But there is more to capture ideas from, box enclosed flower beds, espaliered fruit trees, a pet dog cemetery with beautifully incised name stones, a vegetable patch, in a word, no lack of interesting things for a gardener to see. Then, a return to Newport, and its Point neighborhood, overlooking part of Newport harbor, there is the Preservation Society's oldest residence, dating from 1748, Hunter House on Washington Street. By any mark, this has the choicest of the Preservation gardens, an absolute retreat from life's pressures. Designed and installed 10 years ago by P.T. and Suzy Plimpton, the imagination stretches to a pair of rounded beds of perennials and annuals, each enclosed by boxwood trimmed to resemble puffy ladyfingers. A pergola hung in wisteria must be a sight in late spring.
Select shrubs are in precise scale to the relatively small layout.
Serenity for as long as we like. Ed Safford is the Senior Times garden guru.