run the length of the "plaisance. " Here and there on the wide steps 
are placed large jars of quaint Fuchsias, a choice collection. Never 
before have I seen the Scotch shrub Fuchsia with its diminutive blos- 
soms in America; here are the hoop-petticoat Fuchsias and the pale, 
waxy "ladies-eardrops" of our grandmothers' greenhouses, all growing 
luxuriantly in the moisture and half shade of the curving hillside. 
Large umbrella-shaped standards of that rare old greenhouse beauty 
the purple Laseandra, so seldom seen now-a-days, crown the pedestals 
of the stone balustrade; choice plants they are and marvelously 
trained to their dainty parasol frames, for Laseandra is really a vine. 
From this unusual gallery or side terrace which terminates the 
stairs we can step down into the central parterre by other flights 
of steps, but the gaUery itself is charmingly planted with a high, 
narrow border of vines, tall Delphinium, Foxglove, Sweet-peas and 
Lilies, which clamber or lean on the high stone retaining wall. 
On the side towards the parterre is the balustrade again with its 
border of rare, unusual flowers. We hang over its wide, inviting stone 
rail and study the incredibly light and airy planting of the central 
parterre in its carefully blended pale coloring. Now we reahze this 
is no "gardener's garden" nor yet one ordered from the best of the 
landscape-gardeners be they ever so talented (and rushed), but some 
woman has put her soul into the pale, deUcious coloring which holds 
you spellbound. A woman has studied and searched and loved this 
planting; corrected, waited, pulled out and re-planted and renounced 
the flower that she may have especially loved (she can have it else- 
where) for the sake of a perfect picture. This is good gardening! 
Mauve, lilac, lavender and purple ; grey, pale blue and turquoise ; white, 
cream, pale pink, warm pink and soft wine color; but carefully, oh, 
so carefully and wisely! Just the right amount and the right tone of 
soft, pale, warm yeUow and buff; what crimson there is never heavy 
or massed, but diffused so as to give the planting a rosy glow. 
Many rare and forgotten flowers are here. The frail Adlumia 
Cirrhosa, a plumey vine so seldom seen nowadays; gay blue and 
purple Torrenias used as borders; Enghsh Nemesias and a feathery 
(unknown) purplish plant like a spirea. LiHum Regale is here, cream 
and flesh pink ; clouds of long-spurred Hybrid Columbines and foamy 
ThaUctrum and Goats-rue all blended with a true sense of the color 
values. Is the garden all the sweeter that it is tended by dainty 
Uttle Farmerettes as under-gardeners? Indeed they add greatly to 
its charm. 
At the western end of this Italian Garden stands a curving vine- 
covered pergola. Dainty Fuchsias appear here again, this time in 
hanging baskets as well as in the oil-jars. We are naturally guided 
through its shadows into another dark antechamber of Rhododen- 
48 
