The Garden Magazine, May, 1920 
187 
Here are Alpine Primroses and 
Auriculas, Columbines and 
Violets, False Hellebore, 
Candytuft, several low and 
creeping Phlox, and many an- 
other, in an open bit of wood 
As it leads from the drive the 
path is marked by a Holly tree, 
with Tulips of many kinds 
beneath and beyond it. Iris 
waiting with full buds to take 
their place. Pansies, Creeping 
Phlox and Alyssum saxatile 
strewn freely before a backing 
of shrubs 
tf. 
__ 
hills were numerous small natural springs. By building a dam 
the meadow was converted into a twenty-five acre reservoir 
whence the water was sluiced down to the head of the valley. 
At this point Gen. Weld chose a huge boulder, split with a fairly 
wide crevice, for the basis of a waterfall. And this is the 
cornerstone, so to speak, of the whole beautiful wild or rock 
garden. 
I N ALL there is a series of five ponds connected by the arti- 
ficially rock-bedded stream; and no visitor would dream 
that this stream which makes the garden the lovely wilderness 
that it is, was itself anything but the natural overflow from the 
chain of ponds. Under overhanging shrubs and trees it flows, 
to the little sheet of water where it comes to rest. Steps de- 
scend to the edge of this, and natural bridges are formed by 
rocks which seem to have been deposited by glacial action in 
just the right spots. 
From the pond is the first real view of the rock garden — and 
each succeeding view reveals new beauties; here a path with 
nothing but English Violets for a border, there a solitary Cactus 
from some far desert, its outlines sharp against a rock. Among 
the rushes on the pond’s bank the Sweetflag and Iris lift graceful 
spears, Cattails come later, and Pond-lilies sail on the water’s 
surface. Trilliums grow along the banks and also profusely — 
both the purple and the white — near the brook which is the 
outlet. Then there are Phlox subulata in lavender-pink and 
pale pink Azaleas, Primroses in great abundance everywhere. 
Ferns along the brook, Solomon’s-seal where it is partly shady 
and underneath the unpruned saplings of Birch, Beech, Poplar, 
Maple and Ash are masses of Star-of-Bethlehem, while Colum- 
bines, Bellflowers, Harebells and Anemones 
grow as if in their native haunts. 
Yet notwithstanding this diversified col- 
lection, everything seems natural — for every- 
thing has been done according to nature’s 
inspiration. The waters, originally stocked 
with goldfish till these proved too tempting 
for the epicurean otter who live in the banks 
of the stream, now have trout in abundance 
which of course supply the tables of the 
household. 
An interesting and characteristic touch 
beyond the lake is a wheat field where the 
breakfast cereal is grown; ground in a coffee 
mill, this is a delicious product. And the 
water-tower is really a summer-house as 
well, where ice-cold buttermilk is a refresh- 
ing substitute for tea on a hot day after the 
climb up the path thereto — another delight- 
ful individualism. 
