38 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
THEIR WINDMILL GARDEN 
A New Idea in Garden Design Adapted to Special Requirements— 
I he Circular Plan and How it Worked Out in Actual Practice 
ESTHER MATSON 
T HEY planned it 
together — the 
Philosopher a n d the 
Artist — as a winter 
evening’s serial story. 
The design that re¬ 
sulted was a triumph 
over difficulties, the 
problem being so to 
cut the space of 
ground to eastward 
of the house that a 
necessary driveway 
might be secured 
without spoliation of 
the desired garden 
plot and so that the 
selfsame garden 
should include in its 
area the windmill. 
Now the road must 
wind up to the east 
door in order to util¬ 
ize a certain bridge 
between the windmill 
and the house as a 
protection for the main entrance. Moreover, the main garden 
must be on this east side, because that was the sunniest ex¬ 
posure to be had, and there also stood the windmill ready at 
hand for granting the irrigation that is so essentially a sine 
qua non of garden success. 
Added to such material considerations they grapple with 
another more sentimental problem. The gar¬ 
den, in short, must be linked so closely to the 
house that to step out among the flowers for a 
breakfast al fresco would be as simple as the 
stepping from one room to another within 
doors. 
The Real Beginning 
What beating was there then of brows and 
what travailing of spirit! And as for the 
number of different formal garden shapes 
that were investigated only to be discarded— 
far be it from the chiel a-takin’ notes to 
give away the secret! Suffice to say that 
at last, little by little, a solution unrolled it¬ 
self. It should be, in short, a round garden; 
its circumference determined by the curving 
of the drive, and the windmill included in 
such wise that one of its vine-clad sides 
might serve as background for a bird pool. 
The driveway, alack, must be of dirt, but 
the boundary between it and the garden beds 
should be of close-cropped turf outlined with 
a slim clipped hedge. 
How did the artist’s head teem with math¬ 
ematical lore and what high talk was there 
then of axes, foci and radii, till at length 
there sprang into being a mighty diagram. 
And after the diagram the carrying of it out! 
That was no less a feat to perform. It fell 
to the Philosopher, while the March winds 
blustered their protest around every corner 
of the house, with measuring rod and pick 
and spade, and with heroism worthy a Her¬ 
cules, to achieve the transference of the plan 
from paper to solid earth. 
It was another story to complete the out¬ 
line of the picture by a firm brick edging 
around the tiny paths and to fill those in 
with their winsome mosaics of beach pebbles. 
A scheme this, by-the- 
bye, which brought 
every home-comer 
from a picnic, laden, 
not with Captain 
Kidd’s treasure-trove, 
but with ponderous 
bags and baskets full 
of the whitest pebbles 
which the ocean 
waves had seen fit to 
polish and the sun to 
bleach. 
It had been such a 
comparatively simple 
matter to plant—on 
paper — the border 
beds with old-time 
foxglove, hollyhocks 
and phlox, and the 
eight formal beds 
which resembled 
pieces of pie, with 
roses, iris and every 
one of the old-fash¬ 
ioned posies we had 
learned to love in poetry and romance! But how different in 
actual working out. For when it came to realization it was 
discovered that the coveted garden of perennials and hardy 
flowering plants requires time in which to mature. So it came 
about that the not-to-be-daunted Philosopher set to work forth¬ 
with, pragmatically, filling in every interstice with temporary 
compromises in the guise of annuals. 
That is how it chanced that while the fox¬ 
gloves, the canterbury bells, the hollyhocks 
and the bee-larkspurs were getting their 
start for the future all unnoted, a host of 
the less serious among the flower folk— 
poppies and petunias, asters and snapdragon 
and marigolds, with a-many more of happy 
disposition—assembled in this garden’s 
bounds. As for the enclosing box hedge, 
that, too, proved a feature to exercise 
patience upon. But following the example 
of the Philosopher, the Artist found out a 
way to temporize with her garden limita¬ 
tions. Bethinking her of the wattled fences 
in certain winsome old storied tapestries, 
she concocted a fair semblance of one out 
of bamboo fishing poles woven in and out 
along the hedgerow till that should grow 
more sizeable. And over these wattles, 
winding likewise in and out, went clamber¬ 
ing honeysuckles, coral-tinted and cream, 
and the quick-growing, joyous morning 
glories. 
How the Garden Developed 
Now the roses, chosen for grace of 
foliage and glossiness of leaf as carefully as 
for beauty of blossom, took a fancy for 
growing at an amazing rate. It actually 
became embarrassing to have some of them 
reaching a height of 12' all unexpected¬ 
ly. Nor was the tenseness of the situation 
lessened by the fact that their pergola had 
not vet materialized beyond the dream stage. 
Wherefore, again, was recourse had to the 
Japanese bamboo, and temporary arches 
were contrived with a result of veritable 
lightsomeness and charm. Again a triumph 
of mind over matter, a happy solution of 
The design was a triumph over difficulties, the problem being 
to secure a driveway without spoiling the garden plot, and also 
to include the windmill within the latter’s limits 
A tiny bird pool which had once 
done duty as a church font 
