Richard Haag - Bloedel Reserve

Bloedel Reserve

Haag received his second ASLA award for his design titled "Sequence of Gardens" at Bloedel Reserved located on Bainbridge Island. The 140-acre (0.57 km2) Bloedel Reserve, deeded to the University of Washington in 1970, was again sold in 1986 to the Arbor Fund†. This non-profit corporation hired Haag as head designer for the site in order to maintain the company's dedication to "...developing, maintaining, and managing the reserve for public and educational purposes" (Washington).

Haag split the land into four main garden quadrants. Each 'room' had a specifically unique theme yet maintained certain qualities that fluidly connected the spaces together. The gardens are described as having been created in pairs; that garden one and three are a design pair and two and four are also†. Garden one and three are noted for their geometric-based designs. The first garden known as the Garden of Planes is described as being the most abstract of the four gardens. The third garden is the Reflection Garden; one of Haag's "...most widely-admired works..." for its "...simple, restrained, and carefully composed garden of free-standing walls of yew with a carpet of grass surrounding a shallow, rectangular pool that unites sky and earth in its reflections" (Washington).

Gardens two and four exude the theme of life and death. The second garden known as the Anteroom connects the Garden of Planes and the Reflection Garden. This garden teems with mosses, lichens, ferns, leaving observers with a sense of decay and death. Garden four on the other hand is known as the Bird Sanctuary and is the final garden in the sequence. This garden poses as the opposite of the Anteroom with its "...vibrant release of dance and song played out over the dark still waters..." (Washington). The purpose of this garden is to attract various wildlife to its natural-looking design.