Nichols House Museum Lecture: "Isabella and Her Gardens: Public and Private Garden Experiments"

"Isabella and Her Gardens: Public and Private Garden Experiments," explores the history of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s horticultural life in Boston after she was brought to Boston as a bride in 1860 by John Lowell Gardner. Mrs. Gardner wanted art all around her and sought to create gardens, buildings, music, and art collections as a sublime context for a cultured life. Her worldly horticultural approach was exemplified in three homes: on Beacon Street, at “Green Hill” in Brookline, and of course at her Venetian Palace, “Fenway Court” on the new Riverway. Her civic horticulture projects with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and throughout the city demonstrated her passion for sharing beauty with the citizens of Boston. The courtyard garden survives today as a testament to her global sense of gardens and gardening.

Patrick Chassé is a landscape architect rooted in Maine, and is known for work on historic landscapes from Seal Harbor to Princeton, and beyond. He was instrumental in the identification and preservation of Beatrix Farrand’s last garden, “Garland Farm” in Bar Harbor, Maine, and he served as the first Curator of Landscape at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, from 2004 to 2009. He has recently been named a lifetime honorary member of the Garden Club of America.

This program will be followed by a reception.