November, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



429 



Most loyal are these 

 gardeners to their "Gopher 

 State," and where the gar- 

 den dips down in one 

 low corner, with the for- 

 est trees hanging friendly 

 green shadows over them, is 

 a tangle of wood-ferns and 

 moccasin flower — the Min- 

 nesota State flower. No or- 

 chid of the hothouse could 

 exceed the delicate grace 

 and exquisite coloring of 

 this pink and white beauty, 

 swaying on its slender stem 

 above broad, curving leaves. 



From this corner the gar- 

 den gives upon the "duck 

 pond," where the wild blue 

 flag blooms serenely uncon- 

 scious of its aristocratic re- 

 lations, the Japanese iris up 

 the bank, in the garden. 



One could talk a week of 

 all the "green things grow- 

 ing" in this Minnesota 

 garden, but how can we 

 leave it without a word of 

 the herb garden? "All the 

 herbs of the garden" truly 

 are t h e r e — oldman and 

 sweet rosemary, thyme and 

 ambrosia, sweet marjoram 

 and lavender dear to our 

 hearts from the "strewings" and "iavendered linen" of song 

 and story. Not often does one see its tall, straight stalks 

 growing, nor rue, nor caraway, nor fennel, redolent of good 

 old Puritan days. Sweet hazel, too, and one distinctly 

 new herb, the okra, its pretty bell-shaped blossom, the 

 color of a canary's breast, tipped with brown. There are 



Hollyhocks Tall as Trees 



many more ; but really won- 

 derful in this Northern gar- 

 den is a lemon verbena tree 

 four years old, five feet high 

 and with a bore four inches 

 through. This unusual re- 

 sult is achieved by taking 

 up the little tree every fall, 

 storing it in a tub in the cel- 

 lar, and planting it out 

 again in the spring. 



From the herb garden to 

 the flaming poppy-bed is 

 like going from prayer- 

 meeting to a ball, nor can 

 we dwell upon all the color 

 and splendor of these other 

 more familiar flowers. For 

 this is a large garden, with 

 many paths — "alleys green, 

 that lead where none may 

 guess" — and the gardener 

 is an enthusiast whom seeds- 

 men and nurserymen love. 

 We can not even glance at 

 the passion flower vines and 

 ascension lilies, nor at the 

 new cultivated columbines, 

 whose large, rich blue and 

 showy flowers one would 

 never guess to have devel- 

 oped from the swinging red 

 and yellow bit of aerial 

 grace of our childhood 

 days. These new columbines unfold their three-inch blue 

 wings and curve their purple horns with large and stately 

 mien, quite unlike their little grandmothers of the hedges, 

 and are five times their size. Is it not a famous garden for 

 the "Frozen North"? And do not many wonderful things 

 flourish here as valiantly as in the South? 



" Conyers Manor" : A Twelve-hundred Acre Estate at Greenwich, Connecticut 



( Concluded from page 426) 



There are panels of carved wood over the doorways, the 

 curtains at which are identical with those of the windows. 

 The side lights are of carved wood, gilded, and the furniture 

 is covered with olive green mohair. The rug is Oriental. 



The dining-room completes the main apartments of the 

 house. It is paneled to the ceiling in Circassian walnut, with 

 ceiling beams of the same wood, between which are narrow 

 white panels. It is brilliantly lighted by windows on three 

 sides, those of the terrace front and further end reaching to 

 the floor, while those on the inner side have shorter windows, 

 which are filled with leaded glass. The long windows have 

 curtains of figured silk velvet in plum red; the rugs are 

 Oriental; the furniture is black oak with brown Spanish 

 leather coverings. The mantel facing is in green and red 

 marble, and the andirons are of wrought iron. A painting 

 by Benjamin Constant is let into the overmantel. On each 

 side of the fireplace is a superb Japanese incense burner and 

 the service door is concealed behind a magnificent lacquered 

 Japanese screen, with black ground, to which are applied 

 large figures of warriors in carved ivory and pearl ; the frame 

 is teakwood. The side lights are of carved wood, horn of 

 plenty design, gilded. The windows at the far end open upon 



a small balcony overlooking a walled flower garden, which 

 has been arranged beyond the portico extension. 



A final word, and but a word, may be permitted on the 

 flower gardens by the house. The chief of these is seen from 

 the terrace of the main front. Immediately below the house 

 terrace is an upper terrace, grassed and pathed, with ever- 

 greens against the terrace wall, and single trees in important 

 points. A flight of steps descends to the lower level, the 

 center of which is filled with a great pool, formal in shape, 

 with borders of lawn. A path entirely encircles it, with more 

 lawn beyond, and then a final and brilliant flower border, 

 veritably alive with bloom, inclosed within a hedge of ever- 

 green. The side below the house is devoid of flowers, but 

 here is planted a rich collection of evergreens, of extraor- 

 dinary beauty and wonderfully successful in their growth. 

 But this is not all. There is a "sprawling garden" on the 

 slope below the dining-room, a half-wild garden, where plants 

 are invited to sprawl and grow as they will, yet all under 

 the skilful hand of the gardener. Further down, before the 

 conservatory are rose beds and rose arches, and around are 

 green fields and beautiful overlooks, extending, on clear days, 

 to Long Island Sound, quite five miles to the south. 



