The Lady as Landscape Gardener: Beatrix Farrand at the Arnold Arboretum, Part 2 lane Brown

"Your trust in my training is the greatest honor of my fifty years of active practice:’1 -Beatrix Farrand to Dr. Paul C. Mangelsdorf, May 15, 1946, on her appointment as Consultant Landscape Gardener to the Arboretum

Having launched the young Beatrix Jones on illuminated by Mildred Bliss at the very start her career in the late 1890s, Professor Charles of the commission for Dumbarton Oaks: hav- Sprague Sargent, her "Chief as she called ing put forward all her design ideas, Beatrix him, was a continuing benefactor in her was keen to make a brave start and wrote to progress. Beatrix and her mother, Mary Cad- Mrs. Bliss, sending photographs of three walader Jones, invariably visited Holm Lea for cedars, which she could obtain from the the rhododendron parties each June, on their Arboretum for $300 each for digging and pack- annual northward migration from New York ing. Mrs. Bliss replied promptly in favor of the to summer in Bar Harbor. (Beatrix, in her turn, cedars, noting that if "Mr. Sargent loves you most frequently used the hybrids connected enough to part with them," then go ahead.2 with her friends, Mrs. C. S. Sargent, Ignatius When Charles Sargent died, aged eighty-five Sargent, and Louisa Hunnewell in plantings and still working, in March 1927, Beatrix was for her clients.) The Professor never failed, it about to embark on a major diversion from seemed, to give her a discreet good recommen- her life’s pattern because of Max Farrand’s dation where he could, and even gave her appointment as Director of the Henry E. Hun- Christmas presents of significance; in 1911 it tington Library at San Marino, California. was Wilhelm Miller’s What England Can From then on the Farrands’ lives were divided Teach Us About Gardening, in which Holm basically into winters in California and sum- Lea was much praised, and where Beatrix mers at Bar Harbor, though much of Beatrix’s found the corroboration for many of her own time was taken in long train journeys to keep opinions.’ The Sargents, loving her, were her scattered commissions in Chicago, Long doubtless overjoyed, as were her other friends, Island, Washington, D. C., and at Yale in order. by her happy marriage to the historian Max She had little time for her old haunts, except Farrand in December 1913, and though the for a brief call on Alice Sargent at Holm Lea pattern of her life changed, she worked as hard to design a new trellis for the house walls. as ever, and still paid frequent visits to the Connections with the Arboretum were Arnold Arboretum, with her notebook, to maintained through Susan Delano McKelvey3 refresh her knowledge of plants for a new com- and Chief Propagator William Henry Judd.’ It mission or situation. The relationship was to these two people that she turned for between Beatrix and her Professor was aptly help when she agreed to her longest-distance 10

commission of all, to work for Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst (the former Dorothy Whit- ney Straight) at Dartington Hall in Devon, England, in 1932. She needed to renew English contacts, so William Judd (who had been trained at Kew and was secretary to the Kew Gardeners of America) introduced her to Sir Arthur Hill, then Kew’s director, and Mrs. McKelvey paved her way to the doyen of English plantsmen, W J. Bean, who was work- ing on the third and final volume of ’I~ees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles (1933), fol- lowing his retirement from the Royal Botanic Garden.

Reef Point The contacts worked well and Beatrix was grateful. Susan McKelvey became a frequent visitor to the Farrands’ Bar Harbor home, Reef Point, and she rarely arrived empty-handed. Many varieties of clematis and lonicera went from the Arboretum to Reef Point, where their progress in that northerly and sea-girt habitat was eagerly reported. William Judd went fre- auentlv to Reef Point, h»t W ct ac often orrncc the country to the Huntington gardens, where Beatrix Farrand in her late sixries, c. 1937. Reprmted there were not only the exotic delights of the with permission from the Prmceton University cactus garden, but also other visiting experts Library. for entertainment. Beatrix greatly enjoyed put- ting her plant-expert friends together, and more devoted to where they felt really at introducing one to another, and leaving them home, at Reef Point. They set up the Reef to enjoy their private worlds: during the thir- Point Gardens Corporation in 1939, with Mrs. ties Judd helped her to educate and entertain McKelvey as a member, to carry forward their two head gardeners from Dartington Hall for plans to turn their home and garden into an whom she arranged grand tours, as well as educational center for people interested in John Murray from Yale Botanical Garden and every kind of gardening. The prime objects various park superintendents from New were to demonstrate "what outdoor beauty Haven. The latter she felt were "much in can contribute to those who have the interest need" of Judd’s skill and help, and in general and perception that can be influenced by trees it seems clear that if she could have dis- and flowers and open air composition"5 To patched every head gardener and grounds these ends they set about the reorganization superintendent (let alone a few of the of the garden and, most importantly, the nam- architects!) that she encountered to the ing and recording of the plants. It was soon Arboretum for enlightenment and inspiration, revealed that, in several aspects of the garden, her working life would have been a much the educated but mainly instinctive acquisi- smoother path. tions of the years had grown into interesting By the end of the 1930s (Beatrix was sixty- collections, especially for a garden in eastern five in 1937), the Farrands’ lives became more Maine, of rhododendrons and azaleas, climb- 11

ing plants on the house, and single-flowered a "dud" plant. In "Climbing Plants in Eastern hybrid tea roses. Thrown back into the puz- Maine"$ she writes: "This species of the Celas- zles of identification and nomenclature, trus family was planted on the southeast Beatrix naturally returned to the sure ground corner of the house, and started to grow with of her associations with the Arnold. Perhaps rampant cheerfulness. Its sweetly scented to smooth her path, she wrote to Dr. Alfred trusses of tiny flowers are often nearly three Rehder on 25 June 1940 in her characteristi- feet long, and in July the whole side of the cally modest vein: "You have doubtless forgot- house where it grows is as murmurous with ten an old acquaintance who used to see you bees as any English lime-tree walk The other when she was occasionally at the Arboretum success story was the Japanese hydrangea- with her "’chief Professor Sargent ;’ but she vine, Schizophragma hydrangeoides, sent wanted to thank him for his Manual of Cul- from the Arnold on October 9, 1931: this grew tivated ’I~ees and Shrubs, which had given "so marvelously up to the second-floor windows much aid to a working landscape gardener" on the north corner of the garden house, only over the years. The occasion was her receipt outdone in magnificence by two big Hydran- of a revised edition.b Dr. Rehder, of course, had gea petiolaris, which clambered to more than not forgotten her but chided, "when Professor thirty feet. Sargent was still with us, you used to come In the early 1940s, Reef Point’s garden much more frequently" and hoped she would flowered as its makers intended; both Farrands return to the Arboretum soon.’ worked very hard for their project, our "little Beatrix took the opportunity, at least by let- horticultural foundation;’ as Beatrix described ter, and tackled Chief Propagator Judd on the it to William Judd in July 1942. "You may like identification of her loniceras, which he did; to know," she continued, "that already at this they were both pleased with her Lonicera early season we are sure that more than 300 tragophylla, the Wilson introduction, with people have visited the garden" and as she dic- large butter-yellow heads of flowers, which tated the letter she could see more people had thrived since coming from the Arbore- wandering around.9 Both Farrands were now tum. The naming process went on through entirely devoted to this dream project, but Reef Pomt’s clematis, some pears, apples, bar- within a very short time Max Farrand’s poor berries and hemlocks, sempervivums and health marred their happiness. For his last alpines. Soon a formal arrangement to pay year Beatrix worked doubly hard to achieve Judd’s expenses was made, and the Arboretum their plans for the education center and the was also offered, in return, any cuttings that library, and yet to keep the seriousness of his might be wanted, as long as specific instruc- illness from him. When he died, in June 1945, tions were sent as to how to take them and just two days before her seventy-third birth- how to pack them. The rare Decaisnea far- day, she was both exhausted and stunned. The gesii, with remarkable metallic blue pods was only thing she could do was to carry on, with offered, and a couple of little Clematis tan- now a kind of obsessive energy devoted to gutica obtusiuscula were accepted. fulfilling Max’s hopes and plans. William Judd must have been a little per- The Arnold Connection turbed to find a letter from her so soon, dic- The record of plants sent from the Arnold to tated the day after Max’s death, at the Reef Point is by no means complete, but there moment the announcement appeared in the seemed to be two particularly successful Boston Herald, asking him to identify her Arnold "children" A docket dated May 12, rhododendrons. Furthermore, she had already 1924, lists the ’Il~ipterygium regelii, which organized the cutting and packing of over Professor Sargent sent, telling Beatrix that sixty flower heads, and almost immediately Reef Point was most welcome to it as it was these were tumbling out onto the laboratory 12

Torch azaleas (Rhododendron obtusum var. kaempfery gromng on Bussey Hill in 1928. This pm.ture accompamed Beatrix Farrand’s article on the Arboretum that appeared m Arnoldia m 1946. Photo by J. Horace McFarland Co. From the Arnold Arboretum Archives. table. Judd, Dr. Rehder, and Donald Wyman She knew that she was being ungracious, dropped all they were doing, and prepared a and "a nuisance to my friends" but it was her list of names that was sent to her by return grief and desperation that made her so; for- mail. She was not very satisfied; she queried tunately, within a month she had resumed her many of their attributions, and sent another appreciation of the "kind and helpful" Wil- twenty-five blooms. In all they identified more liam Judd and was hoping he would be her than eighty specimens, mostly the species welcome guest later in the summer. calendulaceum, japonicum, myrtifolium, and A arborescens, with some Ghent and Fortunei Major Appointment hybrids, plus the cultivars ’Boule de Neige’ The following spring she was both surprised ’Bijou des Amateurs,’ ’Louisa Hunnewell,’ and and delighted to be appointed as Consultant ’Lady Armstrong’ Even so, she was forced to Landscape Gardener to the Arboretum. "Your admit that Reef Point might need a real trust in my training is the greatest honor of rhododendron expert, "so-called." my fifty years of active practice she wrote to 13

Dr. Paul C. Mangelsdorf.’° She accepted "in much of a "tidal wave" Within a week Man- great humility of spirit" and with the "hope" gelsdorf had replied that Donald Wyman, who that her colleagues would not be disap- was Curator of the Living Collections, had all pointed ; she looked forward to working with the authority required to make decisions Judd and Dr. Wyman. However, it was not to about moving plants as necessary, which be, for a few days later William Judd died of appeared a carte blanche to proceed. Donald a heart attack. The Arnoldia of June 7, 1946, Wyman, whom Beatrix had found "frosty" at paid tribute to him, and in the same issue, first, had "thawed" considerably towards her, Beatrix’s appointment was announced. and they were getting on well, particularly There was a justice in that her last impor- when he visited her at Reef Point for discus- tant commission was at the place where she sions. The result was their list of twenty-three had started her career, but it was perhaps sur- landscape problems needing immediate prising that an almost seventy-five-year-old attention. lady should start striding around the Arbore- Surveys, plans, and discussions had taken tum, measuring, taking notes, and asking per- half of her first year as consultant. Arnoldia tinent questions. She brought in an assistant, of November 1, 1946, printed her draft paper Robert W Patterson, an architect and land- on her approach to the design problems, scape architect from Bar Harbor," to do the which was a classic summation of landscape strenuous work, but she also warned Dr. Man- variabilities: time, soil depletion, a deteriora- gelsdorf, "You will need patience and under- tion of soil quality in some places, new plant standing of physical limitations of age which introductions, visitor problems, changes in are most irksome to me, but which must be taste, and particularly the devastating hurri- recognized *"I’2 cane of September 21, 1938, had all taken their No such limitations seemed evident, for toll on Olmsted’s original design for Sargent’s within two months of her appointment, that conception. It seemed clear that one of the is, on 12 July 1946, she was writing to Dr. reasons for Beatrix Farrand’s appointment as Mangelsdorf that Dr. Wyman, Patterson, and consultant was just that she was one of the herself were in "hearty agreement on the main few people around who could actually remem- points." These points were no timid tinker- ber what Sargent said he was trying to do, and ings, but recommendations for major revi- certainly her loyalty to the Professor was sions to the appearance of the Arboretum. unshakable. She concluded, "Old friends of "Project One" advocated a remodeling of the the Arboretum may feel aggrieved in seeing planting at the main entrance, around the some of the plantations altered, but they will Hunnewell building, and at the Forest Hills be less distressed when they realize that these entrance; a long-term plan for Hemlock Hill; very alterations are in the truest sense of the and a revision of the planting on Bussey Hill. word restorations, as they are intended to "Project Two" envisaged the removal of dupli- restore the design to the original conception cates, and aged and outworn plants through- of the great botanist and artist who was its out the collections, and "Project Three" was first director."’^ for the establishment of a 25- to 40-acre nurs- She must have been busy with frequent ery outside the Arboretum.’3 Immediate visits to the Arnold for two and a half years, approval was sought for these recommenda- though no drawings or correspondence of tions, but Peter’s Hill, the marsh at the main work in progress appears to have survived. Her entrance, and a planned watering system for first descriptive report of the work she had the whole Arboretum also required urgent supervised appeared in Arnoldia of April 15, consideration. She felt in a certain "psycho- 1949.’ This elegant piece, "The Azalea logical fog" as to how to obtain decisions or Border ;’ is a gem of landscape writing, beau- actions, and hoped her report was not too tifully balanced in its treatment of the botan- 14

Beatrix Farrand’s plan for the azalea border along Meadow Road. From the Arnold Arboretum Archmes. ical and visual aspects of planting design. The Then came the early-flowering deciduous accompanying plan was deceptively simple, rhododendrons ("the crinkled petals of for she and her colleagues at the Arboretum mucronulatum, when they first appear, look had achieved far more than just a "border." The as though they had been ill packed during the land opposite the Hunnewell building, winter in a small valise"), keeping the lavender between Meadow Road and the marsh, had and purply shades separated from the pinks been cleared as a home for the family by "islands and tufts of shadbush, Labrador tea Ericaceae, a family of "distinction and and leatherleaf with huckleberries and tall elegance ... from the flat and fragrant mats blueberries. The rhododendrons progressed of mayflower to the tall rhododendrons and through American natives and Chinese sourwoods."’6 Loads of peat had been imported schlippenbachiis with Enkianthus and "good and great care taken to place lovers of the Phellodendrons" as well as old sumacs, to damp places just where they could keep wet separate species from hybrids and pinks from feet, but the design priorities had also been oranges and scarlets. Once these had all set- carefully interwoven with the planting: tled, "further little tufts and wisps of the "Immediately inside the entrance the quiet smaller Ericaceae will be tucked into the bays open view over the marsh is maintained by and hollows" and the grass path on the marsh low ground-hugging shrubs like bearberry, low side would be made.’8 blueberry and pachistima, ending in a higher In the autumn of 1949,’9 Beatrix explained mass after the first vista has been enjoyed."~~ her designs for Peter’s Hill, where Professor 15

A mew of Meadow Road on 27 May 1950, with pinkshell azaleas and a flowemng dogwood in bloom. From the Archives of the Arnold Arboretum.

Sargent’s thorns had become a thicket and a best and very considerable skills, but she was fire hazard. Her plan showed how beautifully still keen to do more: "It looks as though our the plantations of Crataegus and Malus, the next big job were the rearrangement of the walks, and open glades would flow with the shrubs in the present shrub collecting area;’ grain of the hill form, while the grove of native she wrote to Dr. Karl Sax, the new Director, oaks and some old conifers on the west slopes on November 9, 1949.2° She was full of plans were carefully saved. The very top of the hill, for herself and Donald Wyman to work on this a typical New England knoll, was to be kept area through the winter, and she was to come open for its view of Boston "with radiating at the end of the month and discuss it all with vistas." them. Her plan was prepared but never carried out, and her correspondence ceases. What The Final Years happened is not entirely clear: perhaps By the time her piece on Peter’s Hill appeared, Donald Wyman, boosted by the publication Beatrix was well into her fourth year as the of Shrubs and Vines for American Gardens Arboretum’s consultant (at a maximum of in 1949 and Trees for American Gardens in $2,000 a year, though what she actually 1951, felt he should be able to arrange his own charged is not known). She had given of her collections, or perhaps Dr. Sax was over- 16

whelmed by the mounting controversy over Arnold Arboretum by some splendid speci- moving the library, herbarium, and some of mens of "her" Forsythia,22 a tetraploid hybrid the Arboretum’s staff to the new building in from’Arnold Giant’ raised in 1944, with mag- Cambridge. Another clue might lie in the nificently rich, deep-yellow flowers, and- constant reassurances and provisos with perhaps "an upright and vigorous" growth which she had had to package every move so habit. far, in deference to the "old friends" of the Arnold who wanted nothing changed.z’ Troub- Acknowledgments led times were ahead for the Arboretum, but I am particularly grateful to Sheila Connor, Librarian of it seems sad that its distinguished landscape the Arnold Arboretum, for help with this part of my consultant was the first casualty. research on Beatrix Farrand. And after all, Beatrix Farrand was eighty in ’ Miller, W. 1911. What England Can Teach Us About 1952. She had to face the bitter truth that her Gardenmg. New York Doubleday. beloved Reef Point Gardens, the "little hor- 2 Letter from Mildred Bhss to Beatrix Farrand, 14 April Dumbarton Oaks Garden ticultural institution" she had set up with her 1924, Library. 3 Schofield, E. A. 1987. A life redeemed: Susan Delano could not be maintained. In 1955 husband, McKelvey and the Arnold Arboretum. ArnoMia 47 (4~: she took steps to dismantle everything they 9-23. had created, even the home which she had 4 William Henry Judd, 1888-1946; see Amoldia 6~6~: known since she was ten years old. That ele- 25-28. 5 Pomt Gardens Bullerin Vol. No. 1946. ment of desperation, so evident in her actions Reef 1, 1, August Reef Point Gardens Collection, Documents Collec- after Max Farrand’s reas- immediately death, tion, College of Environmental Design, University of serted itself in her final acts. She disposed of Callfomla, Berkeley. her plants, destroyed her house and garden, . Rehder, A. 1940. Manual of Cultivated Tl~ees and and gave her life’s working drawings (together Shrubs Hardy in North America, 2nd ed. New York: a.:;tt-~.t~c.,....cr-..._~__.1_._,___"~v.’ith those of Gertrude ,ilr-.L1 ~ulle~iun" . T~(,...... ;11.... }ekyll), 7 Alfred Rehder to Beatrix Farrand, 27 June 1940, Arnold of prints andand library library ofof 2,7002,700 books (includ-~includ- Arboretum Archives. ing many rare herbals, floras, and gardening 8 Farrand, B. 1954. Chmbmg plants in eastern Maine. books) to the Department of Landscape Plants and Gardens 10~1~: 40-44. 9 Architecture at the University of California’s There were 2,000 visitors to Reef Point in the sum- mer of 1945, and the total number after its closure m Berkeley campus. There are rational reasons 1955 was many times that. for this course of but 10 events, questions persist: Beatrvt Farrand to Paul C Mangelsdorf at the Insti- if Beatrix Farrand’s appointment as the tute for Research m General Plant Morphology, Har- Arnold’s landscape consultant had not ended vard University, 15 May 1946, Arnold Arboretum Archives. so ignominiously, would it not have been per- " Robert W Patterson’s fees were to be mcluded 1n her natural for the Arnold to have had her fectly own allowance of $2,000 per year. And Arnold 12 collections? if the and Harvard Farrand to Mangelsdorf, 15 May 1946, Arnold Arbore- had not been so embroiled in the controversy tum Archives. over the Jamaica Plain library and herbarium, 13 Farrand to Mangelsdorf, 12 July 1946, Arnold Arbore- tum Archives. The was of the use should they not have been duty bound to con- nursery part pro- posed for the Case Estates, which had been given to serve her in its natural habitat? For the legacy the Arboretum m 1942 saddest thing was that in sending her legacy " Arnoldia 6~10~: 45-48, 1946. to California she had to flout the abiding rule ’S Arnoldia 9~2~: 6-7, 1949. 16 of her landscape life-that of the fitness of any Ibid., p. 6. 17 Ibid. work for its It was the rule that setting. 7. Charles had her. " Ibid., p. Sprague Sargent taught Arnoldia 9/9/~ 38-43, 1949. Now, on the 120th anniversary of her birth, z° Beatrix Farrand to Karl Sax, 9 November 1949, Arnold Beatrix Farrand’s name is perpetuated at the Arboretum Archives. 17

2’ Beatrix had always conscientiously dealt with the "old friends" of the Arboretum who were shocked at her changes. In 1947, Dr. Sax asked her what she thought about the idea of forming a Friends’ Association-she agreed and sent names of subscribers, adding, "What do you hope people will subscnbe, $10, $100, or $1,000 a year~" Farrand to Sax, 20 August 1947, Arnold Abore- tum Archives. 22 The specimens of Forsythia ’Beatnx Farrand’ were located and identified for me one fine afternoon in 1991 by Michael Dirr, author of Manual of Woody Landscape Plants ~Champaign, Ill : Stipes)

Jane Brown is a well-known writer on the history of land- scape gardening The information m this article is based on her forthcommg book on Beatrix Farrand’s life and work, scheduled to be published by Vilmng m the spring of 1993