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The gardens Bunny Mellon created during her life were influenced by a number of places, objects, people and literature. One woman who had a lasting impact on American gardens and served as an inspiration for Mrs. Mellon was Ellen Biddle Shipman. Ellen, born on this day in 1869, was a pioneering landscape architect who designed over 600 gardens in her lifetime. Read on to learn about Ellen’s life and how some of her trademark garden design staples made their way to the gardens of Mrs. Mellon.
Born today in 1803, Marianne North spent her life dedicating herself to the pursuit of seeing and painting plants in faraway places. These paintings were done in non-traditional methods by Victorian standards but left a colorful lasting legacy at Kew Gardens. In our latest blog post read about Marianne’s travels and see some of her vibrant paintings.
While the cool autumn air has returned, we are taking a look back at the height of summer. It’s at this time that our Biocultural Conservation Farm was getting ready to plant collards grown as part of a collaboration with the Heirloom Collards Project. Read our blog to learn about the history of collards in the US and history HCP, while hopefully gaining a new appreciation for these sometimes overlooked leafy greens.
As we transition away from summer, mushrooms are beginning to appear in the landscape. While spring is often thought of as the prime time to forage for edible mushrooms like the highly sought morels, the months of September and October also see their fair share of fungi. Read on to learn about a few of the female scientists and illustrators whose early work informed our understanding of mushrooms today.
Summer is a time that’s bursting with activity. The landscape is full of soaring butterflies, buzzing bees, and a host of birds and other critters. In this guest blog post, written by our Biodiversity Conservation Manager, learn about the creation of the Rokeby Wildlife Garden, which supports Oak Spring’s flora and fauna, and get a few tips on how to start your own wildlife garden.
As we enter into late summer, the landscape and gardens of Oak Spring are lush and green. There are a few exceptions emerging right now however that defy all our assumptions of what a typical plant looks like. These opportunists are dependent on other plants (or in some cases mushrooms) to get their nutrients and thus don’t produce chlorophyll. In our latest blog, read about some weird and fascinating parasitic plants that thwart conventions in order to survive.
As a horticulturist, garden designer, and philanthropist, her passions and vision for the future left an enduring influence through the formation of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. In celebration of her birthday, a newly discovered fossilized plant species has been named in Bunny’s honor. Our President Sir Peter Crane outlines this new discovery and another pioneering woman who helped to bring this fossil flower to light.
To wrap up her internship, we asked Communications Intern Salem Twiggs to write a blog on a topic that caught her interest, read our latest blog to hear her thoughts and reflections on a summer at Oak Spring.
Mary Vaux Walcott was a botanist, glaciologist, and outdoorswoman who created close to 1,000 botanical sketches and illustrations in her lifetime. The Smithsonian published nearly 400 of her illustrations, all of which were done in the rugged landscape of the Canadian Alps.
Bunny Mellon once said “every rock has its purpose” and “every plant has its purpose.” Inspired by French styled parterres, the terraced gardens of Oak Spring are the perfect marriage of the two sentiments. The rock in this case is local fieldstone which was hand laid by Oak Spring’s stonemasons, and the plants are a smattering of herbs and other perennials which were first sprinkled out as seeds by Bunny during the garden's construction. Today, the cracks of the fieldstone spill out with plants that thrive under the beating summer sun. Learn more about the history of the terrace garden and some of the plants that thrive there in this blog.
When someone says the word pollinator, what first comes to mind? You may think of a European honeybee, butterfly or hummingbird. To kick off National Pollinator Week, learn about a few of the unsung pollinators of the world and hear from our Ecologist and Collections Specialist, Dr. Rea Manderino on their importance.
Meet our Education and Outreach Coordinator, Ginger Anderson! Ginger comes to us with 20 years of farming experience and 15 years of teaching experience in agriculture and horticulture education. As a continuation of Oak Spring’s mission to share the resources of Bunny Mellon with the public, Ginger works with teachers and youth organization leaders throughout the region to coordinate meaningful hands-on learning experiences at the Biocultural Conservation Farm or in schools or community centers. You can find out more about Ginger by reading our latest ‘Meet the Staff’ Q&A!
Seaweed, kelp, macroalgae, whatever you choose to call it, can sometimes seem a little boring, but not to Isabella Aiona Abbott. A fascination with these plantlike organisms began in her youth and steadily grew into Isabella becoming the foremost expert in Pacific marine algae. As we recognize Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, learn about the life and contributions of the First Lady of Limu.
Last month two of our Garden Team members entered the local Upperville Daffodil Show. It was a winding process to get there but each came away with multiple ribbons! In our newest blog post, read about the steps they took in preparation for the showing, the long history of daffodils in the US and get a few tips about how to put your best foot (or flower) forward.
Spring is the time when we take to the outdoors for some warm weather activities— for the Mellon’s one of those activities included croquet. In this guest blog post, written by our newest Horticultural Apprentice Bennett Meeks, learn all about the steps necessary to create your own croquet lawn and some general tips for heathy lawn care.
Through gardens we can observe the cycles of nature, produce food and medicines that sustain us, commune with wildlife, and so much more. At various times throughout history, people have had different ideas of what their garden should be made up of or what it should be utilized for. In our latest blog post, read about a few of the varying approaches to gardens through some of the oldest botanic gardens in the world and see some of the related objects from the Oak Spring Garden Library collections.
The gardens we know today are inspiring– the designers who created them took many approaches, influenced by their upbringing, travels, or their inner circles. Many of our modern notable gardens have inspirational roots in gardens from the, some of which were historically designed by women. While many did not receive formal training, it didn’t stop them from convening in their own ways to radically change the way we view gardens today. It’s no easy task to pair this list down to just four, but to usher in National Garden Month, learn about the lives and legacies of several plantswomen.
Happy first day of Spring! As winter’s grip fades, we turn to the forest floor to marvel at the spring ephemerals that are beginning to emerge. These native plants pack a lot of beauty into a small timeframe and have historically been used in traditional medicine. Celebrate the vernal equinox and read about four short-lived wonders.
