The Gardens of MDI: Beatrix Farrand

This week we were fortunate enough to visit a few of the local gardens here on Mount Desert Island. The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden, Asticou Azalea Garden, Thuya Garden and Garland Farm, all gave us a taste of the famed landscape gardener Beatrix Farrand in some way.

Beatrix Farrand referred to herself as a landscape gardener, however the scope of her work is now associated with the landscape architecture profession today. It became clear in our garden visits that Beatrix Farrand had an eye for maintenance needs as well as detailed layouts. Many designs had detailed maintenance plans as well as future propagation plans to keep the gardens she designed for years into the future. Of the four gardens we toured, The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden and Garland Farm were designs of Farrand.

The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden was the first stop on our tour and it stood up beyond our expectations.

Created between 1926 and 1930 by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and noted garden designer Beatrix Farrand. The garden today is privately owned by David Rockefeller and continues to amaze the few who get to enter its gates. Coming into peak bloom during the first two weeks in August, the garden is a mix between a manicured naturalistic landscape and a traditional naturalistic English border garden. Flowers in certain locations tower over the beautiful garden walls, and the mosses creep along the maintained forest floor.

Combining Eastern statuary within the garden design, one notable statue was that of a Seated Buddha from China in the late Ming or early Qing dynasty (1644-1911)

The group also took a visit to Garland Farm the last home of Beatrix Farrand. Farrand lived in Garland Farm between 1955 until her death in 1959. Small in size when compared to her designs of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden, the terrace of Garland Farm showed everything Farrand stood for in her designs. The seemingly random plantings are laid out for continuous bloom and the attention to detail shows right down to the hose spigots. We toured the house and a recent exhibit inside displayed detailed planting plans of her designs and architectural elements within them.

Enjoy!!

-Ben

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