Asa Gray Garden
About Asa Gray Garden
Landscape/Water Feature/Gathering Area
A circular garden with radiating pathways, benches, and a central water feature surrounded by a reflecting pool.
Revitalization: 2018
Situated just inside the Cemetery’s Egyptian Revival Gateway, Asa Gray Garden serves as a focal point and gathering place for arriving visitors. Since the 1850s, this ornamental garden has evolved to reflect changing horticultural trends and landscape design styles. Today, visitors will find a garden that is equally welcoming, comforting, and inspiring, a reflection of Mount Auburn’s best qualities.
More than 170 species of trees, shrubs, flowering perennials, flowering annuals, bulbs, and grasses provide color, texture, and beauty in all four seasons. In the garden’s center, the Pierce Fountain evokes the meditative qualities of the Cemetery’s landscape. A series of radiating paths lead visitors through the garden, while benches encourage visitors to rest and reflect.
The legacy of botanist Asa Gray (1810 – 1888), the garden’s namesake, is celebrated through a diverse mix of species native to either East Asia or Eastern North America. While working with herbarium specimens, Gray discovered the striking similarities between American and Asian plant species and used his research to hypothesize that these species descended from common ancestors. Several specific pairings within the garden now pay tribute to the “Father of American Botany.”
For Further Reading:
Revitalizing Asa Gray Garden
The revitalization of Asa Gray Garden in 2018 celebrates the healing and inspirational qualities for which the Cemetery is known. Benches and seating ensembles placed throughout the Garden offer a place to reflect quietly. An enlarged central water feature and reflecting pool create a sense of calm and offer a more graceful transition between the hectic world beyond the Cemetery gates and the tranquil and meditative landscape within.