IN SOUTHERN GARDENS 
The Log of a Wandering Through Some of 
the Old and New Gardens of Louisville 
“ . When ages grow to civility and ele¬ 
gancy, men come to build stately, sooner than 
to garden finely, as if gardening were the 
greater perfection.” 
—Francis Bacon, 
‘'Of Gardens.” 
T O the truth of this observation by the 
grand old lover of gardens, Louisville 
can bear witness. From ante-bellum days she 
has been known as a city of “stately,” ample 
residences. But not until recently have her 
gardens grown to a “civility and elegancy” 
commensurate with her homes. There were 
in former times, of course, even within the 
heart of the city, many old-fashioned gardens, 
attractive with a sweet, unkempt southern lux¬ 
uriance, a varied mass of blooms and flower¬ 
ing shrubs; but of the finished, soigne gardens, 
such as one sees in the north and east, not one. 
Only with the comparatively recent creation 
of handsome country places about Louisville, 
along the shore of the Ohio and in that 
Cherokee Park which Olmsted has pronounced 
A. CARTER GOODLOE 
to be one of the most beautiful natural parks in 
the United States, has the garden of this 
particular part of the south come into the full¬ 
ness of beauty. Buffalo, Boston, New York 
and other eastern places have been levied upon 
tor landscape architects to plan and perfect 
these “blue-grass” gardens, and the results, in 
most cases, have been charmingly successful. 
Types of Southern Gardens 
Two distinct types of gardens are seen about 
Louisville—one the old-fashioned, indigenous 
type, retaining an old-time, mellow loveliness, 
but perfected, brought up to date. The other— 
that of the modern garden, the exquisite pro¬ 
duct of generous means put at the disposition 
of landscape artists molding to their elabo¬ 
rately charming designs a peculiarly beautiful 
and fertile country. 
It would be hard to say whether the gardens 
of those estates along the banks of the Ohio 
with their wonderful views of the broad river, 
or those from which the lovely wooded slopes 
of Cherokee Park are visible, are the most 
admirable. All have a fascination of their own. 
One of the most successful of the former is 
at “YVinkworth,” the home of W. E. Chess, 
i.sq. The Buffalo landscape artist who de¬ 
signed this garden must have offered up a 
prayer of fervent thanksgiving at the perfect 
setting he found ready to his hand. 
This garden, situated at only a moment’s 
walk from the house, is yet completely detached 
from any architectural impositions. It is ex¬ 
quisitely complete in itself. A path, defined 
by splendid old box, leads to a shallow flight of 
stone steps from which one instantly gets a full 
view of this garden lying below and the de¬ 
lightful pool in the center. I know of no other 
garden about Louisville that strikes a deeper 
note of simplicity and informality, of tran¬ 
quillity and privacy. 
Evergreens of all varieties' encircle this 
garden, forming an irregular, dark, cool back¬ 
ground against which Madonna lilies stand 
straight and fair, and foxgloves, Canterbury 
bells, hollyhocks, the exquisite belladonna, 
delphiniums, Japanese poppies, lilacs, corn- 
The great elevation of the terrace garden at “Lansdowne” 
and its outlook over the broad Ohio give it a peculiarly 
tranquil atmosphere 
13 
Among the notable “river gardens” in the city is the formal 
sunken garden at “Fincastle,” home of Alexander Pope 
Humphrey, Esq. 
