March 2024 – Page 5 – Every Girl's Dream

BEATRICE JONES FARRAND, (1872-1959)

As Beatrix Farrand liked to say she was born into “five generations of gardeners.” She inherited that passion for horticulture and beautiful plantings, creating roughly 110 gardens for public spaces, private homes, college campuses, botanical gardens and the White House.

Despite Beatrix’s description of her family as gardeners, she came from a prominent New York family. She was well aquainted with scions of society, literati (Edith Wharton was her aunt and Henry James was her best friend) and gliterati up and down the eastern seaboard. Her love of nature was nurtured by long summers spent at family estates in New York and Maine.

Charles Sprague Sargent, American botanist and first Director of Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum, mentored Beatrix in her study of plants, botany and landscape gardening. In the late 1800’s she discovered a species of hawthorne on Prince Edward Island and shared it with Sargent. He was very impressed and subsequently named it Crataegus jonesaie in honor of Beatrix.

A brochure about the Herbarium at Garland Farm, Reef Point, Maine describes Beatrix’s discovery of this rare and beautiful hawthorne.

Her garden designs are incredible, featuring a rich variety of shrubs, perennials and charming hardscape features. Of her 110 gardens only a few remain, but they are spectacular! Here are pictures of some of her intact gardens.

The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden, Seal Harbor, Maine

Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, New York Botanical Garden

Dumbarton Oaks, Georgetown, Washington, District of Columbia

Green Springs, Alexandria, Virginia, Restored by the Garden Club of Virginia in 2011

Here is an additional list of gardens designed by Beatrix Farrar

In 1899 Beatrix Farrand was the only woman in the group of eleven landscape professional who established the American Society of Landscape Architects. She was ahead of her time and her influence continues today.

There are so many sources for information about Beatrix Farrand! Here are some that I have cited:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_Farrand

beatrixfarrandsociety.org

https://yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/4712-yales-secret-garden

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Society_of_Landscape_Architects

https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/crataegus/jonesiae/

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/green-spring/historic-house

https://www.gcvirginia.org/main/restorations-details/44

https://www.beatrixfarrandgardenhydepark.org/about-1

https://www.beatrixfarrandgardenhydepark.org/filmdescription

https://www.nps.gov/people/beatrix-farrand.htm

https://www.nybg.org/garden/rose-garden/about-the-rose-garden/