April 28, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … A tour of five gardens in the Dunthorpe neighborhood will be accompanied by music from Oregon Symphony musicians for a season-ending garden tour and tea hosted by Friends of the Oregon Symphony on Friday, June 2 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. All proceeds will benefit the Symphony and be matched by the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation.
“For the first time ever, the community will have an opportunity to visit several beautiful Dunthorpe gardens while enjoying an elegant English tea and the artistry of Oregon Symphony musicians,” said Connie Clark, a Symphony board member and President of Friends of the Oregon Symphony.
“The Garden Tour and Tea offers our guests a look at five very special private gardens in Portland,” added Beth Hulsman, chair of the event. The five gardens, which include the gardens of the Cooley Estate and the Percy Smith residence, range from a formal garden to a natural landscape garden with all-organic maintenance and a garden containing a unique water feature. “Our guests will find new ideas for annuals and perennials, as well as interesting ideas for garden paths, water features, arrangement of plants for sunny and shady gardens and the use of garden sculpture,” says Hulsman.
The Percy Smith residence and gardens, one of the stops on the tour, features several different types of garden landscapes, including a rose garden, a formal garden, a family berry and vegetable garden, a “secret” garden enclosed by laurels and a Japanese garden featuring over 30 different Japanese maple trees.
The gardens surrounding Cooley House, designed by the Olmstead brothers in 1920, feature an all-organic combination of distinct plants combined with an overall natural landscape.
While strolling through the Cooley House garden, the final stop on the garden tour, visitors will be serenaded by Symphony flute Martha Herby, Acting Principal Flute Georgeanne Ries, Associate Concertmaster Peter Frajola, Principal Viola Joël Belgique, violinist Inés Voglar, clarinet Todd Kuhns and bassoon Leon Chodos who will perform throughout the afternoon. Also at Cooley House, the home of Lewis and Clark College President Tom Hochstettler and his family, visitors will enjoy an authentic English afternoon tea with tea sandwiches and finger sweets.
Tour participants will park at Lewis and Clark College and take a free shuttle to all of the gardens; shuttles will begin running at 11 a.m. Lewis & Clark College is located at 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road in Portland. Dunthorpe Garden Tour and Tea tickets are $30 each and must be purchased in advance by calling (503) 416-6327 or on the Symphony Website at www.orsymphony.org/fos.
