The Unique Challenge of Restoring a Hurricane-Hit Historic Garden
Landscape pros design for resiliency as they replant and rebuild the flood-damaged gardens at Florida’s Cummer Museum
Parts of all three of the grounds’ National Register of Historic Places-listed formal gardens were underwater for more than 24 hours following the storm. The flooding uprooted plants, heavily salted the soil and significantly damaged infrastructure like drainage, fencing and electrical systems. Compounding the devastation, more than $1 million had been invested in restoring the historic gardens in the previous several years.
“We had spent a lot of money and a lot of time and a lot of effort over the last five or six years really trying to fix a lot of things in the garden, so it was very, very sad once the hurricane then hit after we had done all that work,” says Cummer corporate sponsorships and grants officer Gabrielle Dean Rector.
The Cummer team consulted with several fellow historic garden sites and eventually turned to Georgia landscape architecture and historic preservation firm WLA Studio for help. Like architects who focus on the built environment, landscape pros seem to be addressing potential future threats in disaster-prone areas and the best ways to bolster their projects’ overall resilience more and more. And with the work they’re tackling at the Cummer, WLA principal landscape architect J. Keyes Williamson and his team aim to put those goals into practice.
The Cummer team consulted with several fellow historic garden sites and eventually turned to Georgia landscape architecture and historic preservation firm WLA Studio for help. Like architects who focus on the built environment, landscape pros seem to be addressing potential future threats in disaster-prone areas and the best ways to bolster their projects’ overall resilience more and more. And with the work they’re tackling at the Cummer, WLA principal landscape architect J. Keyes Williamson and his team aim to put those goals into practice.
The English Garden at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens before Hurricane Irma
A Helpful Head Start
From the time when lumber magnate Arthur Cummer and his wife, Ninah, first completed their Tudor-style home in 1903, the site celebrated its natural beauty along the banks of the St. Johns River. In later years, the Cummers and their descendants would enlist the expertise of noted landscape architects, including Ossian Cole Simonds, Ellen Biddle Shipman, Thomas Meehan and Sons, and the Olmsted Brothers firm to create their famed English, Italian and Olmsted gardens. Today, those natural settings ring the home-turned-museum, which houses art and educational programming in addition to its own local history.
All three formal gardens had undergone restoration work in the years before the 2017 storm, with brick pathways relaid, fountains and sculptures conserved, the Italian Garden folly reconstructed, drainage systems updated, and bulkheads and bulkhead railings fortified and installed. Those recent overhauls, some guided by Ninah’s historic journals, made the hurricane damage all the more upsetting, but Cummer marketing manager Amber Sesnick says in some ways they also readied the site for what was coming.
“The pathways that had recently been relaid were a lot stronger than they would have been if we had been hit by this storm before we had done that,” Sesnick says.
A Helpful Head Start
From the time when lumber magnate Arthur Cummer and his wife, Ninah, first completed their Tudor-style home in 1903, the site celebrated its natural beauty along the banks of the St. Johns River. In later years, the Cummers and their descendants would enlist the expertise of noted landscape architects, including Ossian Cole Simonds, Ellen Biddle Shipman, Thomas Meehan and Sons, and the Olmsted Brothers firm to create their famed English, Italian and Olmsted gardens. Today, those natural settings ring the home-turned-museum, which houses art and educational programming in addition to its own local history.
All three formal gardens had undergone restoration work in the years before the 2017 storm, with brick pathways relaid, fountains and sculptures conserved, the Italian Garden folly reconstructed, drainage systems updated, and bulkheads and bulkhead railings fortified and installed. Those recent overhauls, some guided by Ninah’s historic journals, made the hurricane damage all the more upsetting, but Cummer marketing manager Amber Sesnick says in some ways they also readied the site for what was coming.
“The pathways that had recently been relaid were a lot stronger than they would have been if we had been hit by this storm before we had done that,” Sesnick says.
History and Hardiness
One of the biggest obstacles the WLA and Cummer teams have faced with the project is that many of the gardens’ plantings were heirloom varieties, dating back to the 1930s or earlier. “They’re plants that are not widely commercially available,” Dean Rector says. “So trying to find plants to either replace those or trying to find something else that’s comparable has been a challenge.”
Williamson says he and his team are approaching the issue as a chance to create a heartier, healthier collection of plants that will be able to better withstand any future flooding or disaster while still keeping the gardens’ history in mind.
One of the biggest obstacles the WLA and Cummer teams have faced with the project is that many of the gardens’ plantings were heirloom varieties, dating back to the 1930s or earlier. “They’re plants that are not widely commercially available,” Dean Rector says. “So trying to find plants to either replace those or trying to find something else that’s comparable has been a challenge.”
Williamson says he and his team are approaching the issue as a chance to create a heartier, healthier collection of plants that will be able to better withstand any future flooding or disaster while still keeping the gardens’ history in mind.
“What we’ve done is we tried to look at increasing the resiliency of the overall plant palette by making substitutions where we felt like we could make substitutions without undermining the original design intent,” he says. The gardens had a large selection of English boxwood, for instance. But because the boxwoods were both susceptible to blight and not tolerant to salt, Williamson says his team will likely replace them with a more resilient option that still maintains a clipped hedge look. The soil, too, may need to be at least partially replaced.
These kinds of changes, Williamson says, would also align with the Cummers’ penchant for revamping and experimenting in the gardens themselves over the years.
These kinds of changes, Williamson says, would also align with the Cummers’ penchant for revamping and experimenting in the gardens themselves over the years.
Building Better Infrastructure
Beyond the planting beds, the need to repair or replace larger pieces of infrastructure is another shift the staff and design team hope will strengthen the gardens’ overall resiliency. Williamson says WLA is considering implementing a number of reimagined features, including a new irrigation system with overhead sprayers that could flush out excess water in the event of a flood, a drainage system that gets water from plant beds to lawn areas and, eventually, temporary barriers and bulkhead improvements. The electrical system is being re-evaluated as well, Cummer staffers say. Details like fixtures that can withstand briefly being submerged in water or a sprinkler system that can be operated manually are still being ironed out.
“Because of the age of the property, we have a lot of older infrastructure pieces like the electric and the irrigation,” Sesnick says. “So this is really an opportunity to bring those things to a higher standard than they were before. And also gives us the opportunity to make sure everything is ADA compliant and friendly to the visitor while also remaining historic.”
Beyond the planting beds, the need to repair or replace larger pieces of infrastructure is another shift the staff and design team hope will strengthen the gardens’ overall resiliency. Williamson says WLA is considering implementing a number of reimagined features, including a new irrigation system with overhead sprayers that could flush out excess water in the event of a flood, a drainage system that gets water from plant beds to lawn areas and, eventually, temporary barriers and bulkhead improvements. The electrical system is being re-evaluated as well, Cummer staffers say. Details like fixtures that can withstand briefly being submerged in water or a sprinkler system that can be operated manually are still being ironed out.
“Because of the age of the property, we have a lot of older infrastructure pieces like the electric and the irrigation,” Sesnick says. “So this is really an opportunity to bring those things to a higher standard than they were before. And also gives us the opportunity to make sure everything is ADA compliant and friendly to the visitor while also remaining historic.”
Progress at the Gardens
With the onslaught of debilitating natural disasters that communities around the country have been facing in recent years, Williamson says he’s come across several inspiring response and resiliency stories for important landscapes.
At Houston’s Bayou Bend historic site, for instance, community volunteers and landscape industry pros came together to clean up the garden grounds in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Cities that are reshaping their storm surge or storm water management systems are also setting a replicable example, Williamson says. While landscape repair and restoration isn’t always in the spotlight after a disaster, creative pros are hard at work protecting the natural environment in thoughtful, resilient ways.
After some fundraising dinner parties and at least one 10-year-old girl who collected $600 worth of donations for the damaged gardens in lieu of birthday gifts, the Cummer and WLA teams are aiming to have restoration work done in the late fall or winter of this year.
Your turn: Tell us how you or your community saved or restored an important landscape (yes, it could be your garden!). Share your stories in the Comments.
More
In the Face of Disaster, Architects Are Redesigning Their Role
How to Find the Right Plants for Your Garden
How to Save What’s Priceless When Disaster Strikes
With the onslaught of debilitating natural disasters that communities around the country have been facing in recent years, Williamson says he’s come across several inspiring response and resiliency stories for important landscapes.
At Houston’s Bayou Bend historic site, for instance, community volunteers and landscape industry pros came together to clean up the garden grounds in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Cities that are reshaping their storm surge or storm water management systems are also setting a replicable example, Williamson says. While landscape repair and restoration isn’t always in the spotlight after a disaster, creative pros are hard at work protecting the natural environment in thoughtful, resilient ways.
After some fundraising dinner parties and at least one 10-year-old girl who collected $600 worth of donations for the damaged gardens in lieu of birthday gifts, the Cummer and WLA teams are aiming to have restoration work done in the late fall or winter of this year.
Your turn: Tell us how you or your community saved or restored an important landscape (yes, it could be your garden!). Share your stories in the Comments.
More
In the Face of Disaster, Architects Are Redesigning Their Role
How to Find the Right Plants for Your Garden
How to Save What’s Priceless When Disaster Strikes