Stranica 351 [351]
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HISTORIC: GARDE MS (OF iY LR GINTA
garden, an excellent example of Colonial gardens at their best.
Fortunate in never having passed out of the family, this garden is
beautifully cared for and still in perfect preservation. Practically
unchanged since it was laid off about 1730 by English gardeners,
presumably brought to this country for that purpose, it bears wit¬
ness to the skill and good taste of former days.
The garden has a series of six terraces. Upon the upper a
broad, level walk leads from the porch to its outer edge; on each
side of this and running the length of the terrace, are grass plots,
their green unbroken except in the center where clumps of crepe
myrtle give a touch of color by their wealth of pink blossoms.
At the edge of this terrace are wide borders beside which run gravel
walks several feet in width. These borders are filled with a variety
of rose bushes and yellow jasmine. At the far end clumps of
hollyhock, weigela and stately white yuccas are massed. In addi¬
tion to these, pink and blue columbine, Oriental poppies, peonies
of different hues, golden coriopsis, delphiniums, sweet william,
bleeding hearts, chrysanthemums and other flowers give a con¬
tinuous succession of bloom and a riot of color.
To the right this terrace slopes to a portion of the lawn where
the sides of a little ravine are covered with thousands of narcissi,
and to the left it slopes to a lower level on which are the old¬
fashioned toolhouse, dairy, and smokehouse almost completely
enveloped in ivy, wistaria and climbing roses.
One walks from the first terrace down a grassy ramp to the
second. Here is the real flower garden, bounded on the left by an
unbroken box-hedge, about eight feet tall, which extends the breadth |
of the terrace. In the far corners are clumps of lilac, althea, mock¬
orange, and smoke tree. Here, too, Japanese quince or cydonia
japonica, calycanthus, Persian lilacs, snowballs, hardy white
hydrangeas, hollyhocks, bridal wreath, and syringa growing on
irregularly shaped turf beds form a background for the smaller
flowers.
Still more to the right is a magnificent English broadnut
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