1. READING AND WRITING THE LANDSCAPE Bob Grese, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Director, Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum Professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment

2. Initial research into design work of Jens Jensen and O.C. Simonds

3. Jensen and Simonds were only two American designers and/or naturalists who wrote passionately about the native landscape Others included:  Alfred Caldwell  Charles Eliot  Wilhelm Miller  Elsa Rehmann and Edith Roberts  Charles Sprague Sargent  May Thielgaard Watts  Frank Waugh and others

4. Desire to collect obscure articles into new book: The Native Landscape Reader Themes:  Appreciation of nature  Our American flora  The native landscape as a source of inspiration  Natural parks and gardens  Restoration and management of the native landscape

5. Thomas Cole (1801-1848) Born in England Founder of the Hudson River School of landscape painters Considered champion of American wilderness

6. Charles Sprague Sargent (1841-1927) and William Augustus Stiles (1837-1897) Influential dendrologist from Boston, studied at Harvard and graduated 1862 Founded Garden and Forest in 1888-1897. During it’s run, included key articles in botany, forestry, landscape design and conservation Sargent became first director of Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum IN 1872 Stiles was forceful editorial writer for New York Tribune

7. Ossian Cole Simonds (1855-1931) Born in Grand Rapids, MI Studied architecture and civil engineering under William LaBaron Jenney at the University of MI Influential Midwest landscape architect, working at Graceland Cemetery and then establishing practice of cemetery, estate, park and campus design based in Chicago Founded landscape design program at University of MI in 1909

8. H.W. S. Cleveland (1814-1900) Born in Lancaster, MA Formed landscape design/planning practice with Robert Morris Copeland in 1854 and with W. M. R. French in Chicago in 1869 and laid out village of Highland Park, IL. In 1886 moved to Minneapolis where he is credited with shaping their park system Was one of early designers to shape Graceland Cemetery in Chicago His book Landscape Architecture as Applied to the Wants of the West is landmark of early landscape architecture literature

9. Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858-1954)  Born in Grand Haven, MI  Studied botany under William J. Beal at Michigan Agricultural College and Asa Gray at Harvard  Spent most of his career at Cornell where he was a popular professor and founded the Cornell Plantations  Prolific writer about botany, horticulture, agricultural extension, nature study, and environ mental ethics

10. Andrew Jackson Downing (1814-1852)  One of earliest and most influential American horticulturists through Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening Adapted to North America (1841) and his many editorials in the Horticulturist

11. Jens Jensen (1860-1951)  Danish-American landscape architect based in Chicago  Known for his naturalistic design in parks and private estates throughout the Midwest  Founded two conservation organizations—the Prairie Club and the Friends of Our Native Landscape  Established his version of “Danish folk school,” The Clearing, in Ellison Bay, WI

12. Wilhelm Miller (1869-1938)  Born in VA but raised in Detroit, MI  Graduated from University of MI in 1892 and Cornell in 1899  Prolific writer on landscape gardening and related topics, working with Liberty Hyde Bailey in Cyclopedia of American Horticulture  In 1914 became head of University of IL’s landscape extension (1 st of its kind in US)  1915 The Prairie Spirit of Landscape Gardening defined “prairie style”

13. Frank A. Waugh (1869-1943)  Born in Sheboygan Falls, WI  Studied horticulture and botany at Kansas State Agricultural College  Established Department of Landscape Gardening at University of MA-Amherst  Prolific photographer, writer, artist, musician and teacher

14. Harold A. Caparn (1864-1945)  Landscape architect, studies at Ecole des Beaux- Arts in Paris and at Columbia University in NYC  Born in Great Britain  From 1902 had his own practice in NYC that included parks, school and college grounds, private estates and work for the Brooklyn Botanical Garden

15. Ossian Cole Simonds (1855-1931) Born in Grand Rapids, MI Studied architecture and civil engineering under William LaBaron Jenney at the University of MI Influential Midwest landscape architect, working at Graceland Cemetery and then establishing practice of cemetery, estate, park and campus design based in Chicago Founded landscape design program at University of MI in 1909

16. Elsa Rehmann Writer and landscape architect Lecturer in landscape gardening at Vassar College from 1923-27 Co-wrote series on “plant ecology” in House Beautiful magazine in 1927-28 with Edith Roberts. Later turned articles into book American Plants for American Gardens (1929)

17. Warren H. Manning (1860-1938) Born in Reading, MA Worked with Frederick Law Olmsted & Co. as horticultural and design assistant Established one of largest practiced in landscape architecture in US and was actively involved in city planning and the design of private residences, parks and institutional grounds

18. Jens Jensen (1860-1951)  Danish-American landscape architect based in Chicago  Known for his naturalistic design in parks and private estates throughout the Midwest  Founded two conservation organizations—the Prairie Club and the Friends of Our Native Landscape  Established his version of “Danish folk school,” The Clearing, in Ellison Bay, WI

19. May Thielgaard Watts (1893-1975) Daughter of Danish immigrants to Chicago Studied with Henry Chandler Cowles at the University of Chicago Joined the staff at the Morton Arboretum in 1940 as ecologist and naturalist where she worked for over 20 years Wrote regular column, “Nature Afoot,” for the Chicago Tribune, and wrote Reading the Landscape of America Worked to establish now 61-mile “Prairie Path” in the Chicago suburbs 1961, recognized as the first “rail-to-trail” conversion of its kind.

20. Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. (1822-1903)  Born in Hartford, CT  Designed Central and Prospect Parks with Calvert Vaux in NYC  Style of naturalistic design helped to establish broad tradition of park designs in US  Considered to be “father” of Americacn landscape architecture

21. Charles Eliot (1859-1897)  Born in Cambridge, MA in 1859  Studied with Frederick Law Omsted and joined firm of Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot  Was one of founders of the Metropolitan Park System (Metropolitan Reservations) in Boston area

22. Henry Chandler Cowles (1869-1939)  Cowles earned PhD and became an extemely popular professor at University of Chicago  Dissertation—”The Ecological Relations of the Vegetation on the Sane Dunes of Lake Michigan” (1898) became classic in the emerging science of ecology  Active in the Prairie Club and Friends of Our Native Landscape (with Jensen)  Was a founder of the Ecological Society of America in 1914

23. Aldo Leopold (1887-1948)  Born in Iowa and studied forestry at Yale  Worked for the US Forest Service where he championed soil conservation, game and wildlife management and wilderness preservation  His book Sand County Almanac is a classic of American conservation writing and has influenced countless environmentalists, particularly with his promotion of environmental ethics

24. Concluding remarks  Native landscape is something to celebrate—”one of the means of restoring proper balance and perspective to our lives” (Bailey)  Connecting children with nature is critical  Conservation and restoration of nature is increasingly important—has always been challenging  Continuum from what we do in our backyards to regional conservation