The Bulletins of Reef Point Gardens

During a ten-year period from 1946 to 1956 the Reef Point Gardens Bulletins were published by Beatrix Farrand from Reef Point her house and garden in Bar Harbor Maine. Mrs. Farrand (1872-1959) who was the niece of the novelist Edith Wharton became one of Americas preeminent landscape gardeners. She designed the Italianate gardens at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington D.C. created gardens at the White House during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson and landscaped the campuses of Princeton and Yale Universities. At Reef Point she established an extensive horticultural library and an outstanding collection of plants. These Bulletins describe the plantings in her gardens - the roses the vines the heathers and the native plants - and how she cultivated them. They are filled with illustrations and represent a distillation of her wide knowledge and experience. The contents of Reef Point were dispersed when Mrs. Farrand felt that the future of the gardens could no longer be guaranteed. The books and papers were sent to the University of California at Berkeley and the plants transferred to the Thuya and Asticou Azalea Gardens in Northeast Harbor Maine. These Bulletins remain as the legacy of a great gardener and a remarkable woman.