Restoring an original Olmsted vision

Dozens of volunteers showed up Sept. 18 to complete the restoration of plants outside the Volunteer Park reservoir.

The Volunteer Park Trust organized a work party to plant hundreds of yellow flora in the soil beds on the southeast corner of the park reservoir.

The planting continued the Trust’s ongoing work to restore the park’s natural beauty, as envisioned by the Olmsted Brothers architectural firm when they drafted formal plans for the park from 1904 to 1909.

John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., the sons of venerable American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, originally designed the central park to be accented by fields of yellow flora, Trust Secretary Nancy Iannucci said.

But the park’s landscape upkeep fell into disrepair when the Seattle Art Museum building, now the Seattle Asian Art Museum, closed from 1991 to 1994, Doug Bayley said. 

“It kind of sent the park into a downward spiral,” said Bayley, who serves as co-chair of the Trust’s landscape committee. “No one was visiting at the time.”

As maintenance of the plants went neglected, they became overrun by weeds, particularly blackberry.

Volunteers working on the fall restoration project last year, and at monthly work parties since, removed invasive species from soil beds.

After receiving a $10,000 grant from the Seattle Garden Club, the Trust was ready to restore the beds to something resembling the Olmsted brothers’ original vision.

“It will be close,” Iannucci said. “We’re replacing some plants which are no longer in use, such as scotch broom, and using other plants such as forsythia and yellow roses.”

With planting of the central portion of the park complete, the Trust will turn its attention to restoring the flora at Volunteer Park’s entrances.

“We want to keep the parks looking good so that people will be excited about coming here,” Bayley said.