57 
July, 1922 
GARDENS IN OLD FOUNDATION WALLS 
The Foundations of Old Razed Out-Buildings Often Form the Best 
Sort of Garden Background for a Country Place 
NORMAN K. MORSE 
ground at the various levels. The old cement 
doors were removed and deep beds of new 
rich soil were made for the shrubbery and 
dowers. 
The upper terrace, about 16' x 50', is shaded 
by an arbor of rough red cedar. The door 
of this level is covered with large irreg¬ 
ular slabs of dat stones, set so that the grass 
can grow between the joints. Steps lead from 
this terrace down to the level which was origi¬ 
nally the main house. This space is 30' x 55' 
and here ornamental shrubs and dwarf ever¬ 
greens form a background for a simple ar¬ 
rangement of dower beds for the old garden 
favorites. A large, ivy-covered sun dial forms 
the central feature, stepping stones circle 
around it and at right angles to the garden, 
lead to another set of rough steps descending 
I N the course of remodeling old houses and 
the grounds near them, we often encounter 
old foundations which must be removed 
or else utilized so that they will blend with 
the new order of things. It frequently causes 
a pang of regret to tear down these old bits of 
masonry—sometimes nicely covered with moss 
and creepers—and sometimes with little wild 
flowers growing in the scant soil of the crev¬ 
ices. The possibilities of beautifying and us¬ 
ing them as an asset to the grounds is always 
well worth considering. It is wonderful to see 
how attractive they can be made with a little 
cleaning up and some changes here and there. 
In one instance, on the place of Mrs. E. G. 
Lavino, Rydal, Pa.—where a greenhouse had 
been moved, the foundations were in just the 
right position for a very interesting garden 
built on the various levels of the 
old greenhouse floors, one level 
being connected to the next by 
rough masonry steps, each terrace 
handled individually but with re¬ 
lation to the whole scheme. The 
greenhouse had been protected on 
the north by a high wall. This was 
allowed to remain, all other walls 
were razed to the surface of the 
From the upper terrace of the 
Lavino garden one commands 
the lower terrace and the path 
that leads down to the iris 
garden 
to the iris garden. This has a small rectangu¬ 
lar pool 5' x 8', surrounded by a grass panel 
with a border bed of iris and peonies, forming 
the background. One of the old greenhouse 
walls enclosing the iris garden was made of 
rough field stones and crevices have been made 
in the wall in which a number of the alpine 
plants were placed. These little plants spread 
so quickly that it will be only a short time be¬ 
fore they almost cover the stones. The collec¬ 
tion of plants, selected so that their time of 
bloom would give color and foliage effects all 
through the flower season, insures an interest¬ 
ing and ever changing variety. 
The whole scheme of this garden was sug¬ 
gested by the position and levels of the foun¬ 
dations and it is surely more attractive in the 
interest of its unique outlines than it would 
have been with the walls torn 
down and the ground leveled at 
considerable expense in order to 
have a comparatively unattractive 
formal garden. 
An interesting and quite dif¬ 
ferent development was the treat¬ 
ment of the foundation of a 
farmer’s cottage which had been 
(Continued on page 88) 
This garden, on the place of 
Mrs. E. G. Lavino, Rydal, Pa., 
was built on the varying levels 
of the foundations of an old 
greenhouse 
