{"id":7114,"date":"2012-07-16T02:47:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-16T06:47:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-13T18:15:35","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T22:15:35","slug":"the-isabella-stewart-gardner-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardern.co.za\/2012\/07\/the-isabella-stewart-gardner-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Reinvents the Greenhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"
THE COURTYARD WITH A POTTED PLANT DISPLAY IN JUNE. THE VENETIAN ARCHITECTURE BLENDS SO WELL WITH THE PALMS AND TROPICALS. IMAGINE WHAT THIS WAS LIKE IN 1909 ON A SNOWY DAY.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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\nHer life history is worth reading and maybe even better than 50 shades of Gray, so keep it at your bedside. Isabella Stewart (1840-1924) was born in New York and married Bostonian John Lowell Gardner, Jr. (Jack) in 1860. The Gardners’ wide travels inspired a passion for art that evolved into a passion for collecting, like many did in the Victorian Era with plants, dogs, etc. When Isabella’s father died and left his fortune, Isabella started collecting herself, especially in Italy.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Mrs. Gardner began keen collections of plants. One account ( in Edith Warton’s Italianate Villas and their Gardens, New York 1904, states that “One of the earliest Japanese gardens in the US was planted in 1885 for Isabella Stewart Gardener, a woman keenly interested in the arts of Japan through her association with the circle in Boston collecting Japanese art for the Museum of fine Arts.”. But there are few written accounts of her gardens, most are about the artwork.<\/p>\n
Yet I was curious. In photos of the Monks garden I can see many Japanese plants that were very popular in Kyoto at the turn of the century, such Edo period plants as Asagao ( Japanese Morning glory) that were often trained onto trellis;s a cut short so the could bloom early on bamboo poles and wisteria.<\/p>\n
OK, PERHAPS THE NICEST POTTING SHED IN THE WORLD.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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\n These plantings are part of an aggressive project by Charles Waldheim, who is the consulting curator of Landscape at the museum ( Hopefully, they will consider adding a new position – consulting Curator of horticultural projects? ahem) Once one begins the journey through the glass passage way, your mind is cleared, through the aid of caged singing canaries, and a canopy of large Pinus bungeana and Hornbeams, which envelope the transparent corridor. So thoughtful, it serves as a visual palate cleanser, helping one adjust from the starkness of modernity on one side, and engaging new senses of smell, light and sound upon entering in what appears to be the nineteenth century.<\/p>\n
Once in the main museum, little has changed at first glance beyond careful restoration of fabrics, floor tiles and the re-opening of some rooms. Perhaps the finest experience here for gardeners will be the courtyard, still breathtaking as ever, with 6 stages horticultural installations yearly ( I’ve been told to check out the Japanese Chrysanthemum exhibit in October. On my visit, as it was June, a less exciting display of delicate light blue agapanthus ( a variety that I must have) as well as while oleander and blue hydrangea, composed a cool yet serene scene on a hot, early summer day.<\/p>\n
This entire visit began with an email that I received in April, a note from one of the horticultural staff and blog follower at the Museum asking me if I might be interested in allowing them to obtain some of our rarer Clivia species and crosses, as they would complement their annual Nasturtium exhibition in the conservatory, and, provide some variety to the older specimens that they have in the collection. Of course, I was delighted, and soon, we will be getting together to review options for these and other plant contributions that I might be able to offer ( standard heliotropes perhaps? A nerine show? I discovered a party review the social section of in a 1910 New York Times society page where “Mrs. Gardner enchanted her guests with the scent of Tuber Roses in the garden, as the music played”.<\/p>\n
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THE MONKS GARDEN, OUTSIDE IN AN EARLY SHOW. CLASSICALLY ITALIANATE IN DESIGN, THIS WAS COMMON IN 1909 ( LOOK AT OUR OWN LONG WALK, ALSO CREATED 1910) . THE POTS AND VINES ABOVE LOOK LIKE MORNING GLORIES, MAYBE JAPANESE ONES, OR SWEET PEAS. IT WAS COMMON FOR TUBEROSES, CHRYSANTHEMUM AND OTHER TENDER ANNUALS LIKE SCHIZANTHUS WHICH WERE OFTEN GROWN IN POTS OUTDOORS, AND THEN MOVED AROUND FOR COLOR, AND BROUGHT INDOORS FOR LATE COLOR><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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IN THIS EARLY IMAGE, WE CAN SEE WISTERIA VINES TRAINED ON TO PERGOLA, WHAT LOOKS LIKE JAPANESE IRIS AND WILLOWS. MANY OF THESE FORMAL EURO-CENTRIC GARDENS INTEGRATED ASIAN INFLUENCES INTRODUCED IN THE ARTS & CRAFTS ERA.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n I would welcome such attention to horticultural detail again – schizanthus in the autumn, tiers of Amaranth and Heliotrope trained as standards in the summer, I would like to see as much attention paid to the plant material as has been done with fabric research. This is a garden that deserves pot of white clay and Parma violets in February, long toms in a period style with Single Tuberoses in August, cascades on mums in November, period conservatory plants and not hybrids that are modern. Sure, this would take lots of staff and craftsmanship that is difficult to find today, as well as support, but it can be done.<\/p>\n
I will admit that I was sad to have missed the annual hanging of the nasturtiums, and I will need to return to see if autumn or winter offers a better display of plants. June is sometimes not the best time to see potted plants. On the day I visited, the display was primarily blue and white, with white oleander, a sweet pale blue agapanthus, and some out-of place hydrangeas and white Phalaenopsis orchids. Old photos that I found at the Boston Public Library shows displays of tender primula species popular in the era, Primula farinosa, P. obconica and other Asian tender species common in cool greenhouses at the turn of the century. In most photos, I could identify tubs of olive trees, citrus and many pots of camellia often under planted with pots of early varieties or the species form of Primula species that are tender, which at the time were known as chinese primula. These early forms grew tall and larger than new selections. I would suggest that the growers at the museum try to obtain wild seed from one of the seed exchanges, or request seed from one of the Himalayan expeditions and see if they can grow them again.<\/p>\n