Individual gardens there mav be, such as Mr. Hunnewell’s at Wellesley, 
or Mr. Dana’s at Glen Cove, finer than anything at Newport, but, taken as 
a whole, there is no place whose gardening is at all comparable with that of 
our fairest summer city by the sea. Many things contribute to this. The 
formation and natural scenery of the island, which are most fortunate, have 
furnished a site for a suburban city that is fairly an expression of our greatest 
wealth and best taste. The landscape gardener has been recognized as the 
peer of the architect, and they have worked harmoniously together to produce 
an effect of complete beauty not to be obtained by those who employ the 
best talent to design their houses and leave their grounds and gardens to 
be arranged and planted by men who would hardly rank in ability and intelli¬ 
gence with the average carpenter and mason. Most truly has Bacon said 
that men build stately before they garden finely, and everywhere in this 
country wealthy men freely invest large sums in fine houses, who seem to 
regret the outlay of a small sum for the planting of their grounds and gardens. 
It is a fact, however, that fine gardening will atone for the defects of a poor 
house, but there is no house so fine that will redeem badly-arranged and 
poorly-planted grounds. 
We have an object in selecting Newport as a subject for an illustrated 
paper, and we will frankly confess it. We make a specialty of hardy plants 
and, of course, sell them for a profit, and we can see no reason why the selling 
of material that will give our customers the best possible service should 
not bring the greatest remuneration. There is no question of Newport being the loveliest summer city in this country — the 
writer has yet to see any place in Europe to equal it — and its gardening is mainly done with hardy plants. By hardy plants 
we mean all that great wealth of trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and bulbs which, once planted, become a permanent and 
ever-increasing addition to the garden. There are but a mere handful of plantsmen in this country who devote their 
energies to the growing and selling of hardy plants, and of this little band we are proud to have been the pioneer. On the 
other side of the fence there are several thousand plantsmen who grow bedding plants almost exclusively, and the belief 
seems to prevail that if hardy plants came into general use gardens would soon be filled up and their occupation gone. 
1 'hey forget the uncultivated ground, the gardens that might be, and that there is little to encourage sensible people to 
make new gardens or increase their old ones in an expensive system, and annually so, that produces results thoroughly 
inartistic and almost as fugacious as a basket of cut flowers. 
The limits of this paper will only serve to give a few hints of the beauty of Newport gardens, but these will direct 
the attention to them of some who wish to realize the highest possibilities of their gardens. The great feature of 
Newport is its famous cliff walk and the many beautiful places that stretch continuously along its three or four miles of 
sinuous windings. Noble houses, great masses of trees, shrubs and plants most skillfully grouped, superb sweeps of 
perfect lawn stretching down to the sea, and the absence of fences, all contribute to an unequaled picture of suburban 
beauty. Of the many fine places on The Cliffs, Mr. Louis Lorillard’s is the most notable. The house built for the late 
Miss Catharine Wolfe is one of the very finest suburban residences in America. The house is stone, of a very pleasing 
brown, and built on different levels, and the lawn very skillfully made to conform to them. The planting of the grounds is 
very elaborate, and rare trees, shrubs and plants are use., by the thousand, but all in masses, and the outlines so managed 
as to preserve large open sweeps of lawn and to give to the grounds, which are quite extensive, the appearance of being far 
more so. It is surprising how much skillful planting will do to give the appearance of extent to grounds—small places of 
even an acre or less may be given quite an air of size. The secret lies in keeping the planting in masses and arranging the 
outlines so as to make the best of the conditions of the grounds under treatment. Rhododendrons are used quite exten¬ 
sively on Mr. Lorillard’s grounds, and with them are freely planted Auratum Lilies, and this noble flower from Japan could 
have no finer setting or a position in which they would thrive better. One of our illustrations shows this lily in a group of 
