THE 
GARDEN OF AN ACTIVE 
BUSINESS WOMAN 
LILIAN C. ALDERSON 
Garden Designer 
Creating a “Little Bit of Heaven’’ All One’s Own on an 84 x 50 ft. Hillside Lot 
Editors’ Note: Readers of "One Year In A Little Garden’’ (August, 1922) and "A Small Garden That Is Really Lived In” (January, 1923) will welcome 
.another description from the friendly pen of Miss Alderson, herself a maker of pleasant gardens both small and large. 
f|N ECHO from “The Tired Business Man’s Garden’’ (See 
The Garden Magazine, January, 1923) inspires me to 
record a business woman’s adventures in the same field, 
the story of a garden that has been created out of noth¬ 
ing, as it were, in the short space of three years. The plan 
accompanying represents the garden as it now is, and the pho¬ 
tographs were taken the first spring after the Roses were planted 
(October, 1921). 
A business woman naturally chooses to grow flowers rather 
than vegetables, where there is not room for both, knowing full 
well that beans and beets, parsnips and celery can be bought as 
cheaply, and with far less effort, than they can sometimes be 
grown. But where can you purchase the peace of mind and 
sense of restful separation from the outer world that is provided 
in such a tiny personal garden? 
The very position of the house is distinctly propitious, stand¬ 
ing as it does on a rocky knoll looking out over a green meadow 
to the hills just beyond. To overcome the difficulties of an 
abrupt slope, a high retaining wall was built along the ledge of 
rock running from south to northeast on one side and facing 
due south on the other. The space behind the wall was filled in 
with good soil and graded in two levels, forming an upper 
terrace even with the road and a tiny, sunken garden. A 
rustic railing made of old chestnut logs runs along the top of the 
wall, held in place by low pillars of rough stone. The archways 
and wooden supports for the Roses to climb on are cleverly 
fashioned of knotted chestnut wood and the steps and paths 
leading directly from the house are made of broken Hag. 
The building recalls the comfortable old English houses of the 
half-timbered type. It is finished in warm tones of cream 
color and brown with sunny case¬ 
ment windows and sheltering, 
overhanging roof. The rough 
stonechimneyaddsan appearance 
of homelikeness and strength. 
The garden may be said to be 
made up of three rooms answer¬ 
ing respectively to service room, 
living room, and study, a place 
for the recreation of body and 
soul. The service room provides 
easy access to the kitchen from 
the road and is completely shut 
off from the flower garden by the 
Rose trellis. A row of flowering 
shrubs planted between the path 
and the house serves to break the 
long straight line of the founda¬ 
tion, while the Apple trees and 
Dogwoodson the boundary screen 
the dining room windows from 
prying eyes. The wide flagged 
path at the entrance is bordered 
by rows of cherry-colored Tulips 
in early spring, followed later by 
the pastel shades of the dahlia- 
flowered zinnias. A cozy brick 
PLAN OF THE GARDEN AND GROUNDS 
A view of the piazza with its pleasant outlook appears 
opposite and the little sunken garden is shown on page 282 
280 
terrace links the indoor living room with the one out-of-doors, 
bright and sunny on winter mornings, yet sufficiently shady in 
the afternoon to be a pleasant spot for tea on a hot summer’s day. 
It took just two seasons to screen the terrace from the road 
by a skilful blending of quick growing shrubs and hardy ever¬ 
greens. Philadelphus (Mock Orange), Spirea, Ninebark, and 
Barberry by the house; and Colorado Spruce and Regel’s Privet 
along the edge of the road. The pride of the gardener’s heart 
are two European Laburnums or Golden Chain trees. They 
measure some ten feet high and were transplanted successfully 
from a near-by garden, although considered delicate and doubt¬ 
fully hardy in this latitude. 
The most beautiful natural feature is a lovely old Apple tree 
that grows at the foot of the high wall just outside the garden 
and leans over the railing at the entrance to the sunken garden. 
In the foreground it is always the most vital element in the 
garden picture, and through its branches one looks down to 
the green fields below. 
And the flowers! Before the trees are green the Couleur Car¬ 
dinal Tulips make a bright splash of color at the entrance. 
After them come the Daffodils (see photograph, page 282) flower¬ 
ing with the Apple blossoms and making the tiny terrace look 
for all the world like the celebrated English garden at Ravello. 
The Daffodils were planted in a double row bordering the path. 
Think of it, two hundred Mammoth bulbs on a path only 32 
feet long! They fairly fought for room in the trench, but the 
soil was deep and rich and the result wonderfully effective. 
They enclose a diminutive grassy space with a bird-bath in the 
centre. None of your “common-or-garden” cement affairs, 
but an original model, designed by the gardener herself and made 
out of a section of tile drain pipe 
with a large fibre saucer on top. 
Irises cover the base of the bird- 
bath and a Japanese Weeping 
Cherry has been planted to droop 
over it. 
The angle between house and 
wall is filled in with shrubs. In 
summer the Daffodils are re¬ 
placed by pink Verbenas, with 
hardy Chrysanthemums at each 
intersection of the path. On the 
wider side of the flower border 
are groups of Darwin Tulips at 
intervals of 3-4 feet, with clumps 
of Peony, Delphiniums, and Phlox 
for summer bloom. 
But climbing Roses are the 
chief glory of the little garden— 
twelve of them in such a minute 
spot, yet so cleverly trained and 
tied in place that they never get 
in the way of their busy mistress 
when she cultivates the borders 
or clutch ruinously at the hair¬ 
nets and silk stockings of visitors. 
Newport Fairy was chosen to 
