Page 97 [97]
HisTroric GARDENS: OF VIRGINIA
= EKET zén = = — szuszt
— == = = — —— — —
by one trained in landscape design, it must have combined much
of the aesthetic with the practical, because a knowledge of plants
and a skill in growing them was a family trait.
Thomas Jetterson, an intimate friend, said he considered Colo¬
nel Eppes of Eppington, kinsman of John Eppes of Appomattox,
the first horticulturist in America.
This pre-revolutionary garden was completely destroyed, as far
as it is possible to destroy a garden, for to this day, each spring,
blue hyacinths and golden jonquils pierce the green sward under
the spreading trees to mark the place of old-time flower beds and
fll the air with a perfume suggestive of the beauty in the garden
of long ago.
About 1845, Dr. Eppes returned from extensive travels in
Europe and the Holy Land, bringing many seeds and cuttings back
with him—ivy from Kenilworth Castle and other things for
memory’s sake. About this time he planted a great variety of trees
and shrubs at Appomattox: acacias, locusts, willows, magnolias,
elms, copper beech, pines, spruce, yews, plane-trees, lindens, oaks
and Murillo cherries. Many of these were destroyed during the
War Between the States, but many survive, and as they are ap¬
proaching the century mark, now appear majestic and dignified.
These splendid trees edge the driveway and are grouped on the
sides of the lawn. ‘The pecan tree is especially at home here, and
one given by Colonel Eppes to his butler, which was planted over a
well in front of a driveway, has attained immense size and height
and is a landmark on the way to wharf. Scions and cuttings from
this vigorous tree have been used extensively for propagating and
marketed under the name of ‘‘Appomattox.”’
On Dr. Eppes’ return home after the war, about 186s, he
planned and planted the present livable and lovable garden; he
walled it in on the front by a honeysuckle hedge growing over an
iron fence and on two sides by an embankment of earth planted in
trees after the fashion of many gardens in Devonshire, England.
The trees on such an embankment make a charming background for
[58]