From the Corsicana Daily Sun: …Downtown fun begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday night [4/24/09] with a street dance at the corner of Commerce and Beaton Streets…

The Derrick Days Parade steps off at 9 a.m. Saturday downtown, featuring country musician Billy Joe Shaver as grand marshal. Shaver will also be at Caleb’s Diner downtown following the parade.

Read the full article complete with Saturday event details at the Corsicana Daily Sun web site.

Gallery

They open in April, check their Web site for details. Chandor Gardens is the work of the well known twentieth century artist Douglas Chandor. He was an Englishman who came to America in 1926 and established himself as a portrait painter. Some of his better known subjects were Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt.

Chandor married Ina Kuetman and they settled in her hometown of Weatherford Texas. The couple began building their home and Gardens in 1936. Over a period of 16 years Douglas Chandor converted a cactus covered hillside into a truly outstanding one-man garden that remains today as a testament to his gardening and artistic skills.

Chandor himself died in 1953, but his wife kept the gardens open to the public until 1978. Over a period of time the estate fell into disrepair and then was restored and sold to the city of Weatherford in 2002. Today the gardens are open to the public for viewing during scheduled hours for a small fee. They also host parties, wedding, and special events. See the Web site for details.

The gardens are broken up into 18 distinct areas or “rooms” featuring English and Chinese motifs. Water and fountains are featured in many of the garden settings. The mansion and courtyard are also quite impressive.

As I walked through these historic gardens, it occurred to me that Chandor Gardens must reflect the art and tastes of Douglas Chandor. While enjoying the Dragon Fountain and Buddha Niche, two adjacent rooms in the garden, my thoughts drifted to folk art. Folk art typically features strong local influences and varied use of materials. The opulent green glass that fringes the base of the Dragon Fountain is, in fact, some sort of commodity green glass bottle. I’m guessing maybe a 1940′s beverage of some sort. This in no way detracts from the overall beauty of the fountain. In fact it occurred to me that this may be the greater art of the artist. Although Chandor was an accomplished portrait painter by training; his greatest and most expressive works may well be on display not at the Smithsonian but here in Chandor Gardens.

Updates

2010 update from Steve:

Opening weekend for 2010 will be April 3 and 4. The new bronze dragons are now in place on the Dragon Fountain. Last year, we removed the originals and had them restored. Then we cast them in bronze, installed the bronzes in the Dragon fountain, and placed the restored originals in the house (they are not weatherproof).

This update on the 2009 season came from Steve Chamblee, horticulturist at Chandor Gardens.

New and Important Changes

• Opening weekend, April 4&5 this year, is always fun and busy. Admission is just $1, just like Ina used to charge, and we’ll have music, some food, The Texas Bee Charmer, Ask a Master Gardener, and I’m doing a talk on Texas Tough Plants.
• The Labyrinth is located in the center of the garden, on top of an old parking lot. I like that people who are enlightened to labyrinths absolutely love it and get all excited and involved with it; and those who don’t know what it is just kind of go, “Hrmpt…whatever.”
• I am literally in the middle of installing the new bronze sculptures in the Dragon Fountain. (The old ones were very weather-worn, and we’ve had them restored, but they are not weather-proof.) They will have jets of water spraying out of the dragons’ mouths, just like Chandor had them operating back in the day.
• We have replanted lots of pocket areas around the garden, so there is always something new and fresh to see.
• We have lots more koi than last year.
• On sort of a historic note, we are starting new roses for the main pergola in the Silver Garden.
• And we’ve done lots of irrigation work, which no one cares about but us gardeny folks.

The Hours

Officially, we are open to the public from the first weekend of April through mid-November, Saturdays 9am to 3pm, and Sundays 1pm to 5pm. The “strangeness” of these hours allows us to have lots of wedding here, which pays the light bill. Other than that, we are officially open other times by appointment. Our nickels and dimes budget does not allow us to reliably keep staff here other than those hours.

So, all of that being said, I tell people if they want to visit other than the official hours, just call ahead. 99% of the time, we can easily accommodate people. The main number is 817-613-1700, and my number is 817-598-4029.

Peace & Love,

Steven Chamblee

Location

711 West Lee Ave. Weatherford Texas, 7606

The Official Chandor Gardens Web Site

http://www.chandorgardens.com/

County: Parker

Bibliographic note: Most of the information presented here was extracted from a fact sheet provided at Chandor Gardens during my visit.

Copyright © 2008 by Sam Fenstermacher
All rights reserved

Tyler Texas Azalea Trail

Each Spring in Tyler Texas, beautiful landscaped yards and gardens abound with colorful blooming Azaleas. Azaleas were first introduced to Tyler in 1929, but it wasn’t until 1960 that the Tyler Chamber of Commerce organized the event and started marking trails. Today there are eight miles of marked Azalea Trails passing by beautiful residential gardens and historic home sites.

Two Trails, the Dobbs and Lindsey Trails, wind through beautiful old residential neighborhoods. The trails extend a few blocks east and west of South Broadway Avenue. Signs for the trails start to appear just a few blocks after the Smith County Courthouse, as you travel south on Broadway Avenue.

The trails are organized to minimize traffic congestion. Some parts of the trails are very walkable, and some homes and gardens are actually open for touring. Certain homes along the trails are attended by young ladies attired in Antebellum Period clothing.

Besides the Azalea Trails, consider a visit to the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden and the Rose Museum. As the name implies, it is a rose garden, but they also have a nice display of Azaleas.

Azaleas were introduced to Tyler in 1929 by Maurice Shamburger. Pleased with results of a test garden of Azaleas, Mr. Shamburger shipped the colorful plants to Tyler, by the boxcar load, from Georgia.

Maurice Shamburger then shared his enthusiasm for Azaleas with Mrs. Sara Butler of the Tyler Courier Times Telegraph. Mrs. Butler encouraged Shamburger to promote Azalea plantings in the city, and planted a number of Azalea bushes at her own home on Charnwood St.

That home site, along with several other gardens on Lindsey Lane, soon became springtime showplaces with their colorful Azalea blooms, and the people of Tyler began buying the plants by the thousands. Some of the thick, towering Azaleas at older homes on the Trail of today, date back to the 1930′s and 1940′s.

By 1960, the blooming Azaleas were attracting much attention, and the first marked Azalea Trail was established by the Chamber of Commerce. The first trail featured about 60 homes on a five-mile route.

The Azalea Trail in Tyler was an instant success. Within two years it had expanded to 75 homes and was attracting 15,000 visitors. In 1964, 25,000 people came to see the Azaleas. In 1986 the trail expanded to two miles and as of 2004 the Azalea Trail stretches eight miles and attracts over 100,000 visitors.

The homeowners in the neighborhoods along the Azalea Trail make this event the success it is. They spend countless hours making sure their yards are absolutely gorgeous, just in time for the annual Azalea Trail.

The Tyler Azalea Trail event has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines, including Southern Living and Texas Highways.

Bibliographic note:
The information presented here was collected while visiting the town of Tyler Texas in the Spring of 2006. Information on the history of the event was extracted from the Visit Tyler Web site.

Contact

315 N. Broadway Avenue
Tyler, Texas 75701
(800) 235-5712

County: Smith
Map

Copyright © 2008 by Sam Fenstermacher
All rights reserved