Oldal 287 [287]
On
ES ———————— —— ——l
HisToric: GARDENS VOB VIRGINIA
a TZTE -E tt == = = = = ——= stl
ander and [Thomas Seddon, of Fredericksburg, and a sister of
James A. Seddon, Secretary of War of the Confederate States.
For seventy years she remained its mistress, and it was during
that period that the garden and grounds of Belleville were laid
off and developed.
There were two especial features to be considered:
First—The river which at Belleville sweeps around the grounds
in such a manner as to make it nearly a peninsula. Mrs. Taliaferro,
unusually gifted with taste and judgment, used this as a basis to
work upon. On the broad lawn in front and on one side of the
house she had planted singly and in groups trees which are still
standing in their strength. Among them were the live oak trees,
cottonwood, tulip-poplar and magnolia; there were also apple, and
peach trees; plums, cherries and apricots, which gave bloom as well
as fruit. Holly trees were planted in clumps, while a few hand¬
some mimosas lent color and fragrance.
Along the bank of the river, cedars were planted at intervals.
Near the flower-beds on the green in the rear of the house were
many crepe myrtles; there, too, grew altheas, lilacs, bridal-wreath,
snow-balls, smoke trees and yuccas. Fig bushes and pomegranates
were also cultivated successfully in this old garden. Modern ex¬
perts in landscape-gardening and planting might take lessons from
this Virginia gentlewoman of the nineteenth century.
The second feature lay in the fact that in planting her flowers,
Mrs. Taliaferro massed various colors in separate beds. There
was infinite variety in the coloring of the borders, but each bed
displayed a mass of bloom of the same color. She used, in great
profusion, every sort of flower known in that day, and arranged
them with such exquisite taste that the resulting harmony in color
and form constituted the glory of the Belleville garden.
Among the flowers were the following: snowdrops, crocus, daf¬
fodils of many varieties. Ihe small purple and tall white and purple
iris, tulips, cowslips, narcissi, violets, lilies of the valley, and the
single white hyacinth grew in great profusion in the borders.
| 176 |