Katharine Hepburn Garden

Katharine Hepburn Garden. . , On May 12, 1997 members of the Turtle Bay community gathered to dedicate this garden to local resident and park advocate Katherine Hepburn (1907-2002)., Born on May 12, 1907, in Hartford, Connecticut Hepburn graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1928 and in that same year she made her professional debut in a minor role in a Baltimore stock company. By 1932 she ascended to stardom on Broadway in The Warrior’s Husband, followed in the same year by her screen debut opposite John Barrymore. On Broadway Ms. Hepburn originated the Tracy Lord role in The Philadelphia Story (1939) before taking it to Hollywood a year later. In 1942 she starred opposite Spencer Tracy in Woman of the Year., Ms. Hepburn always went her own way, wearing slacks, refusing interviews, shunning autograph-seekers, keeping her private life private, and all the while speaking her mind. She earned numerous honors for her acting including twelve Academy Awards nominations and four Oscars for best actress. In 1962 Ms. Hepburn won the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Long Day’s Journey Into Night. In the 1970s she and her television co-star Laurence Olivier earned Emmys for Love Among the Ruins. Both of her memoirs became best sellers., Her passion for flowers and gardening began during her childhood in West Hartford. On Sunday afternoons the Hepburn family went for drives and walks in the hills west of the Connecticut River. The children competed to see who could spot the first Lily of the Valley, Bloodroot, Columbine, or Pink Lady’s Slipper. When Ms. Hepburn moved to Turtle Bay with her husband, Ludlow Ogden Smith, in 1932, she transplanted wildflowers from her parents’ home to her backyard garden. She joined the Turtle Bay Association in 1957, and for more than thirty years she fought to halt the destruction of trees, to defend the sidewalks from encroaching development, and to protect mid-blocks from high-rise construction., This garden pays tribute to her lifelong love of flowers and gardening and stands as recognition of her commitment to the park and the neighborhood. The wide variety of species used in the border planting includes birch, dawn redwood, and dogwood trees; mountain laurel, witch hazel, viburnum, rhododendron, hydrangea, and abelia; as well as numerous perennials, groundcovers, and ferns.