Stranica 290 [290]
OCR
PEO LID E WATER LD RATL Mignonette, heliotrope, four-o’clocks, lady-slippers, and blue Canterbury bells came year after year. The larger varieties of lilies were there with stocks and hollyhocks for background, while many roses flourished in the mild climate, especially the musk rose, the salmon-tea and the microphylla. Geraniums were used in the beds; in the large rustic baskets, too, and, in the autumn, chrysanthemums and other late flowers bloomed often as late as Christmas. Pertwinkle covered what might have been bare spaces, and over the numerous arbors were trained white-star jasmine, yellow jasmine, honeysuckle—white and coral—in contrast to climbing roses. And over some, grapevines grew, affording a deep and grateful shade. The outer boundary of lawn and garden, which were as one, was formed by the blue waters of North River. The completed work was marked by the simplicity and harmony that belong to nature itself, arranged with a taste so remarkable that many observers who visited Belleville have left their testimony that both lawn and garden were glorious in beauty and symmetry. In a large octagonal summer-house, near the river bank, the ladies of the family were accustomed to sit on bright mornings with their sewing and embroidery, while some one read aloud a pleasing book. To Mrs. Henry Alexander White, daughter of Susan Taliaferro and Judge Beverly Wellford and granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Warner Taliaferro, of Belleville, I am indebted for facts concerning this garden. ANNE SEDDON RUTHERFOORD JOHNSON. Boyd
