Garden History & Design (under construction)
Historical & Current Landscape Designs frame views of a collection of hardscaping, plants, shrubs and trees. Architecting garden design resolves challenges inherent in land elevations, soil conditions, intended uses and creates the chosen garden style “feel”, i.e. Japanese, formal, informal, natural, etc. GH&D partners with the Smithsonian to add local examples to the American Archive of Gardens (AAG). The AAG home page is #1 in the entire Smithsonian online presence.
Happenings
Please register for the GCA’s 1st ever Garden History & Design National Conference on November 16, 2023. Registration aids viewing the recording any time after our November Club meeting which is the same morning.
A distinguished group of architects, designers, garden directors and historians will guide us on a journey through gardens across the United States as they explore the realms of horticulture, conservation, photography and history in the artful pursuit of garden design.
February 2024 – All members are invited. Outside Speaker Suzanne Bishop from Portland will host a workshop on: “Document your own garden for the Smithsonian American Archive of Gardens”.
CUH Miller Library Program Room 9:30am. Day?
Suzanne Bishop is a Portland native and a Vice Chair on GCA’s Garden History and Design Committee. She is a student of the history of Oregon gardens and landscapes.
SGC Smithsonian Documented Gardens:
Alison Smith Andrews of Seattle – “Halewood”
Charlotte (Bay) Greer Baxter of Seattle
Elizabeth Reynolds Fisken of Bainbridge Island
Anne Gould Hauberg of Bainbridge Island – “Topsfield”
Anne Fisher Hofius of Sequim
Anne Clark Holt of Bainbridge – “Agate Nursery”
Jocyln Clise Horder of Poulsbo – “Elverhoj” (Hill of Elves)
Diana Bowman Neely of Medina – “The Bowman Garden”
https://sova.si.edu/details/AAG.GCA?t=W&q=wa065#ref33316
Set on Lake Washington, the Reed Garden-Shinka Suru is a suburban garden designed in what the owners refer to as “Japanese Fusion,” a fusion of Japanese landscape design principles, within the Pacific Northwest landscape.
The Japanese term “Shinka Suru“ means “unfolding” in English. The entire garden sits on just over an acre and is shaped roughly as a rectangle with a handle. Japanese gardens develop their structure from an empathic response to nature, mountains and water. In the Reed Garden-Shinka Suru one doesn’t feel the property as lines, but as curves which lead and unfold different viewpoints and vistas with color, texture and layers of levels.
Typical Japanese design elements usually include water and mountains which match well with the lot placed by the existing lake and its views of Mount Rainier. In addition, an asymmetrical bridge over two ponds was created to reach the entrance of the house where the sound of water greets you from a hidden fountain.