178 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



The Rockgarden at Lindenhurst 



RICHARD ROTHE 



LINDENHURST, the country place of ^Ir. and -Mrs. t'ornial garden. 

 John Wananiaker at Jenkintown, near Philadel- of Lindenhurst 

 phia, confers the distinction of an ideal 

 American home. Going by outside appearance 

 there is no sign of any conspicuous display of 

 decorative splendor noticeable. And yet, be- 

 holding the wide wrought iron gateway with 

 its discreet arrangement of evergreen planta- 

 tions on Old York Road ; glancing over the 

 open rolling lawn expanses from the County 

 Line Road and passing by on Washington 

 Lane and seeing the towering masses of old 

 venerable tree-growth covering the north and 

 northwesterly slopes of the distant ground 

 elevation where the residential mansion is situ- 

 ated on Lindenhurst unmistakably conveys the 

 impression of eminent refinement and dignity 

 to any observant outsider. This impression 

 gains in strength when being privileged to see 

 and studv the grounds. To begin with, the 

 beauty of the architecture of the large resi- 

 dential building, surrounded on three sides by 

 an approaching natural tree vegetation of both 



age and picturesqueness profoundly em- 

 phasizes the distinguished private home 

 character. Coming in quest of object 

 lessons in garden conceptions of merit 

 the visitor is not going to leave disap- 

 pointed. He will, however, see none 

 thereof subjoining the residence. At 

 Lindenhurst they are widely distributed 

 over a ground area of about 100 acres, 

 representing artistic insertions of various 

 designs into a, by nature, verj' beautiful 

 landscape. The extensive formal gar- 

 den with pergola and large basin for 

 aquatics situated near the big range of 

 greenhouses is an example of enchanting 

 simplicity. We are prone to look at a 

 tennis court as an object more or less 

 interfering with the beauty of a land- 

 scape and are often trying to sidetrack 

 it. Mr. Geo. Penticost, landscape archi- 

 tect, who was also the designer of the 

 placed his tennis court on the front lawn 

 as a demonstration evincing the possi- 



Rockgiirdcn construction of "Lindcnhursl." Sample of concentration on the summit. 



Rocksarden at "Liudenhnrst" with miniature ravine. Midsummer effect. 



biliiies fur transmuting an unattractive 

 structure into a decorative object. As 

 extensions rimning in the direction of the 

 length axis of the court there are two 

 small formal gardens, chiefly for annuals, 

 augmenting the ornamentality in total 

 effect. 



A retrospective survey over the 45 

 years of Lindenhurst's evolution shows a 

 deep innate love for natural beauty on 

 the part of Mr. and Mrs. Wananiaker. 

 As their personal interest in the grounds 

 never vanished there was no stop in 

 evolutionary activities. Consequently 

 the professional gardener entrusted with 

 the superintendence must be a person- 

 ality not only of a broad knowledge, but 

 also of ideas and initiative, with the 

 necessary aptitude for complying with 

 the wishes and personal beauty concep- 

 tions of the owners. Those have proved 



