The following invitation was sent to Emory faculty last week:

The significance of that invitation is that it is linked to the role that a faculty club can play in fostering faculty excellence.  John Bugge and Mike Kutner worked very hard in promoting the formation of a faculty club and now Mike Kutner is continuing with that work.  I wanted to illustrate this article with a picture of a faculty club.  A Google image search revealed what I think has been an issue at Emory:  Most faculty club images were of very old-style "clubby" spaces that reeked of status and privilege.  I used a picture of the Brandeis Faculty Club that seems to be a better model of what we would like to see at Emory.

Click here to jump below to the list of our new and newly retired members

Click here to read below about the activities of our members

We just learned of the death of Luella Klein.

Usually, in writing a summary, one focuses on concise and objective facts; however, when it comes to introducing Helen and Don O'Shea's presentation to the EUEC Lunch Colloquium on Monday, March 25, I must deviate from these rules and begin with quotes from Roberto Burle Marx, the first Brazilian to become a landscape architect, who, in his essay "A Garden is like a Poem," writes:

 

To make a garden is an art, you have not only to know the plants, but to understand the landscape and to organize nature on the basis of aesthetic laws....A garden is like a poem or like music and must be constructed as such, with crescendo and dramatic moments, but with simplicity and density, and the plants used must be native to the locality.

 

In viewing and listening to the presentation, I thought that Don and Helen O'Shea might have been inspired by Marx's essay when they began envisioning and creating their garden.

 

 

 

 

The presentation began by identifying the geographical site of the house and property, which is located at 1146 Lullwater Road, property that they bought in 1973. According to the O'Sheas the property is an elongated rectangle with large, old growth trees. The beautiful old house (that needed work itself) was designed by Leila Ross Wilburn, who designed several other houses in Druid Hills. At the time of the purchase, there were several mature azaleas and dogwoods in the front yard, and in the backyard there were a garage and a picnic area surrounded by native azaleas, mature Indica, and Kurume hybrid azaleas. Further in the back, according to the O'Sheas, there was a nearly impenetrable forest.

 

In 1987, they added a large multipurpose room at the back of the house, which changed the size and shape of the nearby part of the backyard.

 

In 1991, in consultation with Hastings Gardens, they adopted a plan, hoping to plant at least one garden area a year for five years (in the front yard, the backyard, and the now not quite so "impenetrable forest" they call the "wayback"). This did not work out very well. Five years later, they had done only one such area garden. In 1996, hoping to do better, they signed a contract with Landscaper # 1. A new garden entry was created with a stone path through a newly established rose garden, allowing entry to the forested area further back. One of the most important goals was that plants throughout that area and around the house, too, were selected so that there would be something blooming every month of the year.

 

After eight more years, in 2004, when Helen retired from full-time work and had more time to pursue plans, including her plan to become a Master Gardener, the O'Sheas chose Landscaper #2 to update the design. The new construction included the addition of three stone walls (both beautiful and useful in diverting run off from rain that had been washing out plants and mulch and even hardscape) and a stone path (winding all about) as part of the design. The goal of that work and the attendant planting was to provide "different rooms" one could visit when the plants would be full grown.

 

 

 

 

At this stage of the presentation, we saw several pictures that were taken in 2004, portraying fern, azaleas, and rhododendrons. Then we saw a whole series of gorgeous pictures showing how things have changed in the 15 years since then, in which years the garden has evolved into a blending of 24 area gardens, among them a rock garden, a white garden, inspired by a visit to the white garden at Sissinghurst castle, an herb garden, with several special beds including a picnic circle bed, a back upper wall bed, a shade bed with ferns and hostas, a fern glade, a spring bulb bed, and many more.

 

It is difficult to describe accurately in words what our senses were able to perceive in viewing the photos of the wonderful mass of plants (especially blooming flowers) that comprise the garden. For a certainty, Don and Helen O'Shea have created a garden that, in Marx's words, is like a poem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During their presentation, Helen and Don O'Shea provided also a "gardener's schedule" for the upkeep of the garden during winter, spring, summer, and autumn (weeding being a primary activity in each season) and tips for avoiding mistakes (such as they themselves have made) and achieving successes (such as they themselves have had).

 

The amount of loving care and effort that they have dedicated to the continuous growth of the garden is quite impressive. I am sure that the gardeners among us, even the other Master Gardeners (and we have quite a few), learned much on this occasion. The video tour of the garden with which the occasion concluded (lovely music included) left us all feeling as though we had just visited in a more-than-virtual way.

 

--Delia Nisbet

 

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