Frances Duncan

Quick Facts

Significance:

Prominent garden writer, educator

Place of Birth:

Brooklyn, NY

Date of Birth:

1877

Place of Death:

Monrovia, CA

Date of Death:

September 5, 1972

Place of Burial:

Monrovia, CA

Cemetery Name:

Live Oak Memorial Park

The ideal garden for a country house is “not an exhibition grounds, nor even a flower show, but a loveable place where one is inclined to lounge or read in undisturbed peace,” wrote garden writer and educator Frances Duncan.

The daughter of a sea caption, her family moved inland to Northfield, Massachusetts where she attended the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies. The school for largely lower income families operated a campus farm and expected all students to contribute their labor to its operation. Duncan decided to study horticulture. In 1896, she obtained a work/study position at the prestigious Parsons Nursery on Long Island where she primarily studied woody ornamental plants and worked for over four years.

Building on her hands-on horticulture experience, Duncan began a career in garden writing. Between 1901 and 1926, Duncan wrote numerous articles for respected magazines such as The Atlantic and Scribner’s, and the original gardening column for the Ladies Home Journal, where she was named Garden Editor in 1907. Her articles for new publications such as Country Life in America fostered a burgeoning national interest in landscape design. Her six books on gardens went even further, focusing on what might be the motivation behind this interest. One of the most famous books, My Garden Doctor (1914), made the case for gardening as a cure for stress and described “the healing effects of making a garden in the shadow of Mount Ascutney.”

Frances Duncan first visited Cornish in 1905 to prepare an article for the popular magazine, Country Calendar, on Maxfield Parrish’s house and gardens. Her theme was that his garden was an outgrowth of the house, and the garden an extension of the living room. This first article on Cornish provides an insightful glimpse of how it looked at the time. After describing the climb up “an unconscionably steep hill,” she wrote that “the site is, for Cornish, a thoroughly characteristic one – a rough sheep pasture which, seen from the distance, seems to rise up clear against the sky.” From this vantage point, “one looks down a valley wonderfully rich in that picturesqueness of landscape which is so integral a part of Mr. Parrish’s work.” Although Parrish’s studio was not yet finished, she was able to view “a marvel of a centaur” that he was creating to wear for the Cornish Colony’s anniversary celebration, “A Masque of Ours: the Gods and the Golden Bowl,” to be held later that year.

The following year, Duncan returned to Cornish to write a comprehensive article, “The Gardens of Cornish,” for Century Magazine. Calling Cornish “one of the most hopeful spots which any believer in the future of the American garden art can visit,” she nonetheless noted the difficulties posed by the terrain. For example, she called Charles Platt’s house and garden “art” because he had designed them both, adapting them to the contours of his property, and particularly recommended Stephen Parrish’s “composition,” calling his garden “one of the most satisfying and one of the most individual.” (This was followed in 1907 by another article solely focused on Stephen Parrish’s garden, “An Artist’s New Hampshire Garden.”) The Century article mentions a litany of Cornish Colony residents, including Augustus Saint-Gaudens and a photograph of the poplars at Aspet. Duncan noted some commonalities among the Cornish gardens, such as lily pools, fruit trees along the perimeter, and prominent views of Mount Ascutney. At the same time, she gave credit to each garden’s originality, saying that “Perhaps the intimacy of gardens and owners is due to the fact that no Cornish garden is given over to the care of a hireling – each is in the keeping of its owner.”

For two decades, Duncan continued to split her time between New York City and New Hampshire. She rented properties in several places around Cornish, including Cherry Hill Farm on Dingleton Hill. Duncan moved to Los Angeles in 1925 where she continued writing and founded the Women’s National Garden Association. Duncan was known as a model for the “New Woman” being promoted as an ideal by the women’s suffragist movement in the early 20th century. With the goal of expanding options for the next generation of women, Duncan helped expand the “school garden movement” at educational institutions such as Montesorri schools and ran the Gardencraft Toy Company for several years. This company produced miniature model gardens so that children could play and learn landscape design at the same time.

In 1944, Frances Duncan married late in life (for the time), to John Manning. They lived in California for the rest of their lives. Duncan died in 1972.