about the conservation of their remaining gardens. The Conservancy was formed in November 2005 with the mission “to preserve and interpret the legacy of Lord and Schryver and thereby promote a greater understanding of their contribution to Northwest landscape architecture.” The Conservancy is affiliated with the Garden Conservancy and partners with the Oregon Cultural Trust. The Conservancy sponsors a wide variety of projects, among them archiving Lord & Schryver’s profes¬ sional materials: collecting oral histories by friends and associates, identifying “lost” gardens, documenting surviving gardens, and cataloguing and digitizing 1500 historic and contemporary images of Lord and Schryver and their gardens. In addition, the Conservancy has undertaken a major rehabilitation of Historic Deepwood Estate, the only one of Lord & Schryver’s residential designs currently open to the public. Based on extensive research and analysis by Conservancy members, plans to rehabilitate the deteriorated gardens were developed in collaboration with the City of Salem, implemented by volunteers, and supported by $10,000 in grants; the rehabilitation is scheduled to be completed late in 2009 as a gift to Oregon’s sesquicentennial celebration. Education is an important part of the Lord & Schryver legacy: the Conservancy offers hands-on workshops on the Lord & Schryver style, gives oral presentations on their legacy, and leads garden tours at Deepwood. The organization’s research has led to plans for a series of monographs, the first of which has been published and is entitled “Essentials of Landscape Architecture.” It contains nine articles that the partners wrote for “The Oregonian” in 1932 on how their design principles can be applied to an urban lot. Other activities involve three public lectures to begin in fall of 2009 that will discuss Lord & Schryver’s contributions to, and the role of women in, the evolving field of Pacific Northwest landscape architec¬ ture; the development of an interpretive center in the restored carriage house at Deepwood; and the ongoing efforts to preserve and eventually rehabilitate Lord and Schryver’s home garden. For more information on Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver and the activities of the Lord & Schryver Conservancy, see www.lord-schryverconservancy.org. 24 Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin them from East Coast gardens and combined it with our native Pacific Northwest plant palette to create lush, complex plant combi¬ nations based heavily on broad-leaved evergreens. (Many of the latter grow well in the acid soils and moderate climate of the Pacific Northwest.) In addition, each plant in a design plan was selected for the form, texture and color it would bring to a specific compo¬ sition within the garden. Lord & Schryver always attempted to preserve as much extant plant material on a garden site as possible; the presence of large shrubs and trees contributed a look of maturity they felt was highly desirable. Taller conifers were restricted to the boundaries of the garden, while deciduous flowering trees, generally sub¬ canopy specimens, were preserved if they lay closer to the house. A year-round succession of bloom is characteristic of their work. This succession might begin with the winter-blooming Camellia sasanqua, the Japanese camellias of late winter, followed by spring-flowering plums, cherries and magnolias, crabapples and hawthorns, and ending with lilacs, hydrangeas and the scented blooms of Osmanthus fragrans. For additional fall and winter interest, they used such shrubs as Vitex, viburnums and wintersweet. As mentioned above, broad-leaved evergreens are critical to the success of Lord & Schryver designs because they give textural interest throughout the year. The shrubberies located at the extremity of a garden might be composed of mixtures of tall varieties of rhododendrons, camellias and laurels. Small, enclosed gardens, hedged with evergreens, frequently were sited adjacent to a living or dining room window, or functioned as passageways from the front garden to the back garden. These little “picture” gardens typically were bisected by a charming path and featured evergreen azaleas backed up with rhododendrons, Mexican orange or Pieris and underplanted with hellebores. A focal point such as a birdbath, small pool or deciduous, flowering tree completed the scene. Other choice selections used by Lord & Schryver included boxwood, their signature white- berried skimmia, and the old-fashioned male skimmia, which grows much larger than modern selections. Where fences or shrubberies weren’t used, evergreen hedges created the quality of privacy so necessary to a successfully designed Lord & Schryver garden. They frequently used laurel and holly at the boundaries of a garden, and lined paths and enclosed garden spaces with boxwood. It is thought Lord & Schryver intro¬ duced boxwood hedges to the Pacific Northwest. As the partners said in an article written for “The Oregonian” on April 3, 1932, “[Boxwood] gives immediate age, charm, and dignity where it is properly used in our gardens, but care must be taken in its placing. . . Boxwood is a heritage handed down to us from the old English and colonial gardens, a heritage which we must preserve and continue.” Lord & Schryver designed three basic types of flower gardens: the single perennial border in front of a fence or hedge at the edge of a lawn, the double perennial border bisected by a path set in a narrow panel of lawn, and the enclosed flower garden usually defined by an axial system of paths. (This last type created the most intimate association between a viewer and the flowers.) The enclosed flower garden encompasses a very complex system of spring bulbs underplanted with forget-me-nots, violas, primroses and small edging plants, followed by the iris, peonies and columbines of May. Biennials such as foxgloves and Canterbury bells, and June perennials — such as delphiniums and veronicas — are next on the scene. As bulbs and biennials fade, annuals that accompany late-blooming perennials such as phlox, hollyhock and eventually asters and chrysanthemums, replace them. Individual varieties were planted in drifts so as to “avoid a spotty or colorless appearance.” A favorite combination for semi-shade at the edge of an enclosed garden included columbines, lilies Spring 2009 25 and fall anemones. These labor-intensive gardens are found in their landscape designs prior to World War II, when labor was relatively cheap. Few detailed drawings of specific flower gardens exist, since many of Lord & Schiyver’s clients were members of garden clubs and had the interest and knowledge to design their own. Additional favorite plant combinations included intricate, complementary combina¬ tions of spring bulbs at the bases of flowering trees, lilacs underplanted with Deutzia (frequently east-facing), lilacs underplanted with peonies (west-facing), lilac allees underplanted with hydrangeas, carpets of old-fashioned hellebores under deciduous magnolias (the latter are notoriously shallow- rooted — hence self-seeding is an ideal solution), and Pieris, Viburnum davidii and camellias as part of the foundation plantings. The lawn was another important element in a Lord & Schryver design because of its year-round presence. Unbroken panels of grass complemented boxwood hedges and tied together separate groups of plants, while panels of grass often functioned in small gardens as organizational elements for the entire space. Lord & Schryver continually strived for what they termed “informal formality” in their designs. Edith Schryver frequently said, “Order is beauty and beauty is order.” Usually she would quickly add, “But too much neatness without careless grace will not produce charm.” This goal of creating “charm” — a quality that surely had to do with their seemingly innate sense of scale and consistent attention to detail — resulted in garden spaces within which one feels deliciously comfortable and totally at ease. Conclusion If one were to distill the essence of the Lord & Schryver approach to garden design, which elements would endure? Their legacy is a composite of incorporating past influences, working within the realities of their time, and setting a new standard of garden design and professionalism that is very pertinent for today. As landscape architects, they honored the “sense of place” of each garden while incor¬ porating a complex combination of plant material that resulted in that elusive and signa¬ ture quality, “charm.” While many of their projects were on a large scale, some of their most important work involved small urban lots; hence its relevance for today. As professionals, they set a high standard by giving generously to their peers and community. By serving on public boards and commissions, educating students at Oregon State University and the general public through a series of radio programs, writing for the public media, and designing local parks and campuses throughout the Pacific Northwest, they involved an audience well beyond that of their clients. Their legacy still flourishes in domestic gardens and public spaces throughout the Pacific Northwest. ^ Ruth Roberts is a community volunteer with interests in education and the preser¬ vation and interpretation of cultural resources. She has been exploring the Lord & Schryver story for over 20 years and serves on the Conservancy Board as an historian. She is a former computer programmer and educator. Gretchen Carnaby is a landscape designer and serves on the Conservancy Board as the rehabilitation director for the Lord & Schryver Gardens at Historic Deepwood Estate. She is also the co-founder and project coordinator for the Friends of Bush Gardens, Salem. As a former owner of a Lord & Schryver garden, she has been a student of their legacy for over 20 years. Bobbie Dopp is a retired science teacher whose interest in gardening and history attracted her to the Lord & Schryver story. She is president of the Conservancy Board; teaching knitting and travel are additional pursuits. 26 Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin New Plantings at the Japanese Garden By Jan K. Whitner 0^ have found the spirit rr/j gardens to be inexhaustible. Tachibana Toshitsuna (C.E. 1028-94) he new entiy complex to the Washington Park Japanese Garden was designed to evoke the appear¬ ance of a traditional Japanese village — and two recently planted garden areas in the complex complement and enhance that effect. Designed by Nakano Associates, in consultation with Friends of the Japanese Garden (FJG), the display and courtyard gardens also serve as points of quiet transition between the outside world and the Japanese Garden. According to FJG President Steve Garber and designer Kenichi Nakano, it was decided early in the design process that the plantings in the new gardens should be “un-showy and non-compet¬ itive” with the plantings within the Japanese Garden. Although they are designed with an Asian aesthetic and use plants found in tradi- ABOVE: An Enkianthus campamdatus anchors the plantings in the new front courtyard of the Arboretum’s Japanese Garden. INSET: Camellia japonica ‘Nuccio’s Jewel’ adds soft-pink flowers to the spring scene in the Japanese Garden’s new display garden. Photo courtesy of Colesville Nursery, Ashland Virginia. Spring 2009 27 tional Japanese gardens, the new gardens also feature plants usually associated with western gardens; these plants help tie the new garden areas to the surrounding Arboretum landscape. The Display Garden Traditional Japanese architecture is garden- oriented. Jiro Takei and Marc P. Keane, recent translators of the eleventh- century Japanese garden design classic “Sakuteiki,” or “Record of Garden Making,” remark that from ancient times “. . . buildings served in many ways as stages offering advan¬ tageous views of the garden.” While traditionally designed rooms have removable screen walls that open to views of the garden outside, the meeting room in the new entry complex features a north-facing wall with glass doors and floor- to-ceiling windows that look into the small but exquisitely designed display garden. The garden, which was generously funded by the Seattle Garden Club, uses choice evergreens to provide a tranquil green landscape all year round, mixed with showstopper flowering shrubs to emphasize seasonal change. In accordance with traditional Japanese garden design principles, there is a comfortable way to enter the display garden from the meeting room via a landing of granite pavers set before the glass doors, and eaves overhanging the doors allow visitors to step outside to enjoy the garden even during rainy weather. In a nod to the Asian garden design principle of “borrowing views,” the north boundary of the new display garden is visually porous — consisting mostly of short evergreen shrubs that allow viewers in the new garden to see into the Japanese Garden beyond; on the opposite side of the boundary, viewers within the Japanese Garden can look south into the new display garden from points on the main paths near the entry gate. Because a mix of new plants and older speci¬ mens transplanted from nearby spots was used, the display garden already possesses an aura of maturity and tranquility — qualities highly valued by Japanese gardeners. The plants in the new display garden are a mix of those found in traditional Japanese gardens, as well as some western hybrids and cultivars that adapt well to the growing condi¬ tions found on site. The major display plants include: Camellia japonica (in Japanese, tsubaki ): An evergreen tree — with shiny, elliptical leaves — that grows up to 40 feet high in favor¬ able conditions. An essential plant in Japanese gardens, where it is used both as a shade tree and, when pruned, as a hedge. Often used in bonsai and in flower arranging. The specimen in the new display garden is a western intro¬ duction, Camellia japonica ‘Nuccio’s Jewel,’ a medium-sized and slow-growing shrub with soft-washed, pink flowers that bloom in mid- to late season. Corylopsis pauciflora (Buttercup witch hazel; Hyuga mizuki ): A deciduous shrub three to six feet tall, with ovate leaves and bright yellow spikes in early spring. Native to central Japan, where it is an old garden favorite much appreciated for bringing brilliant color to cloudy spring days; easily pruned, it is often used as a subject for bonsai. ABOVE: Evergreen Osmantbus heterophyllus carries white flowers that suffuse the new front courtyard with their fragrance in fall. 28 un Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin Kerria japonica ( yamabuki ): The Japanese name means “mountain wind” and refers to the way flowering branches sway in the wind. Distributed through much of Japan, it is a deciduous shrub that grows three to six feet high with alternate, obovate leaves and a single, golden-yellow flower that blooms in spring. Acting as borders and underplantings in the display garden are specimens of Buxus sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’ (true dwarf boxwood) and Rhododendron ‘Gumpo White,’ a spreading azalea usually two feet high by three feet wide with small leaves and a ruffly three-inch wide white flower. Epimedium grandiflomm (Bishop’s hat), Sagina subulata (Irish moss) and Ophiopogon japonicus ‘Nanus’ (Dwarf mondo grass) compose a serene garden floor with woodland associations. The Courtyard Garden Nakano Associates also designed, in consul¬ tation with the Friends of the Japanese Garden, the planted areas edging the new courtyard in front of the entiy gate. The plants in this area, selected with the assistance of Kathleen Blanchard, head gardener of the Japanese Garden, serve as an attractive but quiet backdrop to the entry gate and buildings; they also were selected to provide continuing seasonal interest. A large Acer palmatum (Green Japanese maple; momiji ) buffers the courtyard from Lake Washington Boulevard and provides shade in the summer and colorful foliage in the fall. The following shrubs are planted nearby: Osmanthus heterophyllus (Hollyleaf osman- thus; hiiragi): An evergreen tree native to south and central Japan that grows 12 to 16 feet in maturity and displays shiny, elliptical and serrated leaves. Small white flowers bloom in October, when their sweet, haunting fragrance fills Japanese and Chinese temple gardens. Ilex crenata (Japanese holly; inn tsuge ): An evergreen shrub used extensively in gardens throughout Japan, where it often is pruned into hedges. Leaves are dark green, ovate to elliptical and glossy, and decorative berries appear in late spring. The courtyard planting will use a western introduction, I. crenata ‘Helleri,’ which grows four to five feet in height and spreads five to six feet in width. Rhododendron kiusianum (Kyushu azalea; Miyama Kirishima ): A densely leaved, evergreen dwarf shrub that grows one to two feet high. Leaves are small and elliptical, and the rose-red flowers glow against the shiny leaves of the /. crenata ‘Helleri’ when they bloom in mid-spring. (A row of this stands before the I. crenata ‘Helleri’ plantings.) These specimens of Osmanthus hetero¬ phyllus, Ilex crenata ‘Helleri’ and Rhododendron kiusianum are underplanted with carpets of Hakonechloa macra (Japanese forest grass; uraha gusa ) and Ophiopogon japonicus ‘Nanus,’ whose graceful foliage provides a contrast to the hard-edged leaves of the evergreen shrubs. To round out the plantings in the court¬ yard, a large specimen of Enkianthus campanulatus was transplanted from another spot in the Arboretum to the southwest corner of the courtyard. Kenichi Nakano says it will prove a “showstopper” when its blooms explode in spring, and then again in fall when its foliage erupts in brilliant color. Japanese gardens are designed to express powerful spiritual and aesthetic qualities, and visitors respond accordingly. “I have found the spirit of gardens to be inexhaustible,” says Tachibana Toshitsuna, the author of the “ Sakutseiki .” The new display and courtyard gardens at the Japanese Garden follow the principles of Japanese garden design by providing a seamless transition between the outer world and the world of the Garden itself — a place where visitors find their own spirits replenished and inspired. Jan K. Whitner is the editor of the “Bulletin.” Spring 2009 29 A MANAGER'S FAVORITES: Highlights from the Miller Library By Brian Thompson “So. . . what are your favorite books?” Steve Lorton, a fellow member of the “Bulletin’s” editorial board, recently posed this question to me. The occasion was a celebration of my promotion to manager of the Elisabeth C. Miller Library. Steve knows I often ask this question of others. But now, he was making me name my favorites, which means whittling down a whole library full of some 15,000 choices to — say — only five. An alarming prospect (thanks, Steve!), but here is my best go, listed by author: ■ Donald Culross Peattie I love field guides. I collect them as souvenirs wherever I go and have a large, personal collection dedicated to our Pacific Northwest flora. My favorite among them is probably the one least useful for identifying plants. “A Natural History of Western Trees” (1953) has no photos, no keys, and only modestly useful images of flowers or leaves. But what stories this book tells! Donald Culross Peattie was a prolific author from the 1920s through 1950s. He wrote books ranging from biography to children’s stories, but is best known for his deeply personal writings about nature. Two of his most enduring works — they are never out of print — are volumes on the trees of North America. Why is Peattie so good? He is both an excellent storyteller and a teacher, and he is no aloof observer but clearly passionate about all trees, from our mighty conifers to the minor players at the forest’s edge. And he allows you to share that passion. In describing the sub-alpine firs ( Abies lasiocarpa) flanking Mount Rainier (nicely illustrated in one of many woodcuts by Paul Landacre) he captures your thinking perfectly: “That’s a place I would like to camp — in just such a meadow, with just such a view, amid such trees.” ' ■ Beth Chatto Beth Chatto’s writing reminds me of my grandfather, the man who taught me the basics of growing plants in a veiy direct, hands-on way. Chatto is similarly direct and sparse in her words, but she says so much. Unlike my grandfather, Chatto has devel¬ oped an extensive garden and nursery over the last 50 years in Essex — the part of England that, like the Pacific Northwest, has very dry summers. In her many books, she succinctly recorded her progress as she and her avid, amateur botanist husband, Andrew, chose plants from native conditions that matched the garden environment. Chatto kept careful records of her gardening efforts with charts, diagrams and journal notes — and freely shares these in her books. She’s not afraid to experiment, and the boldest of these is recounted in “Beth Chatto’s Gravel Garden,” the story of converting a former parking lot into a garden for plants 30 Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin that, once established, survive only on the rainfall, which averages 20 inches per year. “There will be much to learn from this experiment,” she notes. “Not all plants will be successful, some may die, others may prove unsuitable, or simply it may be I won’t like the effect, or the way one thing smothers out another.” ■ Louise Beebe Wilder “Adventures with Hardy Bulbs” is the most inspired of book titles. No, this is not the writing of an intrepid plant explorer. Instead, Louise Beebe Wilder was an early 20th century gardener, who wrote in her introduction (with an equally intriguing title of “Propaganda”) that “. . . adventure is of the mind — a mental attitude towards everyday events wherever experi¬ enced. One does not have to sit through the long night of an Antarctic winter with an Admiral Byrd to know this. . . ” From there she begins a most unusual A through Z description of bulbous plants (including corms, rhizomes, tubers and the like), all based on her personal experience growing them in her gardens near New York City. There are many other writers of books on bulbs (I know, as this is another personal passion), but very few have the depth of direct experience shared by Wilder — and none have her ability for description. Another way this book differs from others is the short shrift it gives to the more familiar bulbs. There is no long list of tulip or daffodil hybrids, while lilies and dahlias (and most summer bloomers) are left out completely. But she compensates for this by her keen interest in unusual plants, especially those native to western North America. So here — in this book that is now over 70 years old — is some of the best information about growing many of our native Camassias, fritillaries, erythroniums, and even calochortus (although she didn’t have much luck with these), in garden conditions. Her style, wit and McAiuiffe’s Valley Nursery It’s not just a nursery— it's an experience! Ornamental trees Conifers Hedge plants Perennials Annuals 1 Wf/TfliU, ■ Kern Ewing is a professor and plant ecolo¬ gist at the University of Washington Botanic Gardens. He is head of restoration at LIWBG, is a co-director of the University of Washington Restoration Ecology Network, and has been faculty manager of the Union Bay Natural Area since 1990. Spring 2009 33 garden+home Inspiring Gardeners Year-round with a Distinctive Selection of. • Shrubs • Annuals • Vines • Trees • Perennials • Groundcovers Free Horticultural Seminars and Special Events Arboretum Foundation NONPROFIT ORG. US POSTAGE PAID SEATTLE, WA PERMIT NO. 126 . - - ' * > ' . .. ■ .