Stranica 46 [46]
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TEMETTEM ÉS KÖV ER OPERANT ATION ) BIE LT
the great double row of boxwood hedge, with shelled walk between,
completes the approach to the steps of the mansion.
On each side of this box walk are the rose gardens, dotted and
shaded with groups of shrubs and nature-planted trees. Lhere are
many varieties of roses—perpetuals, teas, simple old-fashioned
bushes, the blossoms of every shade of pink, salmon and crimson
and pure white, the rich odors of which, mingling with that of the
box, lend an indescribable charm.
Contrasting with the age and dignity of the box walk and
its rose gardens, is the warmly companionable little garden on the
west side of the mansion, offspring of an ancient one. Here a
fern-bordered, rose-covered pergola, surrounded by tall privet with
under-borders of heliotrope, snapdragon, sweet william, bachelor’s
button and phlox, is enclosed by the walls of colonial outbuildings.
Within the privacy of this small garden a figured fountain plays,
and an ancient sun-dial lends charm.
There is one mood, one picture in which the physiognomy of
the gardens of Claremont may be ideally contemplated. That is
when the twilight falls and you walk under the magnolias on the
terrace, through the rose-gardens and down the great avenue of
lindens to the space where the crepe myrtles bank their layers of
rich, heavy shadow. Behind these rise twin birches in virgin white
and frail translucent green and just beyond a giant pecan thrusts
up boldly against the wide expanse of river.
Between mimosa trees may be had a glimpse of the flowering
almond hedge and ivy-covered summer-house. lI[hen, let your eye
follow the avenue of cedars, checkered with shadow, into the old
garden through the gate of the cedars. Here, white, oval-shaped
stones light up the half-hidden parterres that still bear a tangle of
fern, honeysuckle, lilies, hollyhocks, peonies and other old-fashioned
blooms. On through the faintly fragrant paths in a half-circle, until
the lichen-covered summer-house that crowns the great bluff of the
river, and stands like a period at the end of the dim lines, 1s reached.
Close in here are columnar aisles of mock-orange standing like a
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