“Nature can do without man, but man cannot do without nature.”
Prentice Bloedel
At the end of each year I make several lists. Where did I go? What did I write about? What’s the plan for the coming year? And then there are the special places visited that I have not had time to share. This includes the Bloedel Reserve.
Located on Bainbridge Island, just a short ferry ride from Seattle, the 150-acre Bloedel Reserve is a living work of art. It is a museum in nature. Designed as a place that encourages tranquility, awareness, and reflection, the Bloedel Reserve provides the perfect counterbalance to our current, frenzied world.
Patricia and Prentice Bloedel purchased the property that would become the Bloedel Reserve in 1951. A reluctant heir to a family timber fortune, Prentice nurtured an interest in both innovative forestry management practices, including the reforestation of clear-cut land, and the ability of the natural world to support well-being. While reforestation restored the land, the land restored the individual.
Bloedel’s legacy and love for the natural world lives on in the artfully crafted landscape of the Bloedel Reserve. Within its meadows, native forests, and gardens, the relationship between the individual and nature is explored. Diverse landscape experiences, unique to the Pacific Northwest, support an ecological framework that is nuanced in its subtle transitions.
Sculpting the landscape, in a deliberative manner, was the focus of Bloedel’s work.
In an article from 1980 he described his process of discovery. ” In the course of [our] forays we found the land itself marvelously varied….We found single plants and colonies of fragile woodland species, mosses, ferns, a world of incomparable diversity…. a panorama….one feels the existence of a divine order….One realizes that we humans are trustees of this world, that our power should be exercised in this context.”
Bloedel was actively involved in all aspects of the property’s development. To realize his vision, he worked with noted landscape architects and designers including Thomas Church, Richard Haag, Fujitaro Kubota, and Iain Robertson.
There is no one defining answer to Bloedel’s design motivations and the landscape contains few historical references. His humility towards the natural world, combined with an acceptance of its cycles, informed the creation of individual garden spaces. Within each, designed elements are in harmony with natural features. Plants, earth and water align, reflecting an Oriental attitude towards nature and the spirit of the place.
Fujitaro Kubota, of Seattle’s Kubota Gardens, created the Japanese gardens.
The Japanese Guest House, built in 1962, incorporates features from a Northwest Native American Longhouse and a Japanese Tea House. Designed by architect Paul Hayden Kirk, the Guest House is used for exhibitions.
Seattle-based, Haag worked on the property extensively. He created a series of garden spaces including the Moss Garden, the Reflection Garden, the Bird Marsh and the Garden of Planes, lost when the preserve was redesigned for public use. For his work at the Bloedel Reserve Haag received the President’s Award of Excellence from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in May 1986.
Haag’s work at the Bloedel Reserve mirrored the philosophy of the property’s owners by creating spaces where visitors can reflect on their relationship with nature. This is particularly true of the magical Moss Garden with its intimate interplay of light and shadow.
The Reflection Pool Garden, inspired by the canals of Europe, designed by Bloedel and Church was constructed in the 1970’s. One of Bloedel’s favorite gardens, it was redesigned by Haag who added the lawn and yew hedge.
Bloedel, who funded early research into the psychological responses to spending time outdoors, was color blind. His interest in textures and shades, rather than colorful flowers, is well suited to the naturalistic plantings used throughout the preserve.
Members of the Bloedel family lived on the property until 1987, gifting it to the community in 1988 when the Reserve opened as a public garden and forest preserve to provide ‘refreshment and tranquility in the presence of natural beauty.’
The Bloedel Reserve’s 66 acres of gardens, ponds, meadows, wildlife habitats and 84 acres of second growth forest are managed by the Arbor Fund, a non-profit organization.
The mission of the Bloedel Reserve is to enrich people’s lives through a premier public garden of natural and designed Pacific Northwest landscapes. This is achieved through four main focus areas including horticulture and design, conservation and stewardship, inspiration and creativity, and nature and well-being.
In a previous piece I published about the public garden Chanticleer I could not help thinking about what privately owned properties today will be preserved for public use and enjoyment in the future. This question is underscored by a recent fact I learned; 83 percent of the United States is privately owned and 86 percent east of the Mississippi River in private hands. In an era of diminishing public investment in the preservation of cultural and natural resources, let’s hope for the best and imagine more.
Copyright © 2020 Patrice Todisco — All Rights Reserved
The Bloedel Reserve has for a long time been top of my list of places to visit in the U.S. This piece only underlines that desire. What a wonderful place it must be, and how fortunate you are to have been there.
Pat,
Given your focus on the interplay of history, art and the land, the Bloedel Reserve is very much a landscape you would enjoy. Prentice Bloedel shared your understanding of the connection between nature and well-being and, like you, created a landscape to reflect those beliefs. I was fortunate to visit and only wish I could experience the landscape throughout multiple seasons.