SUNKEN GARDEN HISTORY
On October 29, 1916 the Sunken Garden was dedicated and opened to the
public. Like the Conservatory, the Sunken Garden was built by the design
of respected German landscape architect George Edward Kessler. It included
brick walks, three lighted fountains and concrete vases at the walk
intersections seen in the picture below
By
the end of the 1930's the Sunken Garden had grown and matured. The plantings
were lush, but their general layout still conformed to Kessler's original
formal design. The formal gardens were originally surrounded by outlying
informal perennial planting beds and curving fish ponds that are no
longer present (below).
Today
the areas that were formerly outlying perennial beds are now large formal
turf areas used frequently throughout the warmer months for wedding
ceremonies and an ongoing summer concert series known as Music
in the Garden. There are 3 main floral displays that change each
year in the Sunken Garden: spring tulips which generally peak in mid-April,
summer annuals that peak June-August and fall mums that flower in September
and October.