Flower Planters

The earliest garden ornaments that Hugo Vogt built at Ak-Sar-Ben in the mid-1920s were arbors, benches and flower planters made from birchwood. The hanging flower box in the photo below may be one of these early creations. A large birchbark canoe hanging on chains from a paper birch log structure holds a cargo of dirt and flowers. Three tiny canoe planters decorate the top and ends of the log arch. The flotilla of birchbark canoes must have swayed in a strong breeze, evoking Ojibwe canoes crossing the lake nearby.

In the distance at left is a birdhouse atop a birch pole or dead tree trunk. The rock-marked path in front of the planter may be the path which bisected the lawn leading to the Guest Register and Wishing Well to the right of the photo. The path was later enlarged and lined with low rock walls.

Out in the elements, birch logs do not last long. The bark is waterproof but traps moisture inside leading to rot. Another postcard view shows a second canoe planter which appears to be sitting on logs on the ground instead of hanging from a log arch span which seems about to break in the center. Mushrooms on the tree trunk at left hint that the structure may no longer be very sturdy. Frustrations with the rapidly deteriorating garden decorations lead Hugo to turn to concrete and stone as longer-lasting building materials in the late 1920s.

Hugo first began experimenting with small bridges and rock walls in the hillside rock garden. He soon gained confidence in building larger structures for flower beds, such as the raised "attraction"built of three tiers of different-size cobbles seen in the photo below, which may have originally been a fountain or water basin.

Hugo Vogt gathered many of the stones for his constructions from the North Shore of Lake Superior and the Iron Range, both places which are abundant in rocks, but are over 100 miles away. It must have taken many carloads or truckloads to bring the rocks to Ak-Sar-Ben. Hugo's cement and rock creations are built in sculptural shapes without any obvious 2-dimensional surface patterns. The only non-stone embellishements to the planters are occasional cast-concrete urns or glass gazing balls.

The rock "attraction" from the postcard photo still stands in 2017, at the edge of the slope down to the shore and a view of Tame Fish Lake:

To the right of the above photo is the Guest Register.