A Few Milestones From Our First 25 Years

SAVING GARDENS: On Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, our decade-long collaboration with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the National Park Service has been among our most productive and successful partnerships. Together, we resurrected Alcatraz’s historic gardens, building a lasting legacy to inspire thousands of visitors to the former military and federal penitentiary. Photo by Marion Brenner.

SAVING GARDENS: The Conservancy has partnered with the owners of Greenwood Gardens in Short Hills, NJ, since 2002, providing guidance and technical advice, and even a short period of operational management, in its transition to becoming a vibrant green space within the densely populated New York City metropolitan area. Greenwood Gardens opened to the public on a regular schedule in 2013. Photo by Ken Druse.

SAVING GARDENS: After Hurricane Katrina devastated Longue Vue House & Gardens in New Orleans in 2005, we organized an event with the New York Botanical Garden to raise funds, sent volunteers to help clean up, advised on landscape renewal plans, and placed an intern in residence in 2008. The restoration turned crisis into opportunity by reclaiming the original design brilliance of landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman. Photo courtesy of Longue Vue House & Gardens.

SHARING GARDENS: This year, together with the Charleston Horticultural Society and Spoleto Festival USA and dozens of volunteers, we opened seventeen of Charleston’s finest private gardens—including Patti and Peter McGee’s, shown above—to more than 1,000 visitors on two wonderful days of garden visiting.

SHARING GARDENS: Camp Rosemary, Lake Forest, IL, has been a popular destination for Open Days visitors ever since 1997, the year the program went national. Since the Open Days program began twenty years ago, more than 3,000 private gardens across 38 states have welcomed a total of more than one million visitors. Photo by Ben Lenhardt.

SHARING GARDENS: Rivermouth, in Carmel, CA, was part of a Society of Fellows garden-study tour in 2010. Fellows tours provide our patrons with unique opportunities to explore beautiful gardens in different regions, both domestic and international.

We celebrated our 25th anniversary year in 2015, which also marked the 20th anniversary of our Open Days program.

Since 1989, the Garden Conservancy has helped more than 80 outstanding American gardens survive and prosper. And since 1995, our signature garden-visiting program has been opening the gates to hundreds of private gardens aross the country, allowing thousands of visitors to explore beautiful spaces not normally open to the public.

Below is a timeline with a few highlights of our first quarter century: our beginnings, our growth, our challenges, our successes, and our preparations for the next 25 years.

Timeline:

1989 - 1994: The Early Years: 1989
Frank Cabot, inspired by Ruth Bancroft’s artistic two-acre dry garden in Walnut Creek, CA, begins planning an organization to preserve exceptional American gardens

Fifty-member advisory committee formed, including Betty Corning, Vice Chair, and Angela Lansbury, Honorary Chair

Marco Polo Stufano asked to chair committee to identify gardens for preservation; Office established in Cold Spring, NY

Frank Cabot and Antonia Adezio rally support and establish membership

Ruth Bancroft Garden designated first preservation project

1990
Garden Conservancy becomes 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization

Board of directors formed

1991
Society of Fellows created to recognize patrons and engage them in garden preservation

Society of Fellows garden-study tours begin with trip to Portland, OR

First Garden Conservancy educational conference, “The Hermitage: A Case Study of Restoration Potential,” Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ

1993
The Fells, Newbury, NH, 19th-century summer retreat of American statesman and author John Hay, named a preservation garden

Conservancy saves John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden, Mill Neck, NY, from imminent closing;

Masters of American Garden Design” symposium series starts in New York City

1994
Conservancy assists in forming advisory council for James Rose Center, Ridgewood, NJ
1995 - 1999: Open Days & 10th Anniversary: 1995
Page Dickey and Pepe Maynard launch Open Days program, opening 110 gardens in Connecticut and New York

Ione and Emmott Chase’s garden in Orting, WA, named a preservation garden

Conservancy helps to reclaim Dumbarton Oaks Park, Washington, DC

First meeting of Open Days regional representatives held in Cold Spring, NY

1996
Conservancy helps create master plan to restore McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, FL

Conservancy supports efforts to save the Bernard McLaughlin Garden, South Paris, ME

Conservancy presents two-day symposium, “Roberto Burle Marx: Legend and Legacy,” in New York City and at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA

1997
Van Vleck House & Gardens in Montclair, NJ, named a preservation garden

Conservancy advises on master plan for restoration of Gardens of Gibraltar, Wilmington, DE

Janet Meakin Poor becomes first chair of Open Days and leads national expansion of program

Conservancy and Chicago Botanic Garden present “Gardens of the Midwest” symposium in Chicago, IL

1998
Peckerwood Garden, Hempstead, TX, named a preservation garden

Conservancy helps Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum, Bristol, RI, stay open to the public

Meeting of Open Days regional representatives, Birmingham, AL

1999
Conservancy celebrates its 10th Anniversary in Charleston, SC, at national gathering of 400 members, Open Days representatives, preservation partners, and other garden enthusiasts

Anne and Joe McCann create Marco Polo Stufano Garden Conservancy Fellowship to foster skills in managing public gardens; the first of nine annual fellows assigned
2000 - 2004: West Coast Expansion: 2000
Conservancy joins effort to save Abkhazi Garden in Victoria, British Columbia;

Lecture series launched at New York School of Interior Design, New York City.

2001
Conservancy publishes garden preservation handbook, Taking a Garden Public: Feasibility and Startup Conservancy, establishes forum—now known as the Garden Conservancy Northwest Network—to promote communication and resource sharing among gardens in the Pacific Northwest

Yew Dell Botanical Gardens in Crestwood, KY, named a preservation garden

Conservancy and Peckerwood Garden present “Vanishing Borders” symposium at Texas A&M University

2002
Greenwood Gardens, Short Hills, NJ, named a preservation garden

Conservancy presents “The American Garden in Japan” symposium at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

2003
Three gardens named preservation gardens: Rocky Hills, Mt. Kisco, NY (the first Open Days garden thus designated); Steepletop, home of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay in Austerlitz, NY; and Montrose in Hillsborough, NC

Gardens of Alcatraz, San Francisco, becomes a preservation garden, restoration project begins in partnership with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and National Park Service West Coast Council established

Conservancy opens office in San Francisco

2004
Hollister House Garden, Washington, CT, named a preservation garden

Ruth Bancroft Horticultural Series of educational seminars begins, Walnut Creek, CA Hollyhock events on garden design launched in Los Angeles, CA

Conservancy and House & Garden present “Great Visions, Great Gardens” symposium in New York City and Pocantico Hills, NY

First international Society of Fellows garden-study tour explores Mexico City and Oaxaca
2005 - 2009: Foundations for the Future: 2005
Elizabeth Lawrence Garden in Charlotte, NC, named a preservation garden

James deGrey David becomes chair of the Open Days program

Conservancy presents “Hadrian’s Villa and the California Garden” seminar at Stanford University

“Gardens to Match Your Architecture” program (2005-09) launches in San Francisco, co-sponsored with Pacific Horticulture magazine

Conservancy begins providing preservation assistance to Gaiety Hollow, Salem, OR

Meeting of Open Days regional representatives, Newtown, CT

2006
Conservancy marshals funds and a garden crew to help Longue Vue Garden recover from Hurricane Katrina. Longue Vue named a preservation garden

$250,000 Save America’s Treasures grant to Alcatraz project successfully matched

“Fresh Design, West Coast 2006” becomes first Conservancy seminar in Los Angeles

Endownment campaign, Campaign to Save America’s Exceptional Gardens, launches, co-chaired by Dorothy Gardner and Morris Cheston

2007
Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden, Bishopville, SC, named a preservation garden

Open Days regional representatives meet in Austin, TX

Founder Frank Cabot retires as chairman and is succeeded by Tom Armstrong; Antonia Adezio named president

First Preservation Weekend held in Cold Spring, NY

Garden design talks begin at Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco

2008
“An Age of Gardeners: Mrs. Bancroft and Her Horticultural Contemporaries” symposium in honor of Ruth Bancroft’s 100th birthday; Open Days preview program and reception at Chicago Botanic Garden

Conservancy co-sponsors first biennial Hollister House garden-study weekend

2009
National Trust for Historic Preservation presents Trustees’ Award for Organizational Excellence to the Conservancy

First European garden-study tour by the Society of Fellows visits Belgium and Holland

Open Days preview program and reception at Denver Botanic Gardens

Society of Fellows (and friends) enjoy “An Afternoon in the Gardens of Los Angeles”

California Preservation Foundation presents two awards to the Alcatraz project
2010 - 2014: Leadership Transitions and New Growth: 2010
George W. Rowe Education Fund established to support educational programs on the West Coast

Chase Garden, Orting, WA, now under Conservancy’s management, becomes public garden

Campaign to Save America’s Exceptional Gardens exceeds $15 million goal

2011
The death of Tom Armstrong in June is followed by that of Frank Cabot in November

Ben Lenhardt elected chairman of the board and Courtnay Daniels, vice-chairman

Conservancy welcomes LongHouse Reserve as our first affiliate garden

“A Singular Vision” tribute program in New York City celebrates Tom Armstrong’s life and his book chronicling the creation of Hooverness

2012
“Envisioning a Greater Perfection” tribute to Frank Cabot held at the New York Botanical Garden, co-sponsored with Wave Hill

The Garden Club of America awards Medal for Historic Preservation to the Conservancy

Third Preservation Weekend held at Chicago Botanic Garden

Susan and Coleman Burke endow Distinguished Lecture Series

At year end, Antonia Adezio steps down as president

2013
Jenny Young du Pont appointed president and chief executive officer

Magnificently restored, Greenwood Gardens open to the public on a regular basis

Conservancy co-sponsors “Preserving Beatrix Farrand’s Gardens” symposium, Bar Harbor, ME

First garden-study tour of Quebec and Les Quatre Vents

2014
Open Days Advisory Committee meeting held in Cold Spring, NY

Gardens of Alcatraz graduate to local management

Gaiety Hollow, Salem, OR, named a preservation garden

Hortulus Farm Garden & Nursery, Wrightstown, PA, named an affiliate garden

Conservancy presents talks by designer Luciano Giubbilei at four events in California

Celebration of 25th Anniversary year begins at festive dinner on December 3 at Metropolitan Club in New York City, honoring Jane Forbes Clark, John Kaul Greene, Dorrance Hill Hamilton, Richard William Lighty, and Marco Polo Stufano

Timeline:

Michael Pollan, Vogue:

RICHARD MOE, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION;

“Important gardens are an essential part of our irreplaceable heritage — as much a part of the historic preservation landscape as buildings, birth sites, and battlefields.”

Silver Anniversary Annual Report