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HisToRiIic GARDENS: OF VIRGINIA
four-score years ago. You will find here the yaupon trees in great
profusion; huge clumps of bouquet and bridal wreath spirea, snow¬
ball, mock-orange, California gold-leaf privet, flowering horse-chest¬
nut, deutzia, lilac, yucca, flowering pomegranate, althea, and butter¬
fly plant or buddleia. About the bases of the great crepe myrtles is
planted yellow jasmine which sets the garden aflame in the spring¬
time, when the trees and shrubs are just beginning to bud. On the
fences honeysuckle and trumpet vine have massed themselves into a
veritable hedge. The roses comprise many of the old June and ever¬
blooming varieties. Some of them rise from base-stems a foot in
thickness and reach to a height which enables them to hold their
own with the larger and more formal shrubs. At the southern
extremity of the eastern walk rises a well-trimmed tower of
wistaria. At its foot is massed a great bed of lilies of the valley.
A little to the north, the same walk is spanned by a great arbor of
yellow jasmine at the foot of which are bedded iris of many hues.
Wherever one turns, the garden is reminiscent of another cen¬
tury, because of the prominence given to flowers that were popular
with our great-grandparents. Possibly, you would scarcely recog¬
nize some of them by the names colloquially given them by those
charming ladies. ‘“‘Red-hot pokers,” “‘butter and eggs," “‘fair maids
of February,” “butterfly plants,” yellow and red cowslips, sage,
lavender, balsam, blue bottles, mourning brides, and the old Roman
hyacinths, which were so much more graceful than their more
modern sisters. here is, indeed, an ineffable something imparted.
to a garden by age which time alone may supply. The best of
taste may not provide its equivalent overnight. Money cannot buy
it out of hand. It comes with the progress of many years and the
vicissitudes of many seasons. Just when a garden becomes an
“old”’ garden one may not readily say. But once a garden may be
so designated, it has attained a beauty and a dignity all its own.
It is the fact that the Sherwood garden enjoys this distinction in
high degree that lends to it no small part of its attractiveness
and charm. JOHN MARSHALL.
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