Lakewold Gardens NRHP 14001055 Pierce County, WA

Lakewold Gardens is a non-profit estate garden located at 12317 Gravelly Lake Drive SW, Lakewood, Washington, in an area known as the Lakes District. It is open to visitors year-round.

History

The property first began in 1908 as a 5 acre (20,000 m²) home site for Emma Alexander, who transferred the property to her son Hubbard Alexander and his wife Ruth Alexander. At this point the gardens were already well known in the area. The Alexanders purchased an adjacent site in 1918. In 1925 the property was sold to Major Everett Griggs and his wife, Grace, who renamed the property "Lakewold," a middle-English word meaning "lake-woods." In 1938 the property was sold again to G. Corydon and Eulalie Wagner, who began collecting plants and engaged Thomas Church as a landscape architect. In 1987 Mrs. Wagner donated the estate to a non-profit organization, the Friends of Lakewold, stating, "As we become more and more city creatures, living in manmade surroundings, perhaps gardens will become even more precious to us, letting us remember that we began in the garden."

Collections

Lakewold Gardens was designed by the owner, Eulalie Wagner, with assistance from renowned landscape architect Thomas Church, to be a place for people, full of hidden spaces, eye-catching details and framed vistas. The gardens include a variety of gardening styles, from the European boxwood parterres and topiary, to Asian-inspired shade gardens. Plantings closer to the house are formal, whereas plantings down the slope towards Gravelly Lake are less formal. Rocks, streams, woodland areas, and mature trees, pathways, open lawns, and flower beds can all be found on the slope to the lake.

Gardens

Specialty gardens at Lakewold *

Boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

Parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...

s - Boxwoods shaped into ground-level geometric patterns * The Tom Gillies Hardy Fern Foundation Display Garden - hardy

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

s and shade perennials from around the world. *

Knot garden A knot garden is a garden of formal design in a square frame, consisting of a variety of aromatic plants and culinary herbs including germander, marjoram, thyme, southernwood ''Artemisia abrotanum'', the southernwood, lad's love, or southern ...

- herbs planted and trained in a fashion that resembles a loosely tied ribbon * Rhododendron Collection - hundreds of hybrid and species rhododendron. * Rock Garden -

gentian ''Gentiana'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the gentian family (Gentianaceae), the tribe Gentianeae, and the monophyletic subtribe Gentianinae. With about 400 species it is considered a large genus. They are notable for their mostl ...

saxifrage ''Saxifraga'' is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 465 species of holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages or rockfoils. The Latin word ''saxifraga'' means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin ' ("rock" or " ...

dianthus ''Dianthus'' () is a genus of about 340 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native mainly to Europe and Asia, with a few species in north Africa and in southern Africa, and one species (''D. repens'') in arctic North A ...

lewisia ''Lewisia'' is a plant genus, named for the American explorer Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) who encountered the species in 1806. The native habitat of ''Lewisia'' species is north facing cliffs in western North America. Local Native Americans ate ...

s, dwarf rhododendrons, and alpine plants. *

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

/Cutting Garden * Screes - one devoted primarily to

s, another to fuzzy-foliage alpine plants, and a third to

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...

and

primula ''Primula'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. They include the primrose ('' P. vulgaris''), a familiar wildflower of banks and verges. Other common species are '' P. auricula'' (auricula), '' P. veris'' (cow ...

. * Waterfall - alpine stream with three waterfalls, bulbs,

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...

s, rhododendrons, azaleas, bog plants, and

s. * Woodland Garden - Douglas fir, with

hellebore Commonly known as hellebores (), the Eurasian genus ''Helleborus'' consists of approximately 20 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, within which it gave its name to the tribe of Helleboreae. ...

trillium ''Trillium'' (trillium, wakerobin, toadshade, tri flower, birthroot, birthwort, and sometimes "wood lily") is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. ''Trillium'' species are native to temperate regions of No ...

erythronium ''Erythronium'', the fawn lily, trout lily, dog's-tooth violet or adder's tongue, is a genus of Eurasian and North American plants in the lily family, most closely related to tulips. The name Erythronium derives from Ancient Greek () "red" in ...

, and

Washington State Champion trees

* Acer palmatum - Japanese Maple, see Circle Drive * Acer palmatum ‘Atropurpureum’ - Red Japanese Maple *

Halesia ''Halesia'', also known as silverbell or snowdrop tree, is a small genus of four or five species of deciduous large shrubs or small trees in the family Styracaceae. Range They are native to eastern Asia (southeast China) and eastern North ...

caroliniana var. monticola - Mountain Silverbell * Ilex x altaclerensis camelliafolia - Camellia-leaved Highclere, *

Ilex crenata ''Ilex crenata'', the Japanese holly or box-leaved holly (Japanese: イヌツゲ ''inutsuge'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Aquifoliaceae, native to eastern China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Sakhalin. It is an evergreen shrub or ...

- Japanese Holly *

Metasequoia glyptostroboides ''Metasequoia glyptostroboides'', the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, endangered deciduous conifer. It is the sole living species of the genus ''Metasequoia'', one of three genera in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae. It now ...

- Dawn Redwood *

Parrotia persica ''Parrotia persica'', the Persian ironwood, is a deciduous tree in the family Hamamelidaceae, closely related to the witch-hazel genus ''Hamamelis''. It is native to Iran's Caspian region (where it is called ) and Iranian Azerbaijan (where it ...

- Persian Ironwood *

Prunus lusitanica ''Prunus lusitanica'', the Portuguese laurel cherry or Portugal laurel, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae, native to southwestern France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and Macaronesia (the Azores, Canary Islands and Madeira ...

- Portugal Cherry * Prunus ‘Pandora’ - Pandora Cherry * Prunus ‘Tai Haku’- Tai Haku Cherry

Museum governance

Lakewold is a

non profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

estate garden that is governed by a board of directors who are responsible for determining policy and procedures as well as providing oversight regarding the operation of Lakewold Gardens and the Wagner House. The staff includes 4-5 administrative personnel, 6 garden and facilities personnel, and several interns. Volunteers provide year-round assistance in many areas of garden management, including garden maintenance, leading tours, special events, mailings, and other projects.

Programming

Audience

Lakewold seeks to reach a variety of people through its gardens, tours, and programming. Current attendance is approximately 2:1 female to male, the typical visitor is in their mid-forties to upper-sixties. Campaigns to increase audience diversity have led to greater attendance by families and military personnel. (Lakewold Gardens is near McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis ( Joint Base Lewis-McChord). The busiest time of year at the garden is May, particularly around

Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in th ...

. Early spring flowers, fall color, and special events bring people in year-round.

Events

Lakewold Gardens has special events year-round, including: * Music from Home * MayFest * FairyFest * Discovery Walks with the Garden Manager * Guest speakers * Second City Chamber Concert Series

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pu ...

came to a breakfast and fashion show at Lakewold Gardens in 1997 as part of a fundraising event.

Public Programs

Classes are offered to the public in topics including: * Garden Photography * Organic Gardening * Herb Gardens * Stone Sculpture * Basic Pruning * Cutting Gardens In addition, group tours are available by reservation.

References

Lakewold: A Magnificent Northwest Garden, ed. Ronald Fields, Forward by Dan Hinkley, produced by Judy Wagner. 2011. Jardin Group publications. ISBN 0295991089

Sources

# Goodnow, Cecelia, "Step Back into a Gentler Time - A Stroll in a Garden Paradise is Followed By a Relaxing Victorian Luncheon," Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)-April 24, 2008 # Henry, Chris, "Escape to the Tacoma gardens where blue poppies bloom" Kitsap Sun (Bremerton, WA)-May 15, 1998 # Van Pelt, Robert, Champion Trees of Washington State University of Washington Press (October 1996),

External links

Lakewold Gardens
{{Coord, 47.145, -122.537, display=title Lakewood, Washington Parks in Pierce County, Washington Gardens in Washington (state) Woodland gardens