Stranica 434 [434]
LAE PrEDMONT SECTION
off in squares, separated by broad, intersecting grass walks. The
upper squares are devoted to flowers and the lower to the vege¬
tables. As was the case in so many of the older Virginia gardens,
the flower beds, within the upper squares, were laid off in a pattern
that formed an insignia of the Order of Masons—here they out¬
lined a Maltese cross. This arrangement, according to Masonic
insignia, indicated that the owner of the estate belonged to that
order. An illustration of this may be seen in the garden at Mount
Vernon.
The corners of the squares in the Redlands garden were marked
by shrubs, many of which are still there, notably the fine old box¬
wood bushes which guard the entrance and those that separate the
vegetable squares from the flowers. These bushes are very
unusual examples of the enormous size boxwood of this type can
attain, though, of course, they are by no means so tall as the
tree-box.
The Redlands garden is screened from view from the lawn by
the original lilac hedge, which makes indeed a fragrant wall of
blossom in the spring. In olden times this garden must have been
an enchanting spot with its upper squares laid out in beds of bloom¬
ing flowers; its long borders, down either side of the main or
central walk, of cowslips, hyacinths, jonquils, white narcissi, butter
and eggs, violets, peonies, bleeding hearts, Madonna lilies, chrysan¬
themums, four o’clocks, Jacob’s ladder (I never see Jacob’s ladder
now), larkspur, Star of Bethlehem, and lilies of the valley, with
here and there a lovely daily fragrant damask rose, or red June
roses growing low and blooming lavishly, and yellow Harrisonias.
There were coral honeysuckle and. white jessamine or white roses
with hearts of gold, but quaintest of all, the oldest of American
garden roses—the queer, little, almost ugly, cinnamon rose.
Under the box-bushes were shy white violets, not to forget blue¬
eyed periwinkle and the flowering shrubs—mock orange, snowball,
syringa, smoke tree, flowering almond and just a little Southern
yellow jessamine and the smell and bloom of lilacs everywhere.
1269]