Historic Gardens of Virginia 



bowling green, or by the vault, or in the wistaria arbour, near the 

 south gate. It Is this atmosphere that gives the garden Its charm, 

 and makes It speak, a different language from that of the most 

 beautiful gardens of this age. 



When the present owners bought it — not from the Carters — 

 but from one who had not sensed Its beauties, the Oatlands garden 

 was falling Into ruins; bricks were crumbling, weeds crowding the 

 flowers and yet the very moss-grown paths seemed to say, "We are 

 still what we were." It was a thankful task to restore the old 

 beauty, although the thoughts and conceptions were new, but they 

 fitted It, and every stone vase or bench, every box-hedge planted, 

 seemed to fall into Its rightful place and become a part of the whole. 

 Certain Improvements were made — improvements the old designer 

 and builder would have approved; fruit trees, hiding huge box and 

 yew, were cut down, and a rosary laid out as a counterpart to the 

 box-grove. It was not always easy to get the right effect. 



More than one-half of the garden can be seen from several 

 vantage points: from the upper balustrade, looking down; from the 

 oak grove, looking up, and from each separate terrace. The things 

 to be striven for — mystery, variety, the unexpected — were difficult 

 of attainment; but In certain places they have been attained. The 

 tall north wall, with brick coping and Its small beds above descend- 

 ing stone walls — just the same as In Carter days; a shady, almost 

 neglected spot, where the grass grows too tall sometimes, is a thing 

 apart from the rest. Then the rose garden with Its background of 

 tall box and pine, in an enclosure of dark-green fencing, cedar 

 posts and chains, overhung with Dorothy Perkins roses, cannot be 

 seen until you turn a corner and are on it unawares. And the 

 bowling green, a long stretch of greensward, bordered by 

 euonymus, flowering shrubs and Oriental Biota, is nearly always 

 shaded, giving that sense of stillness and remoteness which a hidden 

 mass of green so often suggests. At one end of It, the tall north 

 wall shields It from blustering winds; at the other a sunny, white- 

 pillared tea-house overlooks a grove of great oaks which, more 



[248] 



