"Beatrikfarrand 1/2 George B.Dorr The Inevitable Connection." Beatrix Farrand Society News 2019. Yp. 12-13. BEATRIX FARRAND & GEORGE B. DORR: THE INEVITABLE CONNECTION By Ronald H. Epp DESERT Mount Desert Nurseries, between 1906 and 1912. Photo by Richard Rothe. Printed here with permission of Clark Point Gallery, Southwest Harbor, ME. Original owned by Old York Road Historical Society, Jenkintown, PA. The relationship between Beatrix Farrand and her Bar Harbor neighbor, horticulturist George B. Dorr, is a subject too frequently given short attention in public addresses and print-based media. The usual explanation is that the documentation record is spotty and that little evidence of collaboration or correspondence survives. In the early 1890s, following completion of Farrand's botanical studies with Arnold Ar- boretum Director Charles S. Sargent, physician S. Weir Mitchell recommended her to Dorr. He tasked her with the restoration of a meadow at the base of Champlain Mountain that was owned by the William Bliss family of Winter Harbor. In his memoirs, Dorr described that as Farrand's "first professional job." At that time, Farrand and Dorr served together on two committees of the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association: Trees & Plantings, and Roads & Paths. Yet this assessment belies the value of the inferential horticultural evidence recently published by Mount Desert historians. Before the turn of the century, the Dorr estate, Oldfarm, was considered to be one of the finest gardens on the coast of Maine. Consider the proximity of Oldfarm to Reef Point, a mere fifteen-minute walk south on Main Street for the budding Beatrix Farrand. The largest Bar Harbor estate, Oldfarm's expansive acres included residences, gardens, nurseries, woods-all abutting the Frenchman Bay shoreline. The gardens were newly es- tablished by 1883 when Farrand's parents acquired Reef Point, which attracted many guests including Farrand's aunt Edith. She would marry Dorr's Harvard classmate, Teddy Wharton. Both Dorr and Farrand provided input into garden design at the Wharton family home, The Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts. By 1893, the adult Beatrix Farrand wrote at length in her journal-with exacting detail and a critical eye- the evidence for judging the Oldfarm fall colors as "a perfect composition." Farrand was attuned to "the garden in relation to the house," the title of a Garden & Forest article she would write three years later. She also implied that the Oldfarm topography elevated the prospect of the three Porcupine Islands adjacent to the neighboring Pointe d' Acadie, the estate of George W. Vanderbilt. This view was emphatically repeated much later by Dorr. With shared common interests in landscape, plant diversity, and the opportunities to impose their own sensibilities on Mount Desert Island plant sanctuaries, the friendship between Farrand and Dorr was sustained over their lifetimes. Here he developed "three hardy garden walks" into downtown Bar Harbor, ensuring that the culturally enhanced natural parkscape would be handed down to future generations in a non-degraded state. B E A R The Dorr family had deliberately chosen Oldfarm's hundred-acre site as a vehicle for Frederick Law Ol- msted's principles of landscape design. By 1896 twenty acres would become the Mount Desert Nurseries, which Farrand used to meet her clients' expectations. The Oldfarm gardens anticipated her published delineation of "The Garden as a Picture." Oldfarm, one of Farrand's favorite places, was a "watering place" of ideas, where the Dorrs had incorporated lessons learned at their family residences outside Boston and through years of travel to gardens on the European continent. The evidence that Oldfarm influenced Farrand is bolstered by her 1917 Scribner 's Magazine essay de- tailing her esteem for Acadia National Park's founder. The article left incomplete how Dorr's passion for park building related to her own ambitions. The best evidence of Dorr's unattributed application of Farrand's support for "plant sanctuaries" is found in the landscape between Dorr and Champlain Mountains: the Sieur de Monts Spring site. Here he developed "three hardy garden walks" into downtown Bar Harbor, ensuring that the culturally enhanced natural parkscape would be handed down to future generations in a non-degraded state. THE BEATRIX FARRAND SOCIETY NEWS 2019 FAMILY ERICACEAE LC106697S COWMONFIMIY LANE HEATH FAMILY Mountain laurel. with its showy pink flowers and glossy green foliage. is attractive in woodland gardens. This voucher was prepared by Marion Spaulding for the herbari- um at Reef Point. University & Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, voucher UC1066978 ITALIAN LESSONS: BEATRIX FARRAND IN DIANE KOSTIAL MCGUIRE (1933-2019) THE FOOTSTEPS OF AUNT EDITH WHARTON LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, SCHOLAR, MENTOR by CeCe Haydock by Judith B. Tankard DOROTHY WHITNEY STRAIGHT ELMHIRST PLANT PROFILE: MOUNTAIN LAUREL (1887-1968) (KALMIA LATIFOLIA) by Nick Opinsky by Matthew Wallhead DARTINGTON HALL, DEVON, ENGLAND BEATRIX FARRAND & GEORGE B. DORR: 2019 BEATRIX FARRAND SOCIETY THE INEVITABLE CONNECTION PROGRAMS by Ronald H. Epp UDI-land Farrand Society presents 7/25/19 lecture, award, new exhibit BAR HARBOR - The Bea- ture, design or the natural sci- William Robinson, Charles trix Farrand Society will host ences. Sprague Sargent and Edith two public events the first week Landscape architect Adam Wharton. Their personal gar- of August. Greenspan, the 2019 recipient dens reflected their ideas and Judith B. Tankard will give a of the award, will speak. philosophies, and contained lecture on American landscape Greenspan is a directing plants that were in some way architect Ellen Shipman on partner at PWP Landscape important to each of them. The Saturday, Aug. 3 at 4 p.m. at the Architecture and has been the exhibition showcases some of Gates Center at College of the lead designer on a wide range the plants that these five people Atlantic. of projects including public grew in their own gardens, il- Shipman, a contemporary parks, campuses, mixed use lustrated by printed vouchers of Beatrix Farrand, was famous developments, competitions from Beatrix Farrand's her- for designing lush gardens as and estates. barium of plants that grew at well as for training women in The society's sixth an- her home, Reef Point in Bar her thriving New York City nual Herbarium Exhibition, Harbor. office. During her forty-year The Gardens of Five People Close inspection of the ex- career she designed 600 Who Influence Beatrix Far- hibition provides insight into gardens from New England to rand," is now open at Garland their gardens: Dorr's native the Midwest and the South. Farm, 475 Bay View Drive in plants, Jekyll's herbaceous pe- Her gardens were renowned Bar Harbor. Garland Farm is rennials and roses, Robinson's for their dense plantings and open Thursdays from 1-4 p.m. heaths and bulbs, Sargent's charming architectural fea- through Sept. 26. rhododendrons and native tures. Tankard will discuss The exhibition celebrates plants and Wharton's eclectic Shipman's life and some of her the gardens of five people who plant collection. major commissions that have mentored Beatrix Farrand: Visit beatrixfarrandsociety. been recently restored, such George Dorr, Gertrude Jekyll, org. as the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, Longue Vue House and Gardens and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Tankard is a landscape historian, preservation con- sultant and the author of 10 books, including "Beatrix Far- rand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes." She taught at the Landscape Institute of Harvard University for 10 years. She is a former board mem- ber of the Beatrix Farrand So- ciety. She lives in Boston and gardens on Martha's Vineyard. On Tuesday, Aug. 6, at 4 p.m., the society will host the annual Beatrix Farrand Society Achievement Award lecture and reception in the historic Turrets Building at College of the Atlantic. The award honors a living person whose life's work, ex- hibiting the qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, has consistently and significantly contributed to humanity and to the environment through the art of landscape architec- Mount Desert. Islander THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2019 Landscape lineages on display BAR HARBOR - The Renowned garden designer Beatrix Farrand Society's sixth Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) annual Herbariam Exhibition, experimented with plants in showcasing the printed vouch much the same way that Far ers from Farrand's herbarie men rand did at Reef Point, at her um of plants that grew at her English home, Munstead home, has a special focus on Wood. five other gardeners who in- After Jekyll's death, Far- fluenced the pioneering land- rand purchased and preserved scape architect's work. her archives, and later donated The exhibition is open for them to the University of Cali- viewing on Open Days at Gar- fornia, Berkeley, where they land Farm, 1-4 p.m. Thursdays remain accessible to garden scholars. through Sept. 26, and on days when special events are held. William Robinson (1838- The 2019 Herbarium Exhi- 1935) advocated "natural" bition celebrates the gardens of gardening, in response to the five people who mentored Far- formally bedded-out gardens of his era. He and Farrand be- rand: George Dorr, Gertrude Jekyll, William Robinson, came friends during her sev- Charles Sprague Sargent and eral visits to his English home, Edith Wharton. Their personal Gravetye Manor. gardens reflected their ideas She adopted some of his and philosophies, and con- gardening ideas, such as plant- tained plants that were in some ing a mix of native and ex- way important to each of them. otic plants, planting thickly to The exhibition showcases cover the soil, and naturalizing some of the plants that these drifts of perennials. five people grew in their own Charles Sprague Sargent gardens, illustrated by printed (1841-1927) introduced Far- vouchers from Beatrix Far- rand to the world of plant rand's herbarium of plants that study. She spent a year under grew at her home, Reef Point his tutelage at Boston's Ar- nold Arboretum. He instilled in Bar Harbor. George Dorr (1853-1944) in her a love of native plants, PHOTO COURTESY OF BEATRIX FARRAND SOCIETY had much in common with and encouraged her to study Farrand. Both of their families Beatrix Farrand planted this particular single-flowered more by visiting other gardens. had homes on Mount Desert peony at Reef Point. It was named in honor of Ellen Sargent loved rhododendrons Island, which they continued Willmott, well-known English gardener and friend of and azaleas, which he planted to live in as adults. They knew in abundance at his Massachu- William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll. each other from a rather young setts home, Holm Lea. Farrand also planted these shrubs, both age, and Farrand purchased both worked hard on behalf at Reef Point and later at Gar- plants from Dorr's nursery for of Acadia National Park. The land Farm her MDI design projects. exhibition displays native MDI Edith Wharton (1862-1937) They shared a love of na- plants that were treasured by was Farrand's aunt. They were ture and native plants, and both Farrand and Dorr. see EXHIBIT page 6 1 i Mount Desert: Islander THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2019 EXHIBIT/3: Beatrix Farrand close in age, and shared an interest in design. Wharton helped intro- Close inspection of the exhibition duce Farrand to Europe- an gardens. She was also provides insight into their gardens: an early design client of Dorr's native plants, Jekyll's herbaceous Farrand, who designed some parts of Wharton's perennials and roses, Robinson's heaths Massachusetts home, The Mount. and bulbs, Sargent's rhododendrons Beatrix Farrand (1872- 1959) learned much and native plants and Wharton's from these five mentors, and also by reading and eclectic plant collection. studying, by traveling and reflecting on what she saw and by improving her skills through experi- ence. She designed more than 100 private and pub- lic landscapes. Later, she developed the Reef Point Herbarium to document the plants at her Bar Har- bor home, in order to educate students about plant identification and use. The remaining 938 of her herbarium vouch- ers are now part of the University of California's herbaria. This exhibition pres- ents a unique opportu- nity to view high-quality images of nearly one hundred vouchers from Farrand's Reef Point Her- barium, organized into five groups based on the gardens of Dorr, Jekyll, Robinson, Sargent and Wharton. Close inspection of the exhibition provides in- sight into their gardens: Dorr's native plants, Je- kyll's herbaceous perenni- als and roses, Robinson's heaths and bulbs, Sar- gent's rhododendrons and native plants and Whar- ton's eclectic plant collec- tion. PHOTO COURTESY OF BEATRIX FARRAND SOCIETY The 2019 Herbarium Exhibition is free and Edith Wharton planted this annual flower, China pinks, open to the public. More to provide long-season color in her perennial gardens. The information about this robustness of this herbarium specimen suggests that it and the Society's summer performed well at Reef Point, too. events may be found at beatrixfarrandsociety.org