On the other hand, you could look at Ball's purchase of Heronswood as enabling Dan and Bob to move on to something better (for them). Maybe everyone else should move on, too.

you know, bob, i just canNOT move on from an exquisite garden of world importance. Instead ,I am sending my strongest hopes for the eventual success of the generous hardworking people who founded the PNHC, giving countless hours to try to save a treasure for future generations.
Some things are worth fighting for, going far beyond the proverbial extra mile.
best,
Mindy

Sure, if you can get Ball to play ball. Property and garden are certainly not worth millions. Not the end of the World if it isn't saved.

I admire the efforts of the PNHC, but I can't say I'm really surprised. Mr. Ball's history, and the manner in which he shut down the nursery, doesn't exactly show him to be a reasonable or sympathetic person. Anyways, thanks for the update. I heard the idea being thrown around that plan B might be to purchase a new piece of land and allocate funds towards replilcating Hinkley's work (as much as possible). As far as I'm concerned that might have been a good plan A since it doesn't involve working with Mr. Ball, and if accomplished successfully he'll never get anywhere near the asking price for the property.

replicating heronswood????? what a joke. if anyone ever did circulate that idea, they were either uninformed or unfamiliar with heronswood..... all those rare/nowhere-else- in -North America plants, matured over years, and the unique artwork, layout, growing conditions,etc etc etc............

mindy

Wish I could've seen this place... but I guess it's better that I didn't, otherwise I would ache even more that it might be gone... anyone have any pictures??

Not a joke at all, I have it from a PNHC board member (though it was a very brief exchange and I might have misunderstood something)... Anyone with a serious passion for plant knowledge and exploration and a couple million dollars could do it. The joke is that so many think Heronswood is the be-all and end-all of gardens and feels paralyzed to move on, drawing from and building upon what was accomplished there. I'm not saying this to belittle anyone at all, as I have great respect for Hinkley and the rekindled interest in plant exploration associated with Heronswood, and for the PNHC and its valiant (if futile) efforts. But let's step back a minute and consider that anyone with the passion, vision and financial resources could accomplish the same or more as Heronswood. In fact, it was done many times over in 19th century Britain... Heligan, Pennerjick, Inverewe, Tresco, Logan, Arduaine etc etc etc etc, same sort of thing but different revenue streams and economic drivers behind it.

Although I hope Heronswood can be saved, I also agree with Ian. 2 issues I have with the future of Heronswood are a) it's location is not close to major population centers. b) what does it take to maintain a place like that when it's no longer part of an expanding business?

I wonder if enough volunteers would come forward and commit to work on it long-term and actually show up. My experience as a perennial volunteer tells me that there can be occasional work parties and then the excitement fades. I've spent many hours alone at a wonderful school garden I helped get going.

I wonder if the Bellevue Botanical Garden has additonal property it would like to devote to a Heronswood Annex. Many of us have genetic stock from heronswood that could be propagated.

I spent some time at the Dunn Garden. It's a wonderful garden and has a very well run volunteer program. That would be a worthwhile outlet for garden volunteer efforts.

your points do not seem relevant.
1) people feel PARALYZED to move on? move on with what? they've stopped gardening? living their lives? that's silly. maybe they harp on the subject alot and that 'fingernails your chalkboard', but it's the motivated who will hopefully make a difference in this challenging situation.
2)what wonders were created in 19th c. Great Britain- is totally irrelevant in this discussion. We are talking about NOW, in North America, a unique treasure not likely to be reproducable.

you must like to hear yourself talk.otherwise, i can't figure out why you would have even posted. If and when you decide to make relevant points, people will usually listen to you and respect your contribution.

mindy

mindy:

This is a forum where people can post any opinions they like, without fear of being belittled. That's his opinion, just his opinion, and I for one don't think it's irrelevant. I don't have to agree or disagree with it. It's just interesting to hear another point of view.

Secondly, Ian is very well qualified to have an opinion on such matters, though no qualifications are specifically required for posting here.

Please allow for differing non-hostile points of view.

eric, freedom to voice opinions is one of the things that makes our country great. I just resent it whenever someone makes irrelevant remarks and I believe in calling them on it. It has absolutely nothing to do with whether i agree with an individual or not; irrelevant remarks don't belong in productive conversation.
sincerely,
mindy

Mindy, if not replicate it, respectfully, what are you suggesting as a course of action? I understand this deal falling through is upsetting, but if it's not possible to get the finances worked out, what would you like to see done?

you know,RG, i just posted originally on this to let people know where the project stands.i wasn't looking to suggest an alternate project and i have not given that any thought.
since it is not yet a completely closed case, I just hope those generous PNHC people will continue to come up with new tactics.and i will be financially supportive of their efforts.
best,
Mindy

Whoa there. First of all we are both big fans of Heronswood and I didn't intend to be disrespectful or irrelevant.

In bringing up those other gardens, I was just trying to put the magnitude of Heronswood into some historical perspective, to illustrate that it's been done before and can be done again. In fact, I have no doubt that it WILL be done again, and more - PNHC or no PNHC (again with respect to their efforts).

As far as the 'paralyzed' remark, my choice of words may not have been the best, but I have made the OBSERVATION - I'm not trying to be disrespectful, just calling it like I see it - that many Heronswood devotees have this sort of backwards-thinking, nostalgic pessimism about the future of horticulture in general now that Heronswood is gone. If some want to feel that way, I guess it's their choice. Am I the only one who thinks Heronswood was just the beginning? What if Hinkley had considered his predecessors (Western Hills, for example) and concluded it wasn't possible to do something even greater? These are serious questions.

Respectfully, Ian.

mindy:

so sorry not to agree on your judgment of what's irrelevant. I had intentionally not commented on the fact that you live in Massachusetts, while Ian is very active in the real-world PNW gardening community. His point of view as one who actually lives, works, and plays in the local gardening community full time gives makes his opinions quite relevant. He's younger than Hinkley, but is of that level as a passionate horticulture professional. He's a plant collector and experienced propogator of plants that are rare and uncommon in our region. He's highly regarded for his knowledge by horticultural professionals and amateur fanatics alike.

So, has steve antonow been reborn, and in his adopted homeland? Now , that would be most satisfying to know.
best,
Mindy

thanks for further clarification. Wouldn't that just be tremendous if a Heronswood-class garden were to 'appear' in the near future! A multi acre PNW garden filled with mature swaths of rare plants collected by a plant explorer, from around the world,and combined with art works in a unique aesthetic landscape? Perhaps you know of such a place in North America? I'm guessing that only Dan's new place would fit that bill and I have no idea if he has thoughts to open it to the public..... Perhaps you also feel that there have been and will continue to be -Beethovens or Mozarts in the world. I personally believe that throughout history,certain artworks have proven to be uniquely brilliant. So far, there has only been one Beethoven and one Mozart....Neither of them was 'just the beginning'; they were each the beginning and the end, never seen again. And that may well be the case with Heronswood, which is exactly why Heronswood IS worth all the efforts to preserve it.

As to a passionate gardener, with the passion that it takes to make a Heronswood- can you really think that the failure of Western Hills- or ANYwhere- would stop that passionate gardener from creating their garden? tsk tsk. The thought never even crosses their mind; it's too filled with the passionate focus on creating.

I certainly agree with you that 'the gardening world is going downhill' kind of doom and gloom pessimism- reflects unwarranted and misplaced attention. Better to turn that negativity into positive action.

I'm glad you're out there, active in and contributing to- that amazing garden scene in the great PNW. We come out yearly and I hope we'll have a chance to meet you sometime.
If Steve Antonow is manifesting himself in you,even a little, it's bound to happen.

best,
Mindy

Eric, thanks for the generous assessment of me, but I can think of a few people who don't like me that much, LOL. I'm really just a regular guy who likes plants.

Well I guess only time will tell if Hinkley/Heronswood is a 'Mozart' phenomenon, but thanks for the great example, point taken.

One thing we can all learn from Hinkley is the power of one individual to shape and influence a given hobby/artistic realm in ways that couldn't have been concieved of previously. I think it will be exciting to see what the future hold as more passionate plantsmen and women come out of the woodwork with lofty dreams of such gardens, and surely at least a few of those will manage to see it through.

I'd say Dan's new place is less impressive than his old place so far, but only because space is a limitation, it is jam packed with cool stuff of course. The hardscaping is quite nice.

Not to get too off subject but I consider Western Hills to be very successful and (as far as I can tell) seems to have a bright future still ahead under new ownership. (I will have to drop by on my next California run.) I meant to infer that it was sort of a smaller scale pre-Heronswood (with some significant differences of course, these things never happen the same way twice!), possibly indicating a trend of successive world class gardens in the US increasing in size and scope over time.

There are several semi-public gardens in the area that offer much the same feeling and horticultural character that Heronswood does/did. While the setting is unique - every garden is unique in some sense - not much in Heronswood is exactly one of a kind. Many of the same plants can be found in these other great gardens, and in just as attractive a setting. The PNW is ripe with plant collectors and plant selection and the curators of these other gardens are just as intent on creating and adding to extraordinary plant collections as were Dan and Bob.

There is value in preserving any botanical collection of merit and Heronswood certainly qualifies as that, plus it offers facilities for classes and study that many other locally great gardens don't. To lose the opportunities it offers for posterity would be unfortunate but not the end of the world. But it is not necessarily a done deal. Although PNHC has made a final offer and Ball has not had the temerity or courtesy to respond, there is always the possibility he would reconsider and re-open negotiations.

Is Heronswood being maintained during all these negotiations? It would be such a waste if all the rarities were being allowed to crumble under the Himalayan blackberries and other weeds.

Have been told maintenance is minimal. Don't know how much, if anything was removed by Ball, or what has died under current upkeep. Probably most important features would be Dan's own wild collections and trees that have already reached significant size for locations outside of native ranges. Would take similar site and same amount of time to replicate these plantings, although site is not unique and garden not old. 50 ft. Cinnamomum chekiangense, for instance must be growing like a weed.

I have only been passionate about gardening for a few years and am not that familiar with Heronswood and unfortunately never got a chance to go there when it was open. I did get to see Dan Hinkley at the Northwest Garden Show and enjoyed his lecture. I will definitely make it a point to see him when he's in town in the future.

I would love to visit some large public gardens in the Puget Sound area and get ideas and see what combinations work well together. The Dunn Garden looks wonderful and I am going to make an appointment to tour it this year. And I'm definitely going to go to the Bellevue Botanical Garden, too. I went there years ago before I "found" gardening! I've recently been watching the TV show "Gardener's Diary" and would love to visit some local gardens to get more familiar with how things are grown in our region.

Does anyone have a list or know where I can find information on public and private gardens in our area?

Start with Northwest Gardener's Resource Directory.

The only person in a position to bring this full circle
is Hinkley, now that he is in close collaboration with
Ball and Burpee at Horticulture Magazine. I'm not holding my breath.

As a member of the PNHC board, I was invited to the Media Event hosted at Hersonswood garden by Burpee on May 9. Ciscoe Morris and I arrived early, and George Ball spent about 20 minutes showing us through the garden.

The garden was in much better shape than we thought it would be; we learned later that it had been heavily weeded and spruced up a few days earlier. Ciscoe commented on how he'd like to get his hands on those piles of "weeds!" Me, too.

To be honest, driving in and walking through the property felt the same as visiting the garden of a dead friend. There was a lot of sadness, some felt anger and all of us were frustrated that some of the beautiful plants might never be available to us in commerce.

The garden near Dan and Robert's former house was referred to as The Potager by George Ball and is being used to trial "high end vegetables." It's too soon to tell if the flamboyant plantings are gone -- that will be evident in July.

The gardens around the house were less well maintained but still better than expected. George Ball mentioned several times that he liked a lived-in look better than Dan and Robert's (he searched for a word but didn't finish the sentence) ... he meant, however, Dan and Robert's meticulously high standards of garden maintenance. The area around the house appeared to need some watering.

All of the hoop houses are empty and the paths between weedy. It looked like a ghost town.

George Ball emphasized in his talk to the press (a very poor turnout) that a condition of the sale would be that the garden would be preserved although not necessarily open to the public. Those familiar with the problems and technicalities of preserving the Dunn Garden, Miller Garden, Chase Garden, etc., know that this is very very complicated undertaking and the audience was skeptical.

We went up to Windcliff, home of Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones, after the event to pick up Robert for dinner and the contrast of that garden to the Heronswood garden was a painful reminder of how beautifully maintained Heronswood was and where it is now.

Heronswood will be open to the public via the Garden Conservancy on July 21 along with Little and Lewis and other gardens in the area.

The PNHC board will meet again in June to discuss our next step. It is the consensus that purchasing the property for the current asking price is a very poor business decision. There are many alternatives to consider, and thoughts and ideas are welcome at weloveplants.org

Diane

Here is a link that might be useful: Heronswood Garden Conservancy Open Day

I am wondering if Linda Cochran's garden will be open on July 21st along with the other Bainbridge Island private gardens.

No, Linda's garden won't be open again after Saturday. Sorry...