Object Details
- General
- The Weatherly Garden was the work of two generations of self-taught horticulturalists, mother and two daughters, who turned a quarter-acre city lot filled with elm trees into nine garden rooms filled with color, scent and supplies for gourmet cooks. Their earliest efforts considered the shade and drainage patterns on the property; later the lot opened up when the trees succumbed to Dutch Elm disease. Meticulous records were kept for each plant: the source and cost, the date of planting, and notes on its growth pattern. The original plan called for nine different garden rooms: a Sweet Herb knot garden with 12 small beds; a Grass Walk bordered with perennials on one side and Exbury azaleas on the other; an orderly Vegetable Garden planted in rows with a bee skep feature; a formal Perennial Garden with Korean boxwood borders; a Culinary Herb Garden next to a brick terrace; a Daylily bed later replanted with shrubbery requiring less maintenance; Shrubbery Borders at the perimeter of the property; an Orchard; and an Old Rose Hedge featuring damask, moss and David Austin roses. The sisters constructed walks and raised beds from salvaged bricks and built a lattice-sided garden shed.
- Lavender was used to edge garden beds, and self-sown sprouts were dug out of the walkways and transplanted. Two varieties of lavender were planted -- munsted and hidcote that eventually crossed to create a new variety, named Weatherly after the garden. Cuttings from the Korean boxwood also took root and were transplanted. Self-sowing varieties were allowed to spread so long as they did not crowd out another desired plant. Scent and compact growth habits were important in choosing flower varieties, and a tapestry of colors and shapes was the desired effect. Trellises were used in the vegetable garden to maximize the small space but flowers requiring staking were not planted since their supports would have been hard to disguise. Taller, blowsy herbs and perennials were planted under the shrub borders. Creeping thyme was allowed to invade the brick walks, with a semi-circular patch of thyme at the side of the culinary herb garden intended as a seat, a practice in medieval gardens.
- The Weatherly Garden was routinely cultivated rather than mulched. The loose soil acted as mulch and weeds were not a problem after many years of cultivation. A sonic pest eradicator kept squirrels away from the orchard.
- Persons associated with the garden include: Virginia and Sarah Weatherly (garden designers and former owners, 1943-1995); and John Rufenacht (former owner, 1995 - 2007).
- Former owner
- Weatherly, Virginia
- Garden designer
- Weatherly, Virginia
- Weatherly, Sarah
- Former owner
- Weatherly, Sarah
- Rufenacht, John
- Provenance
- The Westport Garden Club
- Collection Creator
- Garden Club of America
- Place
- The Weatherly Garden (Kansas City, Missouri)
- United States of America -- Missouri -- Kansas City
- Topic
- Gardens -- Missouri -- Kansas City
- Former owner
- Weatherly, Virginia
- Garden designer
- Weatherly, Virginia
- Weatherly, Sarah
- Former owner
- Weatherly, Sarah
- Rufenacht, John
- Provenance
- The Westport Garden Club
- See more items in
- The Garden Club of America collection
- The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Gardens / Missouri
- Sponsor
- A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
- Custodial History
- The Westport Garden Club facilitated the submission of this garden's documentation.
- Archival Repository
- Archives of American Gardens
- Identifier
- AAG.GCA, File MO081
- Type
- Archival materials
- Collection Citation
- Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
- Collection Rights
- Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
- Bibliography
- This property is featured in The American Woman's Garden by Ellen Samuels and Rosemary (Verey, Little, Brown, 1984); Gardening in the Heartland by Rachel Snyder, University of Kansas Press, 1992; "Gardening in Small Spaces" by Douglas A. Jimerson, published in Better Homes and Gardens, February 1987, pp. 92 - 95; "Sisters' Garden" by Allison Engel, published in Country Gardens, summer 1994, pp. 100-110; "The City Eden of Sarah and Virginia Weatherly" by Ruth Rhode Haskell, published in Flower and Garden Magazine, February 1989, pp. 44-48; "The Dooryard Garden" by A. Cort Sinnes, published in Flower and Garden Magazine, October 1989, p. 40; "Virginia and Sarah Weatherly, the World is Their Garden" by A. Cort Sinnes, published in Kansas City Live!, July 19990, pp. 44-46; "Theirs is a Garden of Delight" by George H. Gurley Jr., published in "The Kansas City Star" March 28, 1987; "In the Garden a Long, Long Time" by Anne Raver, published in "The New York Times", September 30, 1993; "Herbs in a Small City Garden" by Virginia and Sarah Weatherly, published in American Cottage Gardens, Brooklyn Botanic Garden Record, 1990.
- Scope and Contents
- The folder includes worksheets and photocopies of articles.
- Collection Restrictions
- Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
- Record ID
- ebl-1643208220039-1643210181533-0
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