Page 287 [287]
OCR
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 handsome 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 experts 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, daffodils 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 |
