Archives of American Gardens – Page 3

I do think a garden should be seductive. The strength of any garden is its ability to take you away.

— David L. Culp, in “3,000 Plants, and Then Some,” The New York Times.

Unidentified garden in Pasadena, California, 1930, by Diggers Garden Club, via Archives of American Gardens, Garden Club of America, Smithsonian Institution Commons on flickr.

Simple, elegant, and a little mysterious. . .

The Diggers Garden Club was founded in 1924 and still exists today. It is a member of the Garden Club of America, which is celebrating its centennial this year.

At its 75th anniversary, the GCA donated 3,000 glass lantern slides (of which this is one) and over 30,000 film slides to the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Gardens. Its members continue to contribute to the collection, which now has over 60,000 images.

Many of the gardens pictured in the Archives’ slides are unidentified. The Smithsonian is asking the public’s help in finding names and locations. Click here to view its “Mystery Gardens Initiative.”

Hand-tinted (3″ x 5″) glass lantern slide of Bagatelle Garden, Paris, France, ca. 1930, photographer unknown.

The image is from the Garden Club of America Collection, part of the Archives of American Gardens at the Smithsonian Institution (used here by permission).

The Archives hold over 60,000 photos and records documenting 6,300 historic and contemporary American gardens. At its core are almost 3,000 hand-colored glass lantern and 35mm slides donated by the Garden Club of America.

Smithsonian Gardens maintains 11 gardens around the Smithsonian Institution’s grounds and also has a good blog here.

Chelsea Miscellany

It’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show time! Their website is here.

All The Telegraph’s Chelsea coverage is here; The Guardian’s is here; The Independent’s is here.

BBC coverage is here. You may need this to view it. (View episodes soon; some expire in four days.)

The New York Times reports on how gnomes will be allowed in the show this year (only), here. In the Herald (Dublin), “Diarmuid Gavin has branded the Chelsea Flower Show ‘dull’ and described Prince Harry’s garden at the centenary exhibition as ‘bad,'” here.

Studio ‘g’ has photos of the Best in Show winner — the Australian garden — here, and they promise more pictures to come. Also, check out The Galloping Gardener’s report, here (thanks to GD by CM) — Gardenista’s, here — and The Enduring Gardener’s, here. Anne Wareham of thinkinGardens comments on two of this year’s entries, here.

Sources for seeds for cow parsley — plant of the moment at this year’s show, according to Gardenista — here.

Instagram photos tagged #chelseaflowershow are here. GAP Photos has 103 photos of Chelsea, here. More photos, as well as plant lists, are posted on Shoot, here.

Where have you found good photos or reviews of the show?