Remembering Doris Duke

Nurturing the gardens of the tobacco heiress

By: Regina Tan

The


world’s

most

beautiful

gardens are

found at

Doris Duke’s

estate in

Hillsborough.

"The
The English Garden includes sculpted topiary.

Photograph courtesy of Duke Farms Foundation
 
‘She


enjoyed being with people. She loved people. She wanted to be around people.’

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   In the mid-1950s, Doris Duke was a household name when the
director of Duke Gardens, Anton Gsell, emigrated from Germany to Hillsborough.
   "By the early 1950s," wrote Stephanie Mansfield in her biography
of "Doris Duke, The Richest Girl in the World" (Putnam, 1992), "the richest
girl in the world had become one of the richest women in the world."
   "Although she complained bitterly that her father (James
Buchanan Duke, the tobacco magnate) had tied up her money in various trusts,
her business manager had invested shrewdly and her fortune was steadily increasing.
She owned almost 50 percent of the shares in Duke Power Co. alone, worth an
estimated $400 million. Her money was also invested in real estate, West Virginia
coal mines, and treasury bills."
   By the time she was 30, Ms. Duke had access to all of the
principal — about $50 million — in the Doris Duke Trust. Her childhood
home, located on the 2,700-acre Duke Farms in Somerville, was "even by Gilded-Age
standards, outrageously grand; a monument to nouveau American fortunes and
a testament to the prevailing envy of the European aristocratic life-style,"
according to Ms. Mansfield. "The land was described as a parallelogram one
mile wide and three miles long, bigger than many cities of the day. Duke, the
country bumpkin, had created his own feudal town with a faux English feel."
   Duke Farms was self-sufficient: "The main house contained
11 bedrooms, six bathrooms. It had a staff of five: housekeeper, cook, waitress,
chambermaid, and laundress to run the living quarters alone," wrote Ms. Mansfield.
Ms. Duke also had a mechanic on the premises and when she traveled, she ordered
shipments of fresh produce from the gardens of Duke Farms.
   "In Hillsborough, everyone in the local area knew of her,"
said Mr. Gsell. At the time, Hillsborough was sparsely populated. There were
very few houses and no shopping centers and students attended Branchburg High
School because there was not a high school in Hillsborough.
   In 1962, Mr. Gsell interviewed for a position as the foreman
of the greenhouse of Duke Gardens.
   When the gardens opened to the public in 1964, Mr. Gsell
worked with a series of unique gardens, each modeled after a particular theme.
   "The ‘Gardens of the World’ display was a major accomplishment
for Doris: elegant trellised green houses containing French, English, Italian,
Chinese, and Indian gardens with hundreds of shrubs and plants, including a
large white orchid developed at the farm’s orchid range dubbed ‘The Doris,’ "
Ms. Mansfield wrote.
   Thirty-nine years later, Mr. Gsell recalled how it was working
with Doris Duke in Duke Gardens.
   (Garden descriptions courtesy of Duke Farms Foundation outline)


• Main entrance to the conservatories
/ Italian Garden

"Romantic
Romantic


fountains abound in the Italian Garden.

Photograph courtesy of Duke Farms Foundation

   Originally, gardens of this type were laid out in a formal
stylized pattern similar to French parterre gardens with clipped hedges, symmetrical
planting beds accented by walls and balustrades, statuary and fountains. However,
over the ages, many were abandoned and allowed to grow according to the whims
of nature. During the late 18th century these gardens were "discovered" by
French and English writers and artists who appreciated the romantic quality
achieved through a mixture of man’s unwitting collaboration with nature. They
became very much the vogue in Europe in the 19th century.
   After taking the Duke Gardens van to the visitor center,
visitors walk to the main entrance of the conservatories and pass by the fountain.
   Going on a tour of Duke Gardens, said Jim Hall, the gardens
supervisor of Duke Gardens, is like "stepping back in time. (It is) ornate
(with) fountains all over the place."
   Hired two months before Ms. Duke’s death in October 1993,
Mr. Hall had never met Ms. Duke.
   "I was there the day Anton (Gsell) announced to the staff
that Doris Duke had passed," Mr. Hall said. "It was as if an aunt had died."
   Yet Mr. Hall knew the story of Ms. Duke’s intentions for
the public gardens: she "wanted guests to be immersed in the garden."
   Mr. Gsell agreed, "Exactly. Yes. She wanted the tour guides
to keep their spiel down to a minimum and she didn’t want the guides to focus
on Latin jargon."
   Some of the gardeners and members of the Doris Duke Charitable
Foundation live on Duke Estates.
   "Maintaining the greenhouses is a 24-7 job," said Mr. Hall.
   Patrick Lerch, the director of Ms. Duke’s properties in Hillsborough
and Hawaii, is one of the staff members of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
who lives on the estate. According to Mr. Lerch, the Doris Duke Charitable
Foundation was created in 1996 to allocate money for charities Ms. Duke supported
in the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child
abuse prevention.
   In January 1999, Mr. Lerch said, the estate of Doris Duke
transferred its properties to the foundation. Since then, the board of the
foundation has been responsible for the activities of the gardens.
   In the future, the foundation plans to share more of the
Duke Farms property with the public.
• Edwardian Garden — orchid house

"Fragrant
Fragrant


mauve orchids greet visitors tothe Edwardian Garden.

Photograph courtesy of


Duke Farms Foundation

   The Edwardian Garden is a replica of Edwardian (1890s) English
conservatories brought to the United States during the "Gay Nineties." However,
only the wealthy could afford the luxury of rare tropical plants and orchids.
This era is often referred to as the Mauve Decade, because of their fondness
for orchids and the pale mauve colors. "When there was an unusual flower in
the garden, she (Doris Duke) would spend hours looking at it," said Mr. Gsell.
   At one time, "There were 5,000 plants of one (orchid) species
alone in the 14-room greenhouse which currently bulged with over 20,000 plants.
It was said to be the largest private collection of orchids in the country.
The ever-thrifty Doris began selling the surplus to Manhattan florists for
a small profit," wrote Ms. Mansfield.

• French Garden / English garden

"The
The


French Garden features fleur de lis-patterned topiary.

Photograph courtesy of Duke Farms Foundation

   The French Garden is a classical formal garden. The lattice
is typical of the 18th century and the parterre garden is in a fleur de lis
pattern. The English Garden is divided into five sections, each a miniature
version of a particular style: topiary, rock garden and herbaceous borders,
knot garden and succulent garden.
   To create the blueprints of the gardens, Ms. Duke traveled
to Europe and Asia to look at different garden plans.
   "She spoke Spanish and French," said Mr. Gsell.

• Desert Garden

"Tactile
Tactile


plant life, similar to what thrives in the American Southwest, fills the
Desert Garden.

Photograph courtesy of


Duke Farms Foundation

   The Desert Garden is a natural garden of cactus and succulents
similar to those that thrive in the American desert.
   Doris Duke would work in the gardens "even if it was 100
degrees in the garden," Mr. Gsell said. "She enjoyed being with people. She
loved people. She wanted to be around people."
   He recalled, "She observed so keenly and would notice a particular
worker. She could almost tell that person wasn’t interested in the work. [She
would note that] person was not a gardener or not a display person. She was
quite observant and able to sense in a moment that person was not suited for
a particular job."

• Chinese Garden

"Visitors
Visitors


to Duke Gardens are greeted by the sensuous appeal of the Moon Gate entrance
in the Chinese Garden.

Photograph courtesy of Duke Farms Foundation

   The Chinese Garden is meant to stimulate the imagination
with its bold rock formations and freedom of plant growth. The pond has a miniature
Isle of Immortals, a tribute to the spirits of ancestors. Red is featured because
the Chinese feel that red is good fortune and also the golden carp. The black
bamboo is thought to give protection and the crooked walkway to ward off evil
spirits. The Moon Gate leads to a Chinese lattice courtyard, with its hand-tied
bamboo and a small display of bonsai.
   Ms. Duke "liked the Chinese and Oriental gardens, but she
never really did say [which garden she favored]," Mr. Gsell said.

• Indo-Persian Garden
   The Indo-Persian Garden is a miniature version of those constructed
in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries by the Mogul Emperors who conquered all
of northern India and Pakistan. They brought their own culture from Persia.
Geometric patterns were developed to a fine art because the use of animal and
human figures is strictly taboo in the Islamic religion. Since this was a desert
country and is extremely hot many months of the year, water is a precious commodity.
It was appreciated not only for growing purposes but to cool the air, hence
the use of fountains and waterfalls. Since it was precious every drop was saved,
that is why the pathways are higher than the surrounding plantings. The brick
work patterns are copied from the pathways in the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore.
The Chabutra is a miniature pavilion. The rose is the national flower of Persia.

"Geometric
Geometric


design is a signature of the Indo-Persian Garden.

Photograph courtesy of Duke Farms Foundation

   Mr. Gsell also remembered Ms. Duke’s tenacity: she would
say, "’Let’s try this, let’s try that.’ She wanted certain things done and
asked always that you try it. As long as you tried she could let it go at that.
She was demanding and wanted certain things and usually got it."
   Ms. Duke’s fascination with Islamic culture and art is only
partially represented in the Indo-Persian Garden. Shangri-La, her home in Honolulu,
Hawaii, has an extensive collection of Islamic art and is now operated by DDFIA,
the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.
   According to Ms. Mansfield, when Ms. Duke created and funded
the Near East Dance Group, she "pulled rehearsals out of Manhattan to the farm.
Every day, a van would arrive to pick up the Near East Dance Group at Forty-second
Street and Tenth Avenue and drive them to Somerville. The group rehearsed in
her dance studio in the basement."
   The gardens, Mr. Gsell said, were meant to be contrary to
nature. "In these gardens, you could accomplish things that you wouldn’t accomplish
outside the unique things that Doris Duke wanted done. (For example,) some
of the plants came from Europe pre-cooled and had already gone through their
dormant periods."
   "I spoke to Miss Duke two days before she died," said Mr.
Gsell. "The butler answered the phone. Somehow she must have sensed that it
was me. She asked, ‘Is that Tony?’ Her final words to me were: ‘Tony, take
care of the gardens.’ She had hoped to be back in Somerville. It was a bad
day."
   About 80 percent of what is said about Miss Duke does not
reflect her character, Mr. Gsell said. "And 90 percent of the books are gossip."
   "Sometimes Miss Duke would say to me, ‘Tony, I only wish
that was true.’ "
A former editorial assistant for The Packet Magazine, Regina Tan is a reporter
for the Manville News.