The Garden Magazine, November, 1923 
151 
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AZALEAS AT MAGNOLIA 
A beautiful feature of a beautiful garden (described 
in detail by Mr. Wilson on page following) 
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vistas it is in the style of Lenotre, the gardener of the “Grand 
Monarch.” This was started about 1784. There is a series of 
four gardens along the river, each leading to the next. The first 
was built on an axis with the original house, now a ruin, and 
framed a fine view of the river, coming perpendicularly to the 
house, like a continuation of the central garden path, and at 
this point making a sharp bend. There was some terracing 
here in former times, but the grounds are neglected now, except 
that the grass is kept cut. There is a square garden and a cir¬ 
cular one. The one farthest from the house has a large oblong 
pool surrounded by trees. Near the house are some immense, 
spreading Live Oaks. Here, too, are fine Azaleas with flowers 
four inches across; and big, broad Rose bushes. 
Another fine place is the “Oaks,” which is an example of the 
value of permanent planting. All the flowers one slaves over 
are ephemeral, and the finest effects in the border, if not con¬ 
stantly renewed, will disappear. If one is gardening for pos¬ 
terity, build an architectural background and plant trees. 
Here the truly wonderful long straight avenue of Live Oaks 
leading to the old Colonial home is very impressive. There are 
smaller gardens too, and a wooded walk bordered with flaming 
Azaleas. 
These gardens and the city gardens of Charleston are more 
individual and original than the Virginia ones. They are the 
result of climate and the life the people led, and less influenced 
by models from the Old World. A varied stock of English, 
French, and some Spanish settled in the Carolinas, while the 
Virginia colony was more completely of the British Isles and 
planted and built according to the tradition of their unmixed 
ancestry. 
It is a delightful experience to visit these Southern gardens, 
and one brings back many helpful suggestions for improving 
one’s garden, and a mind picture of a gentle, gracious living, an 
old-time fragrance we Northerners seem to have lost. 
