The Wild Garden Audio Tour is in production and should be installed soon. Meanwhile, please enjoy the script as you explore the new plantings.

 Wild Garden Audio Tour (welcome message at both East and West gates) 
Welcome to the Beatrix Farrand Garden at the Bellefield Mansion. This garden site was designed and installed by Beatrix Farrand in 1912 following a major renovation of the mansion. You can learn more about its history by dialing the audio tour posted inside of the walled garden, starting at the terrace by the northeast stairs near the weathervane pole. This particular audio tour will provide you with information specifically about the Wild Garden, which includes the plantings all around the outside of the garden hedge and wall.

The Wild Garden is a project realized in partnership by the Beatrix Farrand Garden Association, the National Park Service, and Organic Matters landscaping of Poughkeepsie. Beginning in the fall of 2022, dozens of staff and volunteers worked over 3 seasons to clear the area of non-historic and declining plants as well as established lawn and damaged trees. The soil was amended and the ground was prepared for the addition of 2,650 bulbs, 145 woody shrubs and trees, and over 7,000 perennial plugs which we encourage you to explore. Begin your walking tour of the Wild Garden on the northwest side of the exterior garden near the three newly planted dogwood trees between the picnic pavilion and the west side of Bellefield. 

Stop #1 Dogwood Trees, NW Corner
Welcome to the first stop of the Beatrix Farrand Wild Garden audio tour. The Wild Garden is a project which incorporates both historic and modern understandings of the Beatrix Farrand aesthetic and design legacy. Her formal garden plans at Bellefield included an undulating line around the exterior of the wall and hedge labeled “Wild Garden” and a suggestion that the resident Newbold family surround the near perimeter of the formal garden with plantings in the tradition of a Wild Garden which Farrand appreciated from her studies with William Robinson. She did not develop a planting plan and the Newbold’s did not actively pursue this excellent suggestion, but retained a loose arrangement of trees and shrubs on the exterior that contrast with the formal interior garden that was fully planned and executed. When our team measured the line to scale and plotted its curves and bends around the site, they found that the drawn squiggle was actually very intentional, and it enclosed many of those existent and since removed trees and shrubs. We have tried to duplicate her drawn design with the curved and bending bed shape as closely as possible. 

Some of the historic trees from her original design have been replaced, like these Cornus florida, or eastern dogwood trees. Beatrix Farrand championed the use of native plants, and the Wild Garden realization project was designed with all native plants, save the spring bulbs and flowering lilacs on the southeastern portion of the Wild Garden. 

Continue your tour to the south by the Eric Soderholz bird bath.

Stop #2, Birdbath, W Center
Stop two of the Beatrix Farrand Wild Garden audio tour. Beatrix Farrand created many of her sites to include ornate and beautiful hardscaping which she also designed, such as our iron filigree garden gates, hardwood vine trellis systems, and fieldstone walls. Some of her gardens also included the work of a longtime friend and collaborator, potter Eric Soderholz. Originally an architect turned photographer from Austria, Soderholz immigrated to Maine where he sought to create outdoor pottery and garden furniture which could withstand Maine’s brutal winters. He developed a technique of using cement to mimic the great ceramic works of ancient Europe, and his pieces drew the attention of fellow Maine resident Beatrix Farrand. She would collaborate with him on pieces for her design project at Dumbarton Oaks and at many of her other gardens. Our birdbath, while not original to our site at Bellefield, is an original Soderholz piece donated to us and restored in 2024. We are confident that Farrand would approve of our putting it in her Wild Garden at Bellefield. Soderholz loved birds and thought that it was very important to attract and support wildlife in a garden, and so do we. 

Continue your walking tour to the large magnolia tree to your right. 

Stop #3, Saucer Magnolia, SW Corner
Stop three of the Beatrix Farrand Wild Garden audio tour. Many trees around the Wild Garden predate the restoration of the interior, and through site evaluations and surveys we understand that some of them may have been planted by Farrand or the resident Newbold Family when the Bellefield garden was originally installed in 1912. This saucer Magnolia is one such tree, and it is one of several magnolias around the building which compliment the garden and mansion with its gorgeous blooms through the spring months, visible from the interior. To the south of it you’ll find a much newer magnolia addition, the Cucumber leaf Magnolia, Magnolia acuminata. This tree was selected to replace a historic tree that died. The newly planted Amelanchier or Serviceberry trees, Chionanthus virginicus or fringe trees, and the Oxydendron or Sourwood tree to the immediate south of the garden gate, will also grow to be visible from the interior walled garden in future years, contributing to an intimate feeling from within the walls while adding to its seasonal display with beautiful treetop blooms. 

Continue your walking tour to the south, around the narrow end of the garden under the historic allee of maples. 

Stop #4, Lilacs, SE Corner
Stop four of the Beatrix Farrand Wild Garden audio tour. Here at the southernmost end of the Beatrix Farrand Garden site is the remains of the historic service road which connected Bellefield driveway to the southern fields and maintenance outbuildings. The double allee of towering maples marks the original National Park entrance to the Home of FDR. This allee creates an area of partial shade, and plants selected for those conditions are planted in this portion of the garden, including understory shrubs of Comptonia peregrina or sweet fern, and Rhododendron maximum. 

When preparing these narrow beds at the end of the garden we reinstalled the deer fence around the hemlock hedge. During preparation for that fencing our team discovered the French drain system, trenches of river stone gravel, that Farrand laid when installing the original garden  in 1912. Her meticulous attention to detail around the entire site has been one of the reasons her historic design at Bellefield still exists, and it still contributes to the ongoing health and vitality of our garden. 

Continue your walking tour to the very large tree with the horizontal arm to the north of you, a Halesia monticola or Carolina silverbell tree. 

Stop #5, Halesia, E Center
Stop five of the Beatrix Farrand Wild Garden audio tour. This substantial tree is a Halesia monticola, the largest subspecies of the Carolina silverbell tree. It is very rare that they grow to this size, but our neighbors in Poughkeepsie at Vassar College have an almost identical specimen. Due to Beatrix Farrand’s work at Vassar establishing their arboretum, it is possible that she sourced and planted both trees. The tree erupts in a million small white chandelier-like blooms every late April to early May and is a wonder worth a spring visit. It is included in the National Park Service Historic Tree Propagation Program where exceptional trees are propagated by cuttings. This creates young trees that preserve the identical genes of the impressive historic trees. 

To the north of the tree is a broad collection of native perennials, including sun-loving grasses, woody shrubs, milkweeds, asters, mints, and many more. Two small Asimina triloba, or common Pawpaw trees, will continue to grow and cast more shade on this side of the garden over the next 20 years. Over time, this new project will test these plants’ ability to adapt to less sun and teach us where and when to make changes. 

Continue your walking tour to the north, near the west entrance path to the garden. 

Stop #6, Hydrangea, NE Corner 
Stop six of the Beatrix Farrand Wild Garden audio tour. As you complete your walk around the Wild Garden, notice how many different types of plantings you’ve seen during your tour. Taking into consideration the moisture and sun exposure of the different exterior areas was a large component of the Wild Garden plant design project in 2022. Beatrix Farrand was a huge proponent of selecting plants to suit the existing garden conditions rather than forcing plants to submit to inappropriate placement. A perfect example of picking the plant to suit the spot is this collection of Hydrangea arborescens, or smooth hydrangea. Here in one of the more shady areas of the garden, we hope these plants will thrive and withstand some of our area’s more severe summer conditions. We have tried to consider the preferences of this collection of over 150 different native plant species when placing them. This site serves as a learning garden which we will continue to assess, but we also hope that the amateur gardener can find information and inspiration to incorporate these selections at their own home in order to better diversify our local plant community. Please come back in all seasons to enjoy and thank you for visiting!