Identifier: americanhomesgar41907newy (find matches)
Title: American homes and gardens
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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be without agarden wherein one may be at peace with nature.and oneself.But the McAlpin garden lies alone on its hillside, with thehouse before and below it, and separated from it by a vastwall of arbor vitae, whose great arch frames the central pathand forms an open-ing and approach ofwonderful dignityand charm. Thusthe garden is not un-heralded. On thecontrary its bound-ing wall of everlast-ing green piquesones curiosity as towhat may be beyondit. The great arch,moreover, lifts itshead proudly andmay be seen fromafar; truly, it is amark of some signi-ficance; no merehint, but a true em-blem of triumph. Though the slopeof the ground ismoderate, the levelof the lower gardenarea is almost abovethe roof of thehouse, whose sum-mit may just be dis-cerned above thedense enclosinghedge. The arch-way passed, onestands within theflower garden. Itis an immense rec-tangle, hedge bor-dered on right andleft with centralbeds of grass andflowers, cut bystraight paths. As a design itcould not be sim-
Text Appearing After Image:
A Great Wall of Arbor Vitae Separates the Garden from the House, Which Is ReachedThrough a Superb Living Archway pier; as a garden it could not be finer. The borders are facedwith the gayest bloomers, chiefly annuals, that run from endto end, and are returned to the arch of entrance. Thegrassed spaces in the center are so large that even thoughmuch of their surfaces is taken for flower beds, the greensward counts, and counts considerably, in the general effect.The center of the whole has the Venetian wellhead one looksfor almost instinctively in such places, with clusters of baytrees in earthenware pots, standing sentinel-like around it onthe nearby grass. Rectangular borders of evergreens, placedwell within the grass, mark still more definitely, the impor-tance of the center; while flower masses on each end andon the outer side of the grass complete the planting here. Awall fountain, truly Byzantine in design, forms the chief fea-ture of one side of the garden—an interlaced slab le

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