Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, Garden, 10 East Oglethorpe Avenue, Savannah

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS GA-4. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

10 East Oglethorpe Avenue, Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia Latitude: Longitude: (Center of the house, Google Earth, The house and garden are located in the Savannah National Historic Landmarks District established in (NRIS # The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace was designated a National Historic Landmark in and updated as part of the Juliette Gordon Low Historic District in (NRIS #

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS GA-4. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Garden features locally renowned landscape architect Clermont H. Lee s period garden design of meant to compliment the newly opened house museum commemorating its namesake, the founder of the Girl Scouts of America. The garden exemplifies Lee s conscientious effort to design in a historically accurate manner with a revival- style plan, using plants native to the area between and when Low resided in the house. The garden also shows adaptability to contemporary needs and was meant to be seen as a model garden exemplifying core historic Girl Scout ideals of domestic, feminine values of home-making and showing nature as a place of nurture empowering young women.

The garden design also rose from the same sense of urgency to increase historical appreciation with contemporary use precipitated by increasing demolition of historic buildings that gave rise to the inauguration of the Historic Savannah Foundation.

This concern only grew and it is fitting that the garden sits today in the Savannah National Historic Landmarks District established in one of the largest such district in the United States, next to the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, referred to in the nomination as among the more important architectural structures in the district and designated a National Historic Landmark in and updated as part of the Juliette Gordon Low Historic District in Clermont Huger Lee received her masters of landscape architecture in from the Smith College Graduate School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lee returned to her native Savannah and worked with Talmadge Baumgardner of the Sea Island Company.

In Lee became the first woman in Georgia to establish a private practice in landscape architecture and she specialized in the reproduction of historic gardens and landscapes, executing dozens in the historic district and beyond. As part of this work, Lee was a leader in expressing a need for research into historic plants and planting styles of the Georgia coast. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 2 Lee also contributed to the professionalism of landscape architects in the State of Georgia when, in she helped to establish the Georgia State Board of licensing for landscape architecture. Lee was one of the first four landscape architects to be registered and she held the distinction of being the first woman to be registered in Georgia.

She also held a founding board position for three years. In all, Lee s legacy in Savannah and the State of Georgia came from her talent and strength of character as a pioneering woman landscape architect, and in her helping to bring life to the historic places and plants from where she came. Description: The garden sits immediately to the east of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, and was meant to face the house, and Oglethorpe Avenue immediately to the south. The house and garden are on the northeast corner of Oglethorpe Avenue and Bull Street in Sloper Tything of the Percival Ward, one of the first four wards in Oglethorpe s plan of Savannah.

Percival Ward centers on Wright Square and Sloper Tything consisted of the tything or ten original lots flanking a lane in the ward s southeast corner. The location is significant as Bull Street is the most prominent north-south street in Savannah bisecting the historic district and forming the core along which most of the city s grandest monuments are located, and Oglethorpe Street running east-west was historically South Broad Street, the end of the initial development of the city of Savannah, and after the city extended further south, the street was subsequently left as a four-lane cross- street with a wide median planted in coast live oaks and azaleas.

The garden s west edge is the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace house featuring a slightly below-grade entry into the cellar and a stair leading up to the first level of a two-story porch that overlook the garden. At the rear of the house, a lattice Savannah Grey brick wall with an iron gate extends to a rear 1 story side-gable service building. The iron gate provides access between a rear service courtyard and the garden. The rear service building to the north of the garden continues the appearance of a lattice brick wall but has a solid brick wall behind and contains four sash windows looking into what was historically the stables, and a door into what was the poultry house.

This structure was later used as a garage, and then a troop house, which it remains.1 To the east, the border of the garden is a brick wall abutting the three-story townhouse on the neighboring property. To the south the border is a 7 tall iron fence rising from a 1 -3 stone base providing notable open viewing of the garden to all who pass. Design The garden was decoratively designed in carefully composed picturesque parterres. The overall side lot is 57 by 65 and the centerpiece is a 36 by 48 rectangle made up of ten geometric flower beds crossed by bilaterally symmetrical 3 -6 walks.

The rectangle s symmetry is organized along a north- 1 Troop House, minutes of Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Committee, 24 January Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace (hereafter JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 3 south axis aligning two symmetrical ellipses that flank a small circular centerpiece. A prominent east-west axis aligns the center of the circular projection of the veranda with two crescent beds and the southernmost of the ovals. Other beds are symmetrical on either side of the north-south axis, but irregular in shape due to their being framed by curved walks encircling the ellipses and the crescents and fitting within the rectangle as a whole.

This rectangle is surrounded by a rectangular gravel walk which is surrounded in turn by edging beds on all sides but the west along the edge of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace where the walk is widened to provide space for seating. Beds are bordered in terra cotta edging tiles and walks are hard-packed earth mixed with Portland cement and covered with local river or pea gravel.

The terra cotta edging tiles were seen as a character defining element in the garden, and although as many as 350 were purchased to complete Clermont Lee s design, some were also excavated from under the grass that grown over the side yard.2 Two main designs were used to border the beds, and a display of seven decorative treatments of such tiles under the veranda, and drawn on the edge of a souvenir map of the garden.3 The two main designs used included one with three recessed squares below the scalloped top, and a plain surfaced version.4 The current state of the geometric design still resembles the original plan, but is generally distorted.

Nearly all originally crisp geometries, especially the pointed ends of beds are now rounded, and while some arcs do retain their clarity, others are quite irregular. The terra cotta edging tiles still line the beds, but they are askew in many cases, and some, especially along the eastern bed are sunken almost to ground level and some are entirely obscured. There are more recent inclusions of single tiles featuring a four scalloped profile, and four circular recesses that are used in various locations. Features Characteristic of house museums, and not out of character with the Victorian period s tendency toward embellishment, the garden accumulated a diverse and changing inventory of sculptural features. In many cases these had what were seen as important commemorative roles.

Although many committee members desired a fountain for the center of the garden in May of it was deemed too expensive. Samuel Edwin Wolff offered a sun dial placed on a short Doric column and that became the centerpiece for four years, and has remained on the 2 Samuel Edwin Wolff, minutes of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Committee, 12 July Historic Garden File. 3 Plan of Formal Garden, fold-out brochure, Historic Garden file; Conoly Hester, The Victorian Art of Garden Curbs, Georgia Journal 9:2 (Summer 53. 4 Clermont H. Lee, Recent Garden History of the Wayne-Gordon Residence, typescript memo, 18 November Garden file. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 4 property even after being replaced.5 A single tier fountain meant to be a copy of one designed by Juliette Gordon Low took its place by and this was added to by an additional tier by This fountain was donated by Page Anderson Platt as a memorial to J. Randolph Anderson, the first Girl Scout troop leader in the United States. Two bronze cranes placed in beds to the east and west of the fountain were a gift in of Henry N. Platt of Philadelphia, daughter of Anderson and a member of the first Girl Scout troop.6 At some point in the the fountain was removed and a raised cast iron planter installed.

A particularly elegant Colonial Revival wrought iron double gate designed and crafted in by Juliette Gordon Low for her estate Wellesbourne in England provides a focal point on the east wall of the garden. Juliette Gordon Low brought the gate in to provide the entrance to Brownie Park in Gordonston, a suburb established in on the former Gordon family farm to the east of Savannah.7 This installation was a centerpiece of her dedication of the park to the children of Gordonston and commemorated the park s role as the site of many early Girl Scout meetings.8 In the gates were relocated to the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace garden for safekeeping and a similar replacement crafted for the park.

In the sculptor Nina de Burgh donated a stone statue of Juliette Gordon Low and her dog seated on a bench, entitled Lady of Compassion in honor of her father Richard Platt, Juliette Low s great nephew.9 The sculpture sits to the north of the veranda against the house and serves as a popular prop for staged photographs. The garden includes a decorative cast iron table, chair, and two benches in its southwest corner, as well as two tables with decorative metal legs and stone topped surfaces. Planting As Clermont Lee designed it, each parterre was a careful balance of heights, colors and textures meant to provide bright cheery displays most dramatic in Spring, but having interest throughout the year.

The northeast and northwest corner beds were identical in that they were filled with assorted Daylilies (Hemerocallis), set off by blue Spanish Squill (Scilla hispanica) and ringed by White Grass Pink (Dianthus plumarius albiflorus) but their centerpiece differed in that the bed to the west incorporated an existing white Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) and the east featured a Camellia Alba Plena (Camellia japonica).

The two irregular or six-sided beds flanking the central feature to the east and 5 Report from Garden Subcommittee, minutes of Joint Meeting of Subcommittee on Restoration and Subcommittee on Use of Property, Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, 14 May 6 Plan of Formal Garden; Charlotte Inglesby, Birds and Beasts of Old Savannah (Savannah: 7 Lillian Chaplin Bragg, Old Savannah Ironwork (Savannah: 8 Steven H. Moffson, Gordonston Historic District, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, April 15, 9 Sculpture of Juliette Gordon Low, Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, (March 27, JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 5 west were nearly identical with an overall bedding of assorted Garden Verbena (Verbena hortorum) ringed by White Grass Pink (Dianthus plumarius albiflorus) and set off by clumps of Smooth Phlox (Phlox glaberrima Miss Lingard ), and blue French Roman Hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) and Yemen Iris (Iris albicans).

They were also matched in their both having a single Camellia (Camellia japonica) and two Bush Tea Roses (Rosa odorata), but the bed to the west featured Camellia Pink Perfection (Camellia japonica Pink Perfection ) and Bush Tea Rose Marie van Houtte, yellow (Rosa odorata Marie van Houtte ) and Bush Tea Rose Safrano, yellow (Rosa odorata Safrano ), while the bed to the east featured Camellia Debutante (Camellia japonica Debutante ) and Bush Tea Rose Duchesse de Brabant, pink (Rosa odorata Duchesse de Brabant ) and Bush Tea Rose Deviniensis, white and pink (Rosa odorata Deviniensis ).

The two crescent beds on axis with the rounded projection of the piazza, featured Centuryplant Agave (Agave Americana) as centerpieces and with Stokes Aster (Stokesia Laevis) as an underplanting and were bordered by White Grass Pink (Dianthus plumarius albiflorus). The one difference between the two was that the east had an existing white Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica). The two southernmost beds were identical in basic form, but distinct in specific detail.

Both were bordered by White Grass Pink (Dianthus plumarius albiflorus) and featured an understory of separate clumped groups of white Yemen Iris, (Iris albicans), and assorted Daylily varieties (Hemerocalis), blue French Roman Hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis), white Smooth Phlox (Phlox glaberrima Miss Lingard ) and one Camellia (Camellia japonica) and one Bush Tea Rose (Rosa odorata). The west bed featured Camellia Donckelaari (Camellia japonica Donckelaari ) paired with a yellow Bush Tea Rose (Rosa odorata Safrano ).

The east bed featured Camellia Mathotiana variant (Camellia japonica Mathotiana ) The two large central ellipses featured Indica Azaleas with (Azalea indica Triomphe de ledeberg , salmon) as the centerpiece of the north ellipse surrounded by (Azalea indica Belgian hybrid Compte de Kerkov ) and (Azalea indica Iveryana , salmon sport) as the centerpiece of the south ellipse with (Azalea indica Iveryana , white and pink) framing to the east and west.

The north edge of the overall garden area, sometimes called the carriage house bed, or boundary bed-north, had its largest grouping of plants in the northwest corner near the entrance gate containing an existing pecan (Carya illinoinensis) to which Clermont Lee added a variety of shrubs including Japanese mock orange (Pittosporum tobira), Camellia (Camellia japonica Betty Sheffield Pink ), Common Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus), three Aloe Yucca (Yucca aloifolia), with a backdrop of Climbing Fig (Ficus pumila) along the latticed brick wall of the service building. As the bed extended east along the north JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 6 edge, pairs of Indica Azalea (Azalea indica Fielders White ) framed an existing Common Floweringquince (Chaenomeles lagenaria), which was followed to the east by a Sweet Acacia (Acacia farnesiana), another Azalea (Azalea indica Fielders White ), then a True Myrtle (Myrtus communis), a Yellow Four O Clock (Mirabilis jalapa), a Horse Banana (Musa Orinoco ), and a Sweet Mockorange (Philadelphus coronarius). The climbing vine Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) provided a backdrop to this eastern half of the north edge, while Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum) was distributed throughout.

The east edge of the overall garden area, the boundary bed-east, began at its northeast corner with one Camellia (Camellia japonica Blood of China ), and then alternated a total of five American Holly, berried (Ilex opaca Savannah ), with Oleander Double Pink (Nerium oleander Double Pink ), Hedge Bamboo (Bambusa multiplex), Oleander Single White (Nerium oleander), another Hedge Bamboo (Bambusa multiplex), and finally cream and red Oleander Nankeen (Nerium oleander Nankeen ). Trumpet Creeper (Campsis) provided a backdrop, while English Ivy (Hedera helix) served as a groundcover sprinkled with Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum).

The southern edge of the overall garden area, or boundary bed-south, featured the wrought iron fence draped in Chinese Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) at either end, but also included a Yellow Banks Rose (Rosa banksia lutea), Smilax Asparagus (Asparagus asparagoides), climbing white Lamarque Rose (Rose- Noisette Lamarque ), climbing yellow Marachal Niel Rose (Rose-Noisette Marechal Niel ) and Argentine Trumpetvine (Clytostoma callistegioides). This all-important window into the garden was framed to the west by a Lilac Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus) and to the east by a Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida).

No bed received such a rich variety of planting including Blue Spanish Squill (Scilla hispanica), Spring Snowflakes (Leucojum vernum), Georgia Easterlily (Lilium longiflorum eximeum), American Crinum (Crinum americanum), Shorttube Lycoris (Lycoris radiata), Oxeye Daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum), Paperwhite Polyanthus Narcissus (Narcissus tazetta Paperwhite ), Purple Iris (Iris reticulata), and assorted Daylily varieties (Hemerocallis). The significance of the garden design and the plants goes far beyond just visual aesthetics alone. Nearly the entire northern edge of the garden, the so-called carriage-house bed, comprised either existing plants of which there were four, or gifted plants of which there were six.

Retaining existing plants allowed Clermont Lee to connect the house to its vestiges of history which Juliette Gordon Low would have known, as discussed below. Gifted plants generally expressed the community spirit at work to create the garden, but even more significant specific social connections. The minutes of a joint meeting of the subcommittees on restoration and use of property stated Six camellia plants JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 7 have been contributed by Mr. Bell, Sr. Judge Solomon plans to donate others. 10 The Mr.

Bell referred to was Malcolm Bell, a highly regarded Savannah historian whose mother, Laura Palmer Bell was perhaps the first to introduce Clermont Lee to historic gardens in downtown Savannah.11 Judge Solomon was a renowned Savannah gardener with his own Azalea named after him, Rhododendron indicum 'Judge Solomon'. Notably, however that particular variety was not used in the garden due to its being too recent. Flowers were also central to the identity of the Girl Scouts.

The first three troops originated at Nina Pape s School in Savannah, and were named in order, the Carnations, the Lily-of-the-Valleys, the Roses, and the Forget-me-nots.12 While each level of scout had some engagement with the garden, older scouts, seniors, were encouraged to research plants and narrate their history and meaning.13 As one example, notes composed for the Lilac Chastetree (Vitex agnus-castus) commented it is prized for its delicate and distinctively shaped leaves, as well as the spikes of lavender blossoms. The seeds make fragrant sachets for house linen. 14 Such personal references to fragrance and fine linen position the class and gender of the privileged young women and demonstrate how the garden reinforced expectations of the young Girl Scouts place and standing.

While such narratives did fulfill traditionally stereotyped feminine associations, the range of information imparted usually indicated a sophisticated blend of science, history as well as character.15 The notes composed for Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides), were An epiphytic herb of the pineapple family, this unique southern plant as long slender gray mossy-like stems covered with tiny leaves and flowers which are yellow. Being an air plant, it uses the tree only as a support, adding to the tree s charm with its beautiful lacy draping of the limbs. Notably, a sentence Its commercial uses are for packing and fibers for mattresses and upholstery. was crossed out, perhaps as too crassly materialistic and not idealistic enough.

The daisy was especially important as that was Juliette Gordon Low s nickname 10 Report from Garden Subcommittee, minutes of Joint Meeting of Subcommittee on Restoration and Subcommittee on Use of Property, Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, 14 May 11 Paul M. Pressly, "Malcolm Bell Jr. New Georgia Encyclopedia, April 15, 12 Andrea Fincke, Yowger Smith Recalls the Way Scouting Used to be-In For more on the context of the relationship of the Pape School and the Girl Scouts, see Paul M. Pressly, Educating the Daughters of Savannah s Elite: The Pape School, the Girl Scouts, and the Progressive Movement, (Summer, 13 John T.

Cuttino, memo of thoughts on Girl Scout use of Juliette Gordon Low House, 19 August 14 Typescript on letterhead printed with Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Golden Anniversary of Girl Scouting Honor the Past Serve the Future, Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace (hereafter Garden file. 15 This analysis could go considerably deeper with greater specific research into particular plants, into Girl Scout activities related to plants and gardening, and into the context of nature study. On the latter topic, see Kevin C. Armitage, The Nature Study Movement: The Forgotten Popularizer of America s Conservation Ethic (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 8 from birth. The shaping of what qualities it would reflect was very finely developed.

The notes for it recount the Roman legend that the daisy owes its origin to the Belides, who was one of the Dryads presiding over the forest, meadows, and pastures and went on to talk about the origins of the word in Anglo-Saxon lore, but whoever edited the notes commented that there was a definite need for a basic description which had been entirely overlooked. Notably, a sentence mentioning the childhood game of playing He loves me, he loves me not with the daisy was emphatically crossed out as was the explanation that the game was a part of every girl s romantic ideas clearly indicating a desire to avoid stereotypes and reductive characterizations.16 Even the daisy needed to be seen plainly for what it was and without cloying romanticizing.

Almost immediately, the daisy became the symbol of the birthplace campaign to raise funds for the restoration of the house and garden. An article in the Girl Scout Leader stated Perky daisies are now appearing on memos and promotion letters and at birthplace meetings, and paper daisies are being worn on lapels. 17 History: The Girl Scouts of the United States of America purchased the Wayne-Gordon House from Eleanor Wayne MacPherson, a niece of Juliette Gordon Low, in November The Girl Scouts restored the house from to The Girl Scouts enlisted Clermont Lee to design a period garden in which was completed in Historically, the site of the garden was on lot seven associated with the site of the house on lot six, two of the original ten lots of the southeast tithing of Percival Ward.

By a central passage house with a side piazza sat at the front or south of lot six and an additional separate servant lodging structure to the rear. Lot seven included the garden to the front of the lot, and to the rear a poultry yard, and three adjoining buildings serving as poultry house, stables and a building with an unidentified use. Although the buildings to the rear of the lots were not aligned along their front or backs, they did connect on their sides via a door from the stable to a porch on the servant lodging structure that faced south towards the back of the main house. There is no information regarding the design or use of the original garden, but it is known that a solid brick wall bordered it to the south, blocking any view of it from Oglethorpe Avenue.

James Moore Wayne purchased the property between and and the current house known as the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace was built in and popularly attributed to William Jay, a prominent English Regency architect active in Savannah. William Washington Gordon I purchased the house in This house was then expanded in with a third floor and a two-story veranda with a circular projection overlooking the garden. The substantial expansion of 16 Ibid. 17 Katharine Mahan, Plans You Can Use: Original Ideas from Comments around the Country for Raising Funds to Help Restore the Birthplace, The Girl Scout Leader, JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 9 the house was designed by the New York architect Detlef Lienau in Colonial Revival style, and included the iron fence on the south of the garden allowing a view of the garden. Whatever nineteenth-century garden existed was largely destroyed by the placement of a playground and basketball court when Margaret McGuire Gordon, widow of George Arthur Gordon, Juliette Gordon Low s youngest brother, opened a small day school on the property in the The house was purchased in November by which time the interior had been divided into four apartments to house World War II defense workers. Margaret McGuire Gordon was the sole occupant. She lived on the parlor level of the house with the piazza enclosed to serve as a bedroom.

Designer Clermont Lee combined the scientific nature of her physician father and the love for gardening of her mother with a strong attachment to Savannah s social circles and sense of place. Educated in private schools in Savannah and Charleston, Lee attended Barnard College in New York City reportedly studying anything that ended in ology before transferring to Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. After completing undergraduate school, Lee received her master s degree in landscape architecture from the Smith College Graduate School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture in Lee returned to her native Savannah and worked with Talmadge Baumgardner of the Sea Island Company on federal housing projects in Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia.

Lee became the first woman in Georgia to establish a private practice in landscape architecture in and joined the American Society of Landscape Architects in She distinguished herself through her specialization in the reproduction of historic gardens and landscapes. As part of this work, Lee was a leader in expressing a need for research into historic plants and planting styles of the Georgia coast. Lee s work on historic gardens began nearly immediately once she began working and became the most prominent commissions of her long and productive career. Her first recorded historic project came in when the owner of the Hofwyl-Broadfield plantation on the Georgia coast between Darien and Brunswick requested the re-creation of a nineteenth-century garden based on historic photographs.

It is notable that Lee s mother knew the Dent family who owned the plantation, thus showing the importance of social connections, and that the property was left to the State of Georgia and became a state park upon the last family member s death, showing how the historical commissions in particular could provide prominent visibility. In a Savannah native and local historian, Laura Palmer Bell, published a detailed article on historic gardens downtown that included two of Lee s measured drawings out of ten she JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 10 documented.18 With increasing social contacts and awareness of the potential, Lee became central to the growing preservation movement that would ultimately result in what became known as the Savannah National Register Historic District in Over the course of her career, every historical house museum that defined downtown asked Lee to create or re-create appropriate historic gardens such as the Owens-Thomas House, the Green-Meldrim House and St.

Johns Episcopal Church, the Champion-Harper Fowlkes House, the Ships of the Sea Museum, and the Isaiah Davenport House, the house whose imminent destruction gave rise to the organization of the Historic Savannah Foundation in Lee s identification with the named historic sites expanded through ambitious neighborhood restoration projects initiated by wealthy preservationists such as Mills B. Lane, Jr. involving literally dozens of properties. Lane created philanthropic organizations, the Mills B.

Lane Foundation, or Lane Enterprises that subsidized further expansive projects overseen by the Park and Tree Commission, most notably the restoration of Warren, Washington, Greene, Troup, and Madison Squares, each a lynchpin to a ward, and to the cohesive character of Savannah.20 Lee extended this work and advocated reducing the corners of the squares to allow easier turning radius for safety vehicles, a critical initiative in enabling squares to remain intact. Lee commented in There was a time when we focused on individual buildings, saving and maintaining them. We need to see the over-all plan. Savannah has been blessed with something wonderfully unique, its squares and the design of the city around them. This must be preserved. It must not be lost.

21 Savannah s connection to Juliette Gordon Low also played a prominent role in Clermont Lee s career. In the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America requested Lee plan historically correct plantings for the front of the Andrew Low House, and in Lee provided plans for the rear courtyard.

Notably, while the Low house served as headquarters for the Georgia Chapter of the Colonial Dames at the time of the commissions, this house had been Juliette Gordon Low s Savannah residence until her death in and the carriage house was used by the Girl Scouts and their preceding group the Girl Guides as 18 Laura Palmer Bell, The Vanishing Gardens of Savannah, Georgia Historical Quarterly (September 19 Ced Dolder, Clermont Lee, Pioneering Savannah Landscape Architect, Magnolia: Publication of the Southern Garden History Society (Spring 20 Robin Williams, David Gobel, Patrick Haughey, Daves Rossell, and Karl Schuler, Buildings of Savannah (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 79, 81, 87, Hansell Hillyer s nearby restoration of the ten-acre Trustees Garden was contemporaneous being completed in see Frank P.

Rossiter and Marvin H. Cox, The History of Trustees Garden Village, Savannah, Georgia (Savannah: 21 Margaret DeBolt, Restoring Historic Gardens Victorian Era Recaptured, Savannah News-Press (June 29, 8E. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 11 their first headquarters in The Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. commissioned Lee to design their historic garden in Out of town commissions for historic landscapes showed Lee s spreading influence across Georgia. She provided designs for the New Echota Cherokee National Capitol, the Chief Vann Residence, the Major John Ridge Home, all publically accessible sites in north Georgia and all related to the Cherokees, Fort McAllister and Fort Pulaski relatively close to Savannah along the coast, and the Bacon-Fraser Residence in Hinesville.

Lee s expertise extended outward across the state, but perhaps even more significantly it filled in to provide a characteristically appropriate character to hundreds of private residences in and around Savannah, as well as to commercial and public commissions. She specifically stated that she preferred not to be typed as only consulting on historical domestic projects, and that she always enjoys being able to do original designs for contemporary homes and commercial sites.

23 Lee gave her office records to the Georgia Historical Society, and they contain a total of 242 rolls dating from to By sheer numbers alone, she influenced prominent neighborhoods such as Ardsley Park, Chatham Crescent, Gordonston, as well as emerging suburbs only begun in the middle twentieth century and after including Isle of Hope, Fairway Oaks, Kensington Park, Magnolia Park, Whitmarsh Island, Wilmington Island, The Landings, and Commodore Point. While her commissions did expand out to the emerging suburbs, and resort communities like Hilton Head, it is impressive how steady her contributions were downtown in the historic district.24 Lee s professional specialty spoke to the continuing concern for historic preservation in Savannah, and also to her high professional standards.

Quoted in she said To persons touring a historic house, the authenticity of the gardens are as important as that of the interior. Once they have been laid out, they should not be changed without professional advice. 25 In Lee directly contributed to the professionalism of landscape architects in the State of Georgia by helping to establish the Georgia State Board of licensing for landscape architecture. Lee was one of the first four landscape architects to be registered and she held the distinction of being the first woman to be registered in Georgia. She also held a founding board position for three years.

In all, Lee s legacy in Savannah and the State of Georgia came from her talent and strength of character as a pioneering woman landscape architect, and in her helping to bring 22 Marti Gerdes, Juliette Gordon Low Historic District Nomination, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior (March 18, 12, 16. 23 Margaret DeBolt, Restoring Historic Gardens Victorian Era Recaptured, Savannah News-Press (June 29, 8E. 24 Clermont Huger Lee architectural drawings and negatives, Finding Aid, Georgia Historical Society, accessed June 25, 25 DeBolt, Restoring Historic Gardens, 8E. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 12 life to the historic places and plants from where she came.

The Development of the Plan The development of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace garden is well documented through notes, plans and sketches made in the research and planning phase and subsequent updates through the years. The inspiration to restore it came from the well-documented role the garden played in Juliette Gordon Low s childhood, and the influence that it was seen as having on Low s achievements and the founding of the Girl Scouts. In long before there was any thought of purchasing the Birthplace and restoring the garden, Eleanor Gordon Parker wrote of her younger sister Juliette s and her love of the garden. I was impatient for my sister to be old enough to play in the garden with me. When at last she was permitted to do so, I was wild with delight.

How we loved that garden with its violet-bordered paths, its pink azaleas, its snowdrops, its coral and white and pale pink camellias, its violets and its century plants. And how we delighted in the yucca trees and the fig tree and the pomegranate tree and the screen of bamboo trees at the back. On tree, whose name fails me, gave us each a private apartment among its leaves, with a modern drawing room in which a thick branch was our davenport and a slender branch our piano. I seem to remember the tree as always green, and when it was in flower, its small white blossoms were spicy and fragrant. 26 Juliette Gordon Low s niece and goddaughter Daisy Gordon Lawrence recalled Grandmother Gordon s garden was still play headquarters for all the neighborhood children. It was an enchanting garden.

The geometrically shaped, tile-edged flower beds were bordered with violets. Rose bushes, which seemed to bloom perpetually, grew next to the house itself and along the low-roofed carriage house at the back of the garden. High up on the rooftops climbed the sweet banksia rose, spilling its beauty in bursts of sunshiny brilliance and fragrance. Camellia trees, which Willie s father had planted, now were taller than the children seemed to vie with each other as to which could produce the most blossoms some pale pink, some pure white, and many of the gaudy Doncklaeri red and white. Right in the middle of the garden stood a pittosporum tree, called spittosporum by the children.

Its rhododendron-like leaves were glossy the year around, and in early spring its small white blossoms were deliciously fragrant. It was so big that each youngster could have a 26 Eleanor Gordon Parker, My Little Sister, in Juliette Low and the Girl Scouts: The Story of an American Woman, ed. Anne Hyde Choate and Helen Ferris (New York: Girl Scouts of the United States of America, JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 13 branch for his very own house. 27 Notably, this reminiscence came from Daisy Gordon Lawrence s biography of her aunt Lady From Savannah: The Life of Juliette Low published in soon after the birthplace opened.

Lee s plan developed out of her experience from implementing previous period gardens, as well as her discussions with Gordon family relatives, direction from the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Committee, the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Garden Subcommittee, and Thaddeus Gaston Buckner, Chairman of the Restoration Subcommittee. A sketch produced by Eleanor Wayne McPherson, [family relation], in early shows a plan with geometric beds of two concentric circular areas, within an overall square design.28 This recollection conflicted, however, with a photograph taken at Juliette Gordon Low s wedding in showing at least two paths radiating from the veranda.

Clermont Lee shared this plan with Peggy Charles Graves, niece of Juliette Gordon Low, who visited the house ten times over the first two decades of the twentieth century. Graves could not remember the plan of the garden, but thought it was less circular than McPherson s remembrance.

Her firmest recollections were that the paths were dirt, the flower beds were bordered with the most lovely violets which seemed extra large and smelled delicious, and that there was a banana tree and bamboo.29 She further stated that she would be prepared to bet that the garden was not redesigned by Aunt Daisy after the marriage because [she did] not believe for one instant that Granny Gordon would have allowed her to redesign anything either in the house or in the garden and she went on to say that she was pretty certain that the garden remained as it was until Aunt Margaret had it altered for a playground.

30 With the guidance of Graves and McPherson, Lee produced a preliminary plan following the circular plan.31 Lee then sent McPherson this plan and noted that she had altered the path near the veranda for improved access, and she questioned how McPherson justified the conflict between her plan and the photograph taken at the wedding. Lee added a sense of urgency mentioning how the garden committee hoped to put in the sprinkler system and 27 Gladys Denny Schultz and Daisy Gordon Lawrence, Lady from Savannah: The Life of Juliette Low (New York: Girl Scouts of the United States of America, 28 Wayne McPherson, Sketch Plan Recollection of Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Garden, Garden File.

A near identical garden plan was the Coones-Howard-Chaffee House, Milledge The Hill, Augusta, dated see Alice G. B. Lockwood, comp. and ed., Gardens of Colony and State: Gardens and Gardeners of the American Colonies and of the Republic Before 2 vols. Reprint, New York: Smallwood & Stewart for the Garden Club of America, 2: 29 Charles Graves to Miss Huger Lee, 4 July Garden File 30 Ibid. 31 Clermont H. Lee, Preliminary Plan for Restoration of Formal Garden at Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, October Garden File. This date must be October by all contextual evidence. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 14 do planting in late February.32 McPherson answered on October 16 conceding that her initial sketch did not match the photo of the wedding party and acknowledged that her memories in such geometrical detail, were evidently faulty. She expressed concern that unless one of the older relatives remembered more, she did not believe that we can get the exact plan. 33 She did go on to emphasize the garden was didtinctly [sic] not the very formal one you have sketched; I quite agree that yours is better looking but it would not give the impression of the old garden. 34 After discussing plants, McPherson suggested that if Clermont Lee were to continue with the circular plan, it would be preferable to have a larger center and smaller beds surrounding.

McPherson included two more attempts at a plan based on the well-known wedding photo in the garden and previously unknown photos of her sister Alice in the garden from around the same time. Forced to tracing four photographs that were in an album that could not be disturbed and thus could not be sent, McPherson intensively investigated and tried to interpret the accurate historic layout. Her first plan had beds and paths, but the center was angular and symmetrical at the north of the garden and irregular and asymmetrical at the south. A second similar sketch included an ellipse in the south half of the garden as another possibility.

McPherson s efforts with photos show that the likelihood of the historical garden being precisely uniform and symmetrical are limited.35 The influence of McPherson s latest sketch is seen in Lee s second design dated February which includes prominent ellipse-shaped beds surrounded by paths and secondary beds.36 In the upper beds two corner triangular beds frame the ellipse and loosely resemble the angular beds deduced by McPherson. Also following McPherson s lead, the east/west axis of the secondary beds within the center of the garden is symmetrical, while the north/south axis is not. An undated letter to Graves written after receiving McPherson s ideas and sketch plans, revealed Clermont Lee s opinion based on them.

She wrote We can reconstruct one from McPherson s sketch which probably shows a 32 Clermont Huger Lee to Wayne McPherson, 6 October Garden File 33 Eleanor Wayne MacPherson to Miss Clermont H. Lee, 16 October Garden File 34 Ibid. 35 Geometrical designs integrating asymmetrical elements were known in Georgia. See the irregular parterre plan, of the Walker-Broughton-Bacon-Newton Place, Madison, GA, in Alice G. B. Lockwood, comp. and ed., Gardens of Colony and State: Gardens and Gardeners of the American Colonies and of the Republic Before 2 vols. repr., Smallwood & Stewart for the Garden Club of America, 36 Clermont H. Lee, Landscape Plan for Formal Garden in Style of Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, February Garden file.

Lee sent a sketch of this same plan to Thaddeus Gaston Buckner, Chairman of the Restoration Subcommittee, requesting final approval in January, Clermont H. Lee to T. G. Buckner, 19 January Garden file. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 15 later garden, but one typical of Savannah. 37 This is telling for while the letter goes on to request any information possible regarding Graves s recollections of the garden, it seems Clermont Lee had decided to begin finalizing the design. Most interesting in this regard is that her ultimate plan for the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace garden seemed to draw from some of her earliest historical investigation done as early as for Laura Palmer Bell.

Lee s final plan, in fact, is distinct but very reminiscent of the Knapp Garden, 10 West Jones which Lee estimated to be circa It featured a deep narrow rectangular space, open the street view through an iron fence on a stone coping similar to the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace. A central circular bed is surrounded by walks, and parterres of regular and irregular shape, the whole encircled by a rectangular walk and borders along the edges of the lot. This would be identical to the Birthplace garden, but whereas the Birthplace garden is symmetrical from east to west, and asymmetrical from north to south, the Knapp Garden was perfectly symmetrical on both axes. Very clearly, Lee did synthesize diverse influences in what ultimately became an original design.

The border of the garden does not vary as much as the center, but is influenced by McPherson and the Committee. McPherson s initial sketch had the basement access where it presently is, at the northernmost opening between the porch supports, a semicircular bed around the semicircular porch, and a bed roughly the width of the other border beds. Lee initially in her January sketch plan changed the basement access to the two central openings between the porch supports which face east and increased the width and depth of the beds of the west border by the house. McPherson preferred no shrubbery against the house.

She stated regarding shrubbery, But please not against the house, and as far as the street side goes, there never was any, and it is just a question of whether the Scouts want the public to look in as they always did, or want to be private, as I would. 39 In the final approval of the plan, Lilly MacIntosh speaking for the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Committee stated the one regret was that there seemed to be no space for sitting in the garden and asked that the area to the left and the right of the veranda be altered to incorporate a place for sitting or for assisting when there is a gathering. 40 This was accommodated.

The evolution of the plan culminated with the February Staking Plan and Landscape Plan, described to be in the style of Notably, there was a low narrow hedge included around the base of the veranda and the back of the house, but the entrance to the basement was placed between the northernmost porch supports, and ample space to include seating was provided. The garden received wide acclaim, although not as much for its garden design as 37 Clermont Huger Lee to Graves, Garden file. 38 Bell, The Vanishing Gardens of Savannah, facing 39 Eleanor Wayne McPherson to Clermont H. Lee, 16 October Garden file. 40 Lilly MacIntosh to Clermont H. Lee, 26 January Garden file. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 16 for its association with the Girl Scouts, and with Juliette Gordon Low. The Trustees Garden Club of Savannah, of which Juliette Gordon Low was a charter member, nominated the Birthplace garden for the Founders Fund Award of the Garden Club of America in Despite its impressive statistics of having visitors in from forty-three states, the District of Columbia, and three foreign countries, the garden made it to be one of three finalists, but it was not chosen Some landscape associated with Abraham Lincoln won instead, to which to which Lilly MacIntosh commented we can easily understand that we could not compete successfully with Abraham Lincoln.

41 Garden Gateways: The Official Bulletin of the Garden Club of Georgia based in Atlanta included an article with before and after photographs of the garden in its November, issue. The Garden Over Time Lee s design was in nearly continual transition over time due to changing oversite, changing maintenance, changing use, and changing ideals. Some initial reflection of these changes can be seen in the three souvenir brochure maps extant. However, only two of them can be dated precisely, one done in and one in Furthermore, their content includes lists of plants and includes Lee s plans, but that information remained static and the only changes were in a narration of what various features were or were not present.

The most dramatic changes came through editing of the copy, interestingly coming at about the time that Clermont Lee produced a three-page checklist of tasks to be done in April the first time since her design that she was consulted on the garden. Her directions on what to do with various beds make clear the changes that occurred in the preceding twenty years. The northeast and northwest corner beds required relocating Daylilies (Hemerocallis) and Stokes Aster (Stokesia Laevis), installing a purple Violet (Viola) border to replace the White Grass Pink (Dianthus plumarius albiflorus) border, and it was unclear if blue Spanish Squill (Scilla hispanica) still existed. The northeast corner bed required relocating or removing three Crinum Lily (Crinum asiaticum).

The northwest corner bed required pruning of the white Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) that was an original existing plant, and the removal of a yellow Rose (Rosa). The two irregular or six-sided beds flanking the central feature to the east and west both needed removal of three white Indica Azaleas (Azalea indica), and two Kurume Azaleas. Both beds needed replanting of Smooth Phlox (Phlox glaberrima Miss Lingard ) and Yemen Iris (Iris albicans). Both Camellia (Camellia japonica) needed pruning and mulching. A Purple Violet (Viola) border needed to replace what was left of the White Grass Pink (Dianthus plumarius albiflorus) border. Needed additions included five blue Phlox (Phlox 41 T. G. Buckner to Carl Espy, 1 June Garden file. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 17 divaricata), six mint (Mentha) including three Spearmint (Mentha spicata), and three Peppermint (Mentha piperita), five blue French Roman Hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis), and twenty-four Bouncing-Bet (Saponaria officianalis). The eastern irregular or six-sided bed required removal of one Memorial Rose (Rosa wichuraiana Cr The two crescent beds on axis with the rounded projection of the piazza required removal of the Centuryplant Agave (Agave Americana), one yellow Rose (Rosa) and the removal of any remaining White Grass Pink (Dianthus plumarius albiflorus).

The Stokes Aster (Stokesia Laevis) used as an underplanting needed respacing as a ground cover and Lee recommended considering removal of the white Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) that was an existing plant when the garden was originally design. The southeast and southwest corner beds needed removal of two white Indica Azaleas (Azalea indica), pruning of Camellia (Camellia japonica), the addition of Purple Violet (Viola) border needed to replace what was left of the White Grass Pink (Dianthus plumarius albiflorus) border, the respacing of white Smooth Phlox (Phlox glaberrima Miss Lingard ) and white Yemen Iris, (Iris albicans) and the removal of a yellow Bush Tea Rose (Rosa odorata Safrano ). There was a note to check the Shasta Daisies (Chrysanthemum superbum).

The two large central ellipses required removal of Purple Violet (Viola) border and pruning of Indica Azaleas (Azalea indica). There was note to check the Triteleia in the northern ellipse. The southern ellipse required the addition of one (Azalea indica Iveryana , salmon sport) as the centerpiece of the south ellipse and three (Azalea indica Iveryana , white and pink) used as a frame to the east and west. The boundary bed to the north required removal of extra Horse Banana (Musa Orinoco ), Ribbon Grass (Phalaris arundinacea) and tender plants: Chlorophyton [sic], etc., as well as one Aloe Yucca (Yucca aloifolia).

Lee recommended the addition of six white Indica Azalea (Azalea indica Fielders White ) and filling out of bulb border with extra Paperwhite Polyanthus Narcissus (Narcissus tazetta Paperwhite ) and Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum) on hand. Pruning was needed generally as was mulching. Lee made a note to check the introduction date for Tobira Pittosporum (Pittosporum tobira). The east edge of the overall garden area, the boundary bed-east, required relocation of one Horse Banana (Musa Orinoco ) making two here, and one Althea Triple Pink (Hibiscus syriacus) and the removal of Algerian Ivy (Hedera algeriensis). She recommended removing to tubs Fernleaf Bamboo (Bambusa multiplex Fernleaf ) and three Oleander (Nerium oleander).

Lee recommended adding Vibernum Tinus (Vibernum tinus) and made a note to check the JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 18 introduction date for Algerian Ivy (Hedera algeriensis) and Fernleaf Bamboo (Bambusa multiplex Fernleaf ). The southern edge of the overall garden area, or boundary bed-south, required the removal of Quince (Cydonia oblonga), American Crinum (Crinum americanum), assorted Daylily varieties (Hemerocallis), Liriope (Liriope) and Algerian Ivy (Hedera algeriensis). Lee recommended the addition of Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) and Smilax (Smilax lanceolata). Lee noted the need to check the date for Algerian Ivy (Hedera algeriensis), red Spider Lily (Lycoris radiata), Chinese Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis), and bulb types.

The Lilac Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus) needed pruning, bricks needed removing, and there was need for mulching. The house beds required replacement of dead Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica), the removal and replacement at a future date of the New Dawn Rose (Rosa New Dawn ), the addition of three Yew Podocarpus (Podocarpus), blue Periwinkle (Vinca major) under Loquat, and the placement of fifteen Geranium (Geranium) in 6 pots to be placed on the lower porch sills. A note to add Impatiens (Impatiens balsamina) in front of the hedge but it was crossed out and substituted with white Periwinkle (Vinca alba) and twelve China Pink (Dianthus chinensis). Vines needed pruning and training. The hedge of Yew Podocarpus (Podocarpus) needed to be clipped to 1 -6 high and wide.

There was a note to check the sprinkler system. An undated note from sometime in the mid-1980s between Juliette Gordon Low committee members mentioned that at a recent lunch Clermont Lee spoke of her anxieties over the ever increasing number of troops visiting, and the way the garden suffers from activities there. The note went on to say She has been asked twice to return the garden to historic standards and is unwilling to continue unless changes are made.

42 Apparently some reparation was made as Clermont Lee did produce a revised garden plant list in May of either or The most remarkable feature of this list was its basic terseness with solely numbering of plants in categories including trees, shrubs, vines and groundcovers, bulbs and perennials and then permanent pot plants for under the piazza, temporary pot plants for under the piazza and annuals for use as fillers in the garden. Each plant included a date of its earliest garden use. This was apparently not immediately or very successfully implemented as a page-long single-spaced typed memo written by the Juliette Gordon Low 42 Alice Dowling and Eleanor Clay to Betty, Garden file. 43 Clermont H.

Lee, Plants of Formal Garden, May Lee refers to this list as being done in May see Clermont H. Lee, A Recent Garden History of the Wayne-Gordon Residence, memo, 18 November Garden file. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 19 Birthplace director Joanne R. Newbery in March of spelled out all the dramatic concerns with the garden, but also with Clermont Lee. Freezes destroyed azaleas, camellias, and century plants. Discussion with local experts indicated that some of the plants were impossible to obtain, inappropriate for this area and/or garden. These included the Century Plant, six varieties of camellias, and two of our three azaleas.

44 Problems also included bulbs that would no longer flower due to age, and the mounting costs of replacement plants, mulch, gravel and labor. Clermont Lee also proved a challenge. As Newbery stated I contacted Clermont Lee at least six times per year the past few years concerning problems, inquiries, and about working. On a few occasions, volunteers as well as paid gardeners have worked with her. Several felt slightly intimidated or that they were in servitude status rather than learning. 45 The problems seemed to hinge around conflicting ideals of what the garden should be. After mentioning some more frustrations, Joanne R. Newbery simply stated I would like to recommend that we consider more and new perennials, substitutes for the camellias, and different types of azaleas.

We do not have the funds, however for these nor staff time should monies be available. 46 Consulted again in to check the garden s condition, Clermont Lee provided a Garden Maintenance and Modifications list in August of that year, apparently prompted by a National Trust for Historic Preservation tour planned to conducted in November. Her recommendations fell into a few general categories. Plant maintenance included reminders to mulch beds and trim shrubs, with added detail that the Azaleas should be pruned as soon after blooming as possible and that pruning should be done to confine plants to assigned spaces and keep shrubs low.

Along these lines, Lee showed her characteristic conscientious attention to historic accuracy and she noted nearly a dozen plant varieties which she confirmed were appropriately included in the garden as being historic, underlining the integrity of her original plan. She recommended removal of one large Centuryplant Agave (Agave Americana), one white and one pink Oleander (Nerium oleander) as well as all Liriope (Liriope) and Algerian Ivy (Hedera algeriensis).47 This concern for maintenance was related to overall garden aesthetic and effect. She stated that the new garden feature replacing the fountain should show above smaller plants and Azaleas and should look attractive from all angles.

She went on to state a reminder of her basic sense of the garden as a viewing garden, thus requiring an overall appreciation of its form. She stated Viewing Garden: Garden pattern will look best from ends of long asis and from porch. Vines on iron fence should not obscure view from sidewalk completely. Be regular in 44 Joanne R. Newbery to Fran Powell, memo, 28 March Garden file. 45 Ibid. 46 Ibid. 47 Clermont Lee, Garden Maintenance and Modifications (August, Garden file. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 20 your inspections of overall appearance of pattern of beds and walks. Don t just check appearances of individual plants. 48 This concern for maintenance and principles amplified into a concern for order and decorum in general.

Whereas Lee specified the Azaleas should be tapered from about two feet maximum height to lower at the perimeters, she also began her entire maintenance list with a recommendation to use the original staking plan to straighten tile borders, and not to substitute different tiles, and then to consider post and rope barriers at bed corners to prevent pedestrian damage to beds. She then added Consider a sign at garden entrance restricting foot traffic to walks or furnish written regulations. Her strongest comment was simply Change Use. With abuses it is not worthwhile having a period garden! 49 As the culmination of what had become a considerable saga, Lee wrote A Recent Garden History of the Wayne-Gordon Residence in November providing a long overview of her work from her perspective.

After recounting much of the research and design work, but not savoring one iota of the garden s charming fulfillment, she noted about the early years: The landscape architect, and probably the Building Committee, assumed that the parterre garden would be primarily a viewing garden for those within and without the property. Later the Girl Scout staff decided to stage within the garden ceremonies for visiting scout troops. These ceremonies continued and ceremony use increased at this popular shrine. Various problems developed. The scouts kicked loose gravel into the plant beds, loosened the border tiles, damaging some and they played with the fountain. The staff, fearing scouts might acquire lead poisoning from the fountain removed the feature, substituting a small urn.

Some Center directors interfered with the appearance and authenticity of the period garden by introducing cranes, gates, and unsuitable plants. 50 From her perspective in Lee offered the following suggestions on what she dismissively referred to as the eastern yard. The proper Scout officials and their advisors should carefully review the purposes and uses of the formal parterre garden. Consideration should be given to changing times, overuse of the area, and the inability of the staff to care for the garden properly. One policy would be to have a well designed and properly maintained formal garden as a suitable part of a period museum. This would involve 48 Ibid. 49 Ibid. 50 Lee, Recent Garden History. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 21 moving the scouts garden ceremonies to a proper place for large active groups. It would also involve arranging for landscape architectural services on an annual basis and a policy to prevent staff from interfering with the garden s design elements. Another policy would be to discard the original plan of maintaining a period garden which was suitable to its setting and assign the space for girl scout activities. 51 In after an extensive restoration of the house, the Girl Scouts began planning for restoration of the garden.

A typewritten note stated Progress has been slow as staff continues to seep appropriate period species for the garden and completion is not expected until the year 52 As of Spring the garden, while recognizable as Clermont Lee s, and still beautiful, is largely overgrown and under-maintained. There is no single dramatic change but an overall erosion of the high-style formality and neatness that Lee excelled in, and its replacement by just an average, lingering, worn character. The northeast and northwest corner beds today share their both featuring a white Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica), as well as underplanting of Stokes Aster (Stokesia Laevis) and variegated English Ivy (Hedera helix variegata).

The northwest corner bed also features Indian-shot (Canna indica), while the northeast corner bed includes a Camellia (Camellia japonica) and Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum). The two irregular or six-sided beds flanking the central feature to the east and west feature roses (Rosa) with three in the west and one in the east and Stokes Aster (Stokesia Laevis). The western six-sided bed also had Iris (Iris), Oxeye Daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum) and Sage (Salvia). The eastern six-sided bed included a Camellia (Camellia japonica) and Monkey Grass (Liriope muscari).

The two crescent beds on axis with the rounded projection of the piazza, or what had been two crescent beds, were dramatically altered due to the loss of western crescent bed, now simply replaced by an Indian hawthorne (Raphiolepis indica) flanked by two Rose (Rosa) with no real sense of the bed border. The eastern crescent bed also contains Indian hawthorne (Raphiolepis indica) as well as Stokes Aster (Stokesia Laevis) and Persian Shield (Strobilanthes Dyeranus). The southernmost beds share only Iris (Iris) and Sage (Salvia). The southwest 51 Ibid. 52 Typescript note, Garden file. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 22 bed contains Sweet Violet (Viola odorata), and Stokes Aster (Stokesia Laevis).

The southeast bed contains a Camellia (Camellia japonica), a white Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica), Monkey Grass (Liriope muscari), and Mullein (Verbascum). The two large central ellipses are now distinct in plant material now, with the north ellipse dominated by three Century Plants (Agave americana) and four Azalea (Azalea indica), but also containing Chinese Brake Fern (Pteris vittata), Holly Fern (Cyrtomium falcatum), and Mullein (Verbascum). The south ellipse contains Ti plant (Cordyline terminalis), Sweet Violet (Viola odorata), Swiss Chard (Beta vulgaris), and Common snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus).

The north edge of the overall garden area, or boundary bed-north contains variegated English Ivy (Hedera helix variegata), Japanese mock orange (Pittosporum tobira), Azalea (Azalea indica), Japanese flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa) [note: this may be Common Floweringquince (Chaenomeles lagenaria)], Sweet violet (Viola odorata), Leather Leaf Mahonia (Mahonia bealei), Horse Banana (Musa Orinoco ), Elephant Ear (Colocasia), Leopard Plant (Liguarioa tussilaginea Aureo-maculata ), True Myrtle (Myrtus communis), Sweet Mockorange (Philadelphus coronarius), and Boston Fern (Nephrolepsis exaltata Bostoniensis ).

The east edge of the overall garden area, the boundary bed-east contains Common Sweet Shrub (Calycanthus floridus), Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), American Holly (Ilex opaca Savannah ), English Ivy (Hedera helix), Spider Lily (Crinum). The southern edge of the overall garden area, or boundary bed-south featured a Lilac Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus), Chinese Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis), English Ivy (Hedera helix), Paperwhite Polyanthus Narcissus (Narcissus tazetta Paperwhite ), Rose (Rosa), Star Jasmine (Tachelospermum jasminoides), Georgia Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum), and Spider Lily (Crinum).

The eastern edge of the overall garden area, or boundary bed-west contained English Ivy (Hedera helix), Common Sweet Shrub (Calycanthus floridus), Swiss Chard (Beta vulgaris), Sweet Violet (Violet odorata), and Common Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus). As this catalog of plants indicates there is precious little of Clermont Lee s original planting scheme still in place, and the few plants here and there that have survived are isolated. This catalog indicates further that Lee s rigorous ideal of working with period plants with regional connection to Georgia and the coast has also been lost. While the garden itself, in its present state is clearly compromised from fulfilling JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 23 the ideals initially set for it, this is by no means a criticism of anyone involved with the garden. Instead, this is simply an expression of the changing, dynamic nature of people, institutions, and culture. 53 The Girl Scouts purchased the house and garden as a living memorial to their founder, and the garden expressed a fascinating combination of the world that Juliette Gordon Low occupied as a child there and very much symbolized the orderly, caring, and educational opportunities that she helped young women around the world appreciate. The garden also expressed Savannah s remarkable awakening in historic pride of its downtown, at the same time that it clearly expressed a new professional opportunity for women.

While these were commendable and even foundational qualities, the opportunities and ideals of today are different, and the garden has simply shown the need to change.

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS GA-4. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Armitage, Kevin C. The Nature Study Movement: The Forgotten Popularizer of America s Conservation Ethic. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, Bell, Laura Palmer. The Vanishing Gardens of Savannah. Georgia Historical Quarterly (September Bragg, Lillian Chaplin. Old Savannah Ironwork. Savannah: Choate, Anne Hyde and Helen Ferris, eds. Juliette Low and the Girl Scouts: The Story of an American Woman, New York: Girl Scouts of the United States of America, Cooney, Loraine Meeks. Garden History of Georgia, Atlanta: Peachtree Garden Club, DeBolt, Margaret. Restoring Historic Gardens Victorian Era Recaptured. Savannah News-Press (June 29, 1E, 8E. Dolder, Ced. Clermont Lee, Pioneering Savannah Landscape Architect.

Magnolia: Publication of the Southern Garden History Society (Spring Favretti, Rudy J., and Joy Putman Favretti. Landscapes and Gardens for Historic Buildings. 2nd ed. Rev. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press, Hester, Conoly. The Victorian Art of Garden Curbs. Georgia Journal 9:2 (Summer 53. Inglesby, Charlotte. Birds and Beasts of Old Savannah. Savannah: 53 Jessica Leigh Lebos, What Would Daisy Do?: Descendents and Girl Scouts Disagree over Changes at Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, Connect Savannah July Katie Martin, Girl Scout Garden Controversy Ignites, Savannah Morning News 10 January 1C, 3C. JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 24 International Conference on the Preservation and Restoration of Historic Gardens and Landscapes.

Preservation and Restoration of Historic Gardens and Landscapes. Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the American Horticultural Society, Lockwood, Alice G. B. Gardens of Colony and State: Gardens and Gardeners of the American Colonies and of the Republic Before 2 vols. Reprint, New York: Smallwood & Stewart for the Garden Club of America, Pressly, Paul M. Educating the Daughters of Savannah s Elite: The Pape School, the Girl Scouts, and the Progressive Movement. (Summer, Pressly, Paul M. "Malcolm Bell Jr. New Georgia Encyclopedia, April 15, Rossiter, Frank P., and Marvin H. Cox. The History of Trustees Garden Village, Savannah, Georgia Savannah: Shultz, Gladys Denny, and Daisy Gordon Lawrence.

Lady From Savannah: The Life of Juliette Low. ed. New York: Girl Scouts of the United States of America,1988. Trustees Garden Club. Garden Guide to the Lower South. 2nd ed. Savannah: Trustees Garden Club, Wasowski, Sally. Gardening with Native Plants of the South. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., Welch, William C., and Greg Grant. The Southern Heirloom Garden. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., Williams, Robin, David Gobel, Patrick Haughey, Daves Rossell, and Karl Schuler. Buildings of Savannah. SAH/BUS City Guide Series. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press,

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS GA-4. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Daves Rossell, Professor of Architectural History Savannah College of Art and Design, Tennessee Ave., Savannah, Georgia, July 31, 2nd Place Winner (Tie) - HALS Challenge: Documenting National Register Listed Landscapes JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 25 Overview of Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Garden from veranda (Daves Rossell, June View of Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Garden through iron fence (Daves Rossell, June JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 26 View southeast from entrance gate in northwest corner (Daves Rossell, June View northwest from southeast corner of garden (Daves Rossell, June JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 27 View west showing southern ellipse and veranda (Daves Rossell, July Detail of centerpiece (Daves Rossell, July JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 28 Detail of garden entrance gate (Daves Rossell, July Detail of garden iron fence (Daves Rossell, July JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 29 Detail of Juliette Gordon Low crafted gate (Daves Rossell, July Detail of Nina de Burgh sculpture of Juliette Gordon Low (Daves Rossell, July JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 30 Detail of Crane sculptures (Daves Rossell, July Detail of paths and borders (Daves Rossell, July JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 31 Detail of scalloped tile with square recessed decoration (Daves Rossell, July Detail view of northeast bed (Daves Rossell, July JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 32 Detail view of northwest bed (Daves Rossell, July Detail view of western six-sided bed (Daves Rossell, July JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 33 Detail view of eastern six-sided bed (Daves Rossell, July Detail view of western crescent bed (Daves Rossell, July JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 34 Detail view of eastern crescent bed (Daves Rossell, July Detail view of southwestern bed (Daves Rossell, July JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO.

GA-4 PAGE 35 Detail view of southeastern bed (Daves Rossell, July Detail view of north ellipse (Daves Rossell, July JULIETTE GORDON LOW BIRTHPLACE, GARDEN HALS NO. GA-4 PAGE 36 Detail view of south ellipse (Daves Rossell, July Detail view of north border bed (Daves Rossell, July