Preservation News

LongHouse Reserve's creator, Jack Lenor Larsen, was one of five "influencers and artists" profiled in Craft in America's PBS series, "Visionaries," on December 21.

On December 18, 2018, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Preservation magazine featured the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden as one of “40 Places Under 40 Years: Landscapes.”

Great news for Stoneleigh Garden in the Philadelphia area! The Lower Merion School District will not build athletic fields on the Stoneleigh property, as reported by Phildadelphia CBS Local on November 20, 2018. 

Steepletop, the home of esteemed poet Edna St. Vincent Millay in Austerlitz, NY, has closed indefinitely, reports the Hudson Valley 360. 

 
The Mary F. Rounsavall Pavilion at Yew Dell Botanical Gardens in Crestwood, KY, was recognized with the Kentucky Society of Architects Honor Award in October.

Garden at Risk:  The fall issue of Garden Citings, the newsletter of the Cherokee Garden Library, published an article in support of preserving Clermont Lee's garden at the Girl Scouts headquarters in Savannah, GA. A proposed renovation of the Juliette Gordon Low House in Savannah, GA, threatens to destroy the garden. Earlier, the Garden Conservancy issued a letter in support of exploring alternatives that can preserve the garden. Photo by Amy Henschen, 2011

Videos of our panel discussion on the challenges of preserving "The Architectural Garden" are now available to watch online! If you missed the discussion on September 22, 2018, at Bard College, you can listen to it now. Photo, left to right: Sarah Vance, the Blue Garden, Newport, RI; Stephen Byrns, Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, Yonkers, NY; and Judith Tankyard, author and garden historian 

We are pleased to report that two gardens with whom our Preservation department has partnered, the John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden (above) and Madoo, have been awarded 2018 Preserve New York grants.

On August 11, 2018, the Lord & Schryver Conservancy announced the hiring of Pam Wasson as its first executive director. Based in Salem, OR, the Lord & Schryver Conservancy stewards the legacy of pioneering landscape architects Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schyver, including their home garden at Gaiety Hollow.

The Garden Conservancy received a major gift in support of the Blithewood Garden rehabilitation project.

Garden at Risk: Stoneleigh Garden, designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm and a historically and culturally significant new public garden in the Philadelphia area, is threatened by possible expansion of a local school district. The Garden Conservancy supports the preservation of the garden as a public resource. Read more.

Garden at Risk:  Progress! The Frick Collection's new renovation plans promise to recreate its Russell Page garden according to the original design. Read more.

Garden at Risk: The proposed expansion of Valley Oaks Steak Company into a factory farm would be damaging to Powell Gardens (photo, above), a significant cultural asset in the Kansas City region. Read our letter of support for the garden and a Daily Star-Journal article on June 19, 2018, including a quote from James Hall.

Garden at Risk: Steepletop, the home of esteemed poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, is at risk of closing its doors at the end of the 2018 season. Read more.  

Garden Rescue: In Jacksonville on Saturday, April 14, 2018, James Brayton Hall announced that the Garden Conservancy will donate $20,000 to the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens to help the Cummer restore its gardens. The three gardens, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, suffered significant damage when Hurricane Irma hit Jacksonville last September 11. 

The Foundation for Landscape Studies awarded the J. B. Jackson Book Prize to, among others, James Rose (University of Georgia Press, 2017), written by Dean Cardasis and the second volume of the Foundation’s Masters of Modern Landscape Design series. In the early 1990s, the Garden Conservancy collaborated in saving James Rose’s garden and home and transforming them into the James Rose Center, a nonprofit landscape research and study center in Ridgewood, NJ. Photo: James C. Rose (1913-1991)

Peckerwood Garden, our preservation partner in Hempstead, TX, announced the opening of a nursery for rare and unusual plants.

As of March 21, 2018, the Chase Garden has new owners, local gardeners who are passionate about the garden and committed to preserving the legacy of Ione and Emmott Chase. The Garden Conservancy has worked to preserve the Orting, WA, garden since 1995 and continues to hold and monitor a conservation easement on the property, protecting the garden in perpetuity.

Litchfield County Times, Litchfield, CT, announced a series of new educational lectures and workshops, "Barn Talks," at Hollister House Garden, as well as the creation of a new education planner position at the garden.

 
Montrose Garden in Hillsborough, NC, launched its very first website in February 2018.

In January, our preservation department visited Peckerwood Garden in Hempstead, TX, for the annual conservation easement monitoring. Read highlights from their visit.

An article in the News Tribune in Tacoma, WA, carried the news of the Chase Garden's listing for sale. Photo by Tacoma News Tribune

The Ruth Bancroft Garden, our very first Garden Conservancy preservation partner garden, has announced the appointment of Carol Laughlin as executive director.

2017 PRESERVATION NEWS

2016 PRESERVATION NEWS

2015 PRESERVATION NEWS