Wild Garden

While naturalistic plantings and native plants may seem like recent trends in landscape design, Beatrix Farrand was exploring these ideas in America more than a century ago. Farrand envisioned a “Wild Garden” surrounding Bellefield’s Walled Garden, where relaxed, layered plantings would soften the long fieldstone walls and create a gradual transition to the surrounding landscape. Although she did not create a planting plan, she drew the flowing, scalloped outline of the garden bed that defines the space today. Never commissioned by the Newbolds, the Wild Garden remained only a concept—until a few years ago.

Although BFGA had long held the Wild Garden as a “vision,” it was not until 2022 when a Farrand enthusiast wandered through the gates and struck up a conversation with horticulturist Karen Waltuch, that the idea became a realization. The generous gift that followed, part seed funding and part challenge grant, inspired more than 140 additional donors and helped raise $150,000.  The result is one of the Hudson Valley’s finest displays of regional native plants. The invaluable collaboration and support of the National Park Service made the project feasible every step of the way.

A wild garden was a hallmark of Beatrix Farrand’s designs. Drawing inspiration from the surrounding landscape, she used native plants liberally, combining trees, shrubs, ferns, bulbs, and wildflowers in layered, naturalistic plantings. A keen horticulturist who understood and cherished natural plant communities, Farrand had been observing and propagating American wildflowers since childhood.

Celebrating her legacy as an early champion of native plants, the Wild Garden features remarkable botanical diversity, with more than 160 species represented. The design of this garden includes the signature plants Farrand used in her wild gardens, arranged in the bold planting style of large drifts as she did, but features an expansive plant palette that celebrates the diversity of native plants now available. Its 7,000 perennials (and counting) were installed with the help of dozens of volunteers who gathered for the planting on Beatrix Farrand’s 151st birthday.

The Wild Garden’s plantings were based on research by local landscape designer Heather Whitefield of Organic Matters, NPS Horticulturist Anna de Cordova, and former BFGA Horticulturist Anne Symmes, who researched the signature plants of Farrand’s wild gardens and incorporated them into an expansive and biodiverse design.

Today, the garden offers a rich horticultural resource—an opportunity to experience our wild plants up close, or to join as a volunteer and gain hands-on experience with native plants and ecological gardening.

Landscape design drawings created by Heather Whitefield of Organic Matters.

The Wild Garden’s plantings were developed by local landscape designer Heather Whitefield of Organic Matters, NPS Horticulturists Anna de Cordova and Susan MacAvery, and former BFGA Horticulturists Karen Waltuch and Anne Symmes, who researched the signature plants of Farrand’s wild gardens and incorporated them into an expansive and biodiverse design.

Special thanks to donor Bob Ouimette for his generous support of this garden and to the many volunteers and donors who met the challenge!