SHADED 
CITY 
GARDEN IN 
House & Garden 
7 
o 
LONDON 
The Town Garden of Lady Sackville Is a Beautiful 
Example op JJ hat Can Be Done in a Restricted Area 
MINGA POPE DU RYE A 
T HE approach to any city garden 
from the house should be made by 
degrees. A porch, a terrace or a 
garden room should mark the transition. 
In order to do this, this terrace or garden 
room should carry in its decorations some 
suggestion of the garden that lies immedi¬ 
ately without. 
This phase of city gardening is beauti¬ 
fully illustrated by the house and garden of 
Lady Sackville in London. It is the old 
Ebury mansion, built toward the end of the 
17th Century and its Georgian lines have 
long made it known architecturally. Carved 
and paneled rooms of the period are found 
here and the house is filled with the rarest 
of objets d’art. But with the garden room 
and the garden we alone are concerned. As 
will be seen by the illustrations on the op¬ 
posite page, the floral motif is found con¬ 
stantly in the decoration—in the surround 
of the fireplace, in the overmantel panel 
and in the priceless Aubusson tapestry 
screens, which originally came from Baga¬ 
telle. These suggestions help make the pas¬ 
sage from the house to the garden less 
abrupt. 
One of the windows, which looks out on 
a rather uninteresting glimpse, has been 
filled with shelves that hold some of Lady 
Sackville’s collection of colored glass. This, 
of course, is the ideal way in which to show 
glass and, incidentally, softens a view that 
would otherwise be not so pleasant. 
From the garden room one passes out to 
a flagged terrace—and the garden lies 
ahead. Although the garden really occupies 
only a small area, a greater sense of space 
is given it because of the way an adjoining 
property cuts into it. Thus the garden 
might be said to consist of three parts—the 
terrace immediately by the house, the long 
walk and the sheltered terminal with its 
garden furniture. All the walks are paved 
with stone. 
The transition from the house to the 
garden is actually made through a latticed 
terrace. This lattice design is carried along 
one side of the wall, surmounting a fence. 
1 rees are planted at regular intervals down 
the long walls, and these, together with the 
fence and adjoining building, make the 
garden quite a shady spot. While the major 
part of the planting is permanent, of course, 
much color is found in potted plants set in 
stone jars along the long walls and in vases 
and urns on the terrace. Geraniums are 
principally used for this purpose. 
Because of its shady aspect the garden 
can only be planted to shade-loving mate- 
At the end of the garden 
under glass canopy is 
grouped iron furniture 
and Dresden lemon trees 
The garden view directly 
facing the group opposite 
is this glimpse of cross 
paths and flower-filled urns 
The long walk 
is lined with 
trees. At regular 
intervals stand 
stone jars with 
colorful gera¬ 
niums. Flower 
borders fill up 
the side spaces 
