Gilded-Age Garden: Wilcox Park esplanade gardens refreshed with new plantings | Westerly

WESTERLY — With winter approaching, some final cleaning, mowing and cleaning was done this week around the new formal esplanade garden at the Broad Street entrance to Wilcox Park next to the Westerly Library.

Park and library staff and volunteers celebrated the completion of the redesigned esplanade last month in a formal ceremony. Now, Park Superintendent Alan Peck and staff are keeping a close eye on the grounds until more work can resume next spring. But what has been done to date has been remarkable, Peck said.

“It’s the most prominent part of the park,” he said. “It is the only part of the park that has formality in its design, everything else is naturalistic.”

With a layout that can be seen as a garden, four gardens or eight gardens, the smaller beds reflect four open books, using the grassy paths as spines. The plantings are mirror images, from the bed to the bed and from the side.

The yew tree that defines the perimeter of the esplanade has been renovated through extensive pruning. Twelve key points along the hedge have been replaced with sturdy Irish yew. Hinoki cypresses were placed at the center of each bed.

The work brings the garden into the Italianate style that matches the library’s architecture, but also with a splash of colorful perennials to match the perennials, Peck said.

“We decided we really needed to make the gardens appropriate for the era, and that’s where we landed,” Peck said. “We see this as more of a permanent garden.”

The esplanade has perfect symmetry – unique in the 15-acre park – and an unobstructed sight line from the Town Hall steps directly to the Wilcox Memorial Fountain.

Passing on this line, visitors can see the addition of a central compass rose created by Richard Brooks of Buzzi Memorials. The granite is Mountain Rose from Canada and is as close to western red granite as is available in North America. Bronze inlay points are placed at true north, and the 3,000-pound “compass” sits in the blue stone where the paths intersect.

“It’s a teaching moment,” Peck said. “People can actually learn the difference between true north and magnetic north.”

The esplanade space dates back to the initial design of the park in 1898 by Warren Manning. Manning previously was an associate of Frederick Law Olmsted, and one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects. His design of Wilcox Park included the perimeter stone wall, walking paths and open central lawn.

The esplanade area was a grassy lawn with a large black central urn. After the construction of the new Town Hall in 1912, the Library Association wanted a more formal space, complementing the Italian design of the library.

Arthur Shurcliff designed the formal terrace, or esplanade, up to and around the fountain, including the western blue granite balustrade, bluestone paving pattern, octagonal fountain basin, and adjacent stone benches.

The design of the new garden was a three-year team effort. Included are longtime park volunteer and supporter Kate Waterman, University of Rhode Island Master Gardeners and Park Committee members Heather McGregor and Sandi Carmichael, and Peck. Leading the team was Elena Pascarella, owner of Landscape Elements in Warwick.

Pascarella is a professional landscaper with a long history of working with historic properties, including the park, and other local properties, including Donahue Park. She thought the gardens should be based on the designers of Manning’s period, particularly Beatrix Farrand. Farrand designed Aeolia at Harkness Memorial Park as well as other estates.

“Where men did not ‘dilate’ so much with perennials, Farrand did,” said Pascarella. “He used perennials with seasonal bloom variations and long bloom times.”

The team periodically reviews and critiques Pascarella’s latest designs. When everyone was satisfied, the plants were ordered: 586 perennials, eight Hinoki Cypress, 12 Robust Irish yews and 260 boxwoods. The team agreed in the garden during the next two summers to criticize the plantings and decide on changes. Park employees Martin Neiberg, Brian McGregor and Lee Sadosky worked on the project, installing permanent steel edging around the beds.

Volunteers also contributed by helping to finance the work. Waterman paid for most of the plantings and the compass rose. The Friends of the West Library and Wilcox Park stepped up to purchase Hinoki cypress and robust Irish yew.

Once the gardens were established, McGregor and Carmichael created a maintenance plan to guide volunteers. Some plants are cut early in the season to reduce height. Others died for cleaning and a second bloom.

In addition, the park’s dahlia collection has been expanded and now provides an additional colorful spectacle for the esplanade. The dahlias, called “horticultural challenge”, are managed by Joan Sienkiewicz, one of the Master Gardeners in the park.

The most work goes up in the spring, according to Peck. The irrigation system will be moved to improve the conditions for the bud to avoid the tip.

“We still have problems,” said Peck, “with the dark bronze and the fact that the Hinoki cypress of the center of the piece will clear the space. We are already planning to change this.”

A dwarf cypress will be planted in the space, Peck said. The original bluestone hardscape needs work to stabilize, and eventually should be completely reset when funds allow, he added.

The park decorated 20 of its perennials as part of the “Starry Lights” display this year as well, Peck said. It goes to January. 31.