![]() ![]() Farrand followed the natural lines of the topography-a natural bowl formed by a former pond-to produce an asymmetrical triangular configuration of approximately one and a quarter acres, surrounded by iron lattice fencing. Up until that time, her commissions had included several residential rose gardens, but nothing on the scale envisioned by the botanical garden. Farrand was asked to assist in designing a large rose garden for public enjoyment at The New York Botanical Garden. In addition to work for private clients, Farrand also established a landscape study center at Reef Point, Maine, where students benefited from demonstration gardens, a herbarium, and an extensive reference library that she had assembled over many years. Her landscapes always showed restraint, and many lasted as long as they did because of her vigilance about maintenance.ĭuring her fifty-year career, Farrand received more than two hundred commissions, mostly from Old Guard families from New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. In her university work, she championed the concept of vertical gardening, pinning shrubs and climbers to walls to save space, and the selection of plants that would provide interest during the school term. She was famous for her complex flower borders as well as her advocacy of native landscapes and plants, which she wove into a classical design framework. Variously hailed as “the Gertrude Jekyll of America” and “the doyenne of the profession,” Farrand owed her success to her unerring eye for design, profound knowledge of horticulture, and deep commitment to her profession that inspired others to follow in her footsteps. To this list several recent landscape restorations help enhance our understanding of this important early design professional. Dumbarton Oaks, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden (Maine), and the old campus at Princeton University are among her most visible masterpieces today. Tankard, Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes (The Monacelli Press/Random House, 2009).īiography of Beatrix Farrand (from The Cultural Landscape Foundation)īeatrix Farrand was one of America’s most celebrated landscape architects, renowned for the private estate gardens she designed for East Coast society as well as her work as a landscape consultant at some of the country’s most prestigious private universities and colleges. The plantings remain one of Farrand's most significant legacies in Maine." In all, sixty varieties of trees, shrubs, and perennials were used, and most of them were native to the island. She injected quantities of native plants in naturalistic groupings so that they looked as if they had always been growing there, sometimes moving clumps from one location in the park to another. They spent afternoons driving along the roads and inspecting the plantings. Impressed with her abilities in orchestrating work on the gardens at The Eyrie and her passionate interest in native plants, Rockefeller engaged her to consult on the roadside plantings in the park. on preserving and beautifying the carriage roads in the park. ![]() ![]() "Her most significant project was working with John D. The Dumbarton Oaks gardens represent Farrand's signature style and are her best-known work. She worked with owner Mildred Bliss for decades to cultivate a landscape that evolved over time in harmony with natural changes to the environment. Dumbarton Oaksīeginning in 1921, Beatrix Farrand transformed the grounds around the Georgian Revival mansion from farmland into terraced gardens that combined American and European elements. The area was re-envisioned by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1962 and is now the Rose Garden. She also worked with both Ellen and Edith Wilson to design a First Lady's Garden for the East Wing of the White House. Among the existing examples of her work are the terraced garden rooms of Dumbarton Oaks, and the carriage roads of Acadia National Park. Maguire, quoted in the New York Times, 2003.īeatrix Farrand was an acclaimed landscape gardener (she preferred the term to architect) whose designs can still be enjoyed in many cultivated spaces today. ![]() They were designing public parks her work was in the private realm." Landscape architect Diane K. But because she was a woman, she didn't have the opportunities that men had. "She was outstanding as a designer she had a great sense of proportion and strength in her designs. ![]()
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