SOME COLONIAL GARDENS 
OL THE SOUTH 
HELEN MORGENTHAU FOX 
Author of “Glimpses of Gardens in Southern Spain’’ (G. MNovember, 1922, page 147), 
“Lilies From June Till September’’ (page 115, April, 1923, G. M.) and other articles 
Oldentime Grace that Still Finds Expression 
in Gardens Built for Posterity with Architec¬ 
tural Backgrounds and Generous Sweeps of Tree 
ILL Virginia gardens are formal. When they hear 
“formal gardening,” most people think of the bedding- 
out type of garden, but true formal gardening is the 
building of a garden to correspond with the lines and 
proportions of the house so that together they form a com¬ 
plete design. The ideal way is for the garden to be built to 
suit the house and for both to be in harmony with the char¬ 
acter of the ground and the way of living of the owners. 
According to these principles, the Southern gardens are perfect. 
When the ground is steep, the gardens are terraced or sloping, 
and the balanced walks and beds are well proportioned and 
convey a sense of order and a feeling of unity. The (lowers 
may riot over the box edging and tumble in a confusion of color 
and variety of form in the beds, but the neat walks and regular 
design hold the whole together; just as Hayden and Mozart, 
who composed their symphonies in the same period in which 
these gardens were being laid out, have a definite framework 
to unite the natural, simple folk tunes. 
The early Americans were always swayed by the fashions of 
Europe. In planning their gardens, the Virginians were in¬ 
fluenced mainly by the seventeenth-century English gardens 
the settlers left behind them, and later by Dutch ideas brought 
into vogue by William of Orange. 
DeVries, a Dutch sea-captain, describes a garden he saw on a 
visit up the James River in 1633, as follows: “full of Provens 
Roses, Apple, Pear, and Cherry trees and various fruits of Hol¬ 
land, with different kinds of sweet smelling herbs, such as 
Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, and Marjoram.” 
As we go to the Colonial period for designs in woodwork, 
furniture, and architecture, so we can go to it for models for our 
gardens. All these famous gardens and homes seem surpris¬ 
ingly small. Life was of patriarchial simplicity, the housewife 
was her own gardener or supervised the work in person, and kept 
her flowers and vegetables in the same enclosure convenient 
to the house. The whole family used the garden as an outdoot 
sitting room and it generally has the same air of comfortable 
hospitality and pleasant living as the house. In all the gardens 
there is Boxwood. Where it has been neglected, it has become 
bumpy and nobby, and has more shade and shadow than the 
regularly trimmed and well cared for edgings and hedges. It 
blooms in early spring and is delicately fragrant. 
These old places combine the pictures of a country in its 
simple pioneer times with the memory of faded rose petals and 
fragile, thin, old ladies remaining from the Civil War days. Some 
of the estates are so neglected and run down, it is sad to think 
of such loveliness being allowed to go to ruin, and yet their very 
dilapidation lends a charm and 
mystery to them. 
W ESTOVER, the home of that 
Colonial dandy, Colonel 
Byrd, was the first plantation vis¬ 
ited along the James River. It is 
reached comfortably in a few hours 
by motor from Richmond. The 
most striking thing about Westover 
is the way it is placed. The house 
is set on a level lawn framed by fine 
trees and is about a hundred feet 
from the river. Age-old English Ivy 
AN OLD VIRGINIA GARDEN 
Montpelier, the home of President Madison, 
kept in very trig condition by its present- 
day owners 
THE MIDDLETON GARDEN NEAR 
CHARLESTON 
For nearly a hundred and fifty years this 
South Carolina garden has held its stately 
outlines, outliving the house which it once 
enfolded (detailed description on page 150) 
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