Formal Gardens

The Formal Gardens of Deepwood surround the home and were installed in the early 1930s under Alice Bretherton Brown Powell’s ownership. Alice continued to plant and develop her formal gardens over the next 30 years. Now owned by the City of Salem, the Formal Gardens benefit from a dedicated community of staff and volunteers.

A number of the gardens were designed by Elizabeth Lord & Edith Schryver of Lord & Schryver Landscape Design. As the Northwest’s first female owned landscape architecture firm, Lord & Schryver brought the Beaux Arts style of formal garden design to Deepwood. The gardens include several “rooms” defined by hedges and walks, each with its own character. Some of the most notable: the central Great Room is a broad lawn with its long axis defined by symmetrical hedges focused on the 1905 metal gazebo from the Lewis & Clark Exposition; the Tea House Garden is an enclosed flower garden with geometric walks and flower beds; and the Scroll Garden where Alice Brown and Keith Powell were wed, with its scrolled iron fence and the boxwood hedges it inspired.

The Formal Gardens are the perfect backdrop for photographs, special events, or just for an afternoon stroll. Learn more about visiting the gardens here.

Deepwood’s Formal Gardens are available for private rentals, for more information visit Garden Rentals.