Beatrix Farrand

Born: 19 June 1872, United States
Died: 28 February 1959
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Beatrix Jones-Farrand, Beatrix Cadwalader Farrand

The following is republished from the National Park Service. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).

“She was outstanding as a designer; she had a great sense of proportion and strength in her designs. But because she was a woman, she didn’t have the opportunities that men had. They were designing public parks; her work was in the private realm.” Landscape architect Diane K. Maguire, quoted in the New York Times, 2003.

Beatrix Farrand was an acclaimed landscape gardener (she preferred the term to architect) whose designs can still be enjoyed in many cultivated spaces today. Among the existing examples of her work are the terraced garden rooms of Dumbarton Oaks, and the carriage roads of Acadia National Park. She also worked with both Ellen and Edith Wilson to design a First Lady’s Garden for the East Wing of the White House. The area was re-envisioned by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1962 and is now the Rose Garden.

Dumbarton Oaks
Beginning in 1921, Beatrix Farrand transformed the grounds around the Georgian Revival mansion from farmland into terraced gardens that combined American and European elements. She worked with owner Mildred Bliss for decades to cultivate a landscape that evolved over time in harmony with natural changes to the environment. The Dumbarton Oaks gardens represent Farrand’s signature style and are her best-known work.

Growing Acadia
“Her most significant project was working with John D. Rockefeller Jr. on preserving and beautifying the carriage roads in the park. Impressed with her abilities in orchestrating work on the gardens at The Eyrie and her passionate interest in native plants, Rockefeller engaged her to consult on the roadside plantings in the park. They spent afternoons driving along the roads and inspecting the plantings. She injected quantities of native plants in naturalistic groupings so that they looked as if they had always been growing there, sometimes moving clumps from one location in the park to another. In all, sixty varieties of trees, shrubs, and perennials were used, and most of them were native to the island. The plantings remain one of Farrand’s most significant legacies in Maine.”

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Posted in Horticulture.