Thursday, November 11, 2010

Symposium to celebrate art of gardens

Published by The Boston Globe

As Allyson Hayward walked through World War II-era gardens in the English countryside, she could tell exactly whose hand had guided them. She recognized the design style and flower choice of Norah Lindsay, a famous English gardener.

“I always go beyond the garden,’’ said Hayward, a Wellesley resident whose decade of research resulted in the book, “Norah Lindsay: The Life and Art of a Garden Designer.’’ “I look into what makes these people tick.’’

However, Hayward says, horticulture enthusiasts don’t have to travel to Europe to see beautiful gardens.



This weekend, Hayward will be presenting her research on two landscapes on either side of the Charles River: the Hunnewell property in Wellesley that gave the town its name, and the Elm Bank Reservation in Dover and Wellesley.

Her talk is part of a daylong symposium on the history of gardening and landscape design that the Massachusetts Horticultural Society is holding Saturday at Elm Bank, its headquarters at 900 Washington St. in Wellesley.

The day will start with a 9 a.m. presentation by Gerry Wright as Frederick Law Olmsted, providing a biography of the 19th-century landscape architect whose famous designs include Central Park in New York City and the Emerald Necklace in Boston.

Olmsted also designed the original gardens at Hunnewell and Elm Bank, said John Cronin, the event’s chairman. Olmsted studied romantic gardens in Europe and brought the informal style to the United States, and his influence can be seen in New England’s gardens today, said Cronin.

The symposium will be hosted by John Furlong of Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum, another Olmsted park.

Other events include a talk about a plant collector in China; a discussion on romantic gardens led by Elizabeth Eustis, past president of the New England Wild Flower Society; and a presentation by Meg Muckenhoupt, author of “Boston’s Gardens & Green Spaces.’’

The symposium ends at 4 p.m.

Neal Sanders, spokesman for MassHort, said the event is part of new outreach efforts that the nonprofit organization started two years ago after a “turbulent period’’ of severe financial problems.

According to Hayward, whose talk is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, the Elm Bank and Hunnewell properties were developed as summer homes during the late 19th century, when wealthier families wanted to escape Boston’s noise and heat for the clean air out west.

The 182-acre Elm Bank estate was once the home of Benjamin Pierce Cheney and then his daughter, Alice Cheney Baltzell. According to Hayward’s research, the elder Cheney, who lived in Boston’s Back Bay during the winter, bought the property at an auction in 1874 for $10,000. He built a Victorian house there the following year, and transformed the land by creating colorful Victorian gardens, hedges, meadows, and fields.

After Cheney’s daughter took over the estate, the Olmsted brothers changed the character of the land again with an aquatic Temple Garden evoking Asian influences, the Formal Italianate Garden, and expanses of lilacs, dahlias, roses, and vegetables. The estate is now owned by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, which leases part of the property to MassHort.

Hayward was an interior designer for 20 years before she decided to return to school to study landscape design and discovered landscape history. But she has gardened since she was a little girl, when her parents would leave a plot of land in their backyard for her to grow annuals.

“There are three different times of the year when I’m happiest: when my roses are in full bloom, when my lilies come, and when the dahlias come,’’ said Hayward.

She rises at 5:30 every morning to tend to her garden, Hayward said, coffee in one hand and her cat, Norah, named after the English gardener, in the other. She carries Norah around in a cage to protect her from coyotes.

“I’m staring at the bare earth, watching things move inch by inch,’’ said Hayward. “I spend a little part of every day in the garden.’’

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