Historic Gardens of Virginia 



length the walk divides and embraces a large flower square, so 

 placed that its point faces the walk, giving it a diamond-shaped 

 effect. In the middle is a circular bed, the rest of the square being 

 subdivided into symmetrical beds of diverse form, each bordered 

 with dwarf box never allowed to exceed a foot, or even less, in 

 height. The center of the circle was marked by a white crepe 

 myrtle. 



The beds were filled with flowering plants — tea-roses, Canter- 

 bury bells, hyacinths, peonies, tulips, iris, violets, pansies, lilies 

 (including that empress of the garden, the lihum auratum), and 

 annuals of many varieties. Self-sown cypress vines often flung over 

 the box edgings their white and crimson stars, and heliotrope, 

 brought from its winter pots, made the air fragrant from frost 

 to frost. 



But the flower garden proper is a small part of the floral beauty 

 of the garden. Every vegetable square has its materialistic quality 

 hidden by a broad border devoted especially to the taller flowers, 

 such as delphiniums and cosmos — hollyhocks had not then come 

 into their own and were over the fence in an adjacent lot — and to 

 flowering shrubs, with every now and then a huge, pyramidal tree 

 of box. At the intersections of the walks are trees of pink and 

 of purple crepe myrtle, the glories of the garden during their long 

 blossoming season. The dear old-fashioned shrubs abound: lilacs, 

 purple and white; spiraea, calycanthus, Japan quince, snowballs, 

 mock orange, syringa, flowering almond, white jasmine, and others. 

 Frames held the yellow jasmine and microphylla roses. 



Upon some of the borders the flower square seems to have 

 spilled over its contents, for iris, peonies, hyacinths, tulips, 

 crocuses, etc., are to be found, with phlox, verbenas, mourning 

 bride, love-in-a-mist, nasturtiums, great beds of zinnias, and a profu- 

 sion of snow-on-the-mountain. Many of these came up year after 

 year at their own sweet will, often in most unexpected places. 



When this garden was at its best, there were beds of pinks 

 wafting their spicy incense to a distance of many hundreds of 



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