The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-10-23
The Wornan's Page of The Tiinaes-Dispatcl1
ldFasbioned Garden
and Its Sun Dial Legends


and Its Sun Dial Legends
Tho old-fashioned garden Is not
alone for the rich. Shorn OF expensive
terraces. statuary. pillars and pcrgolas,
and given only fifty feet OF soil, pure
sun and summer rain, 1t is-well a
border of ho1lyhocks and larkspur,
licliotrope. candy-tuft, Glove plnks,
violets. fringcd red and white chry.
santhemums. sweet y%erbenas, forgot
me-nots and bleeding hearts; a bed OF
White Madonna lilies and another OF
lilies OF the valley, tulips, pansies.
wall flowers. hyaclnths. peonies.
poppies. Canterbury bells, and 1or
shrubs, lilacs. purple and white, and
the rose-pink or crepe myrtle. Some
Where in the centre, toward which
rambling paths converge, q sundial en-
clrcled with purple iris and sweet
Williams; where the sun Is Kind, fox
glove and damasks roses and daisies;
for wholesome fragrance, thyme and
rosemary.
The old -fashloned garden in America
had its beginning in Virginia and the
South, in the country homes that were
such distinctive feature of Colonial,
Revolutionary mi nineteenth century
life. The laying out of such a garden
was no q very complex affair.
Very few boosted the ornamcntation
Of statuary. and not many were ter
raced. but the English idea was most
apparent In the close-cut box hedges
that outlined walks and flower beds In
quaint and fancifuI designs. a path
generally ran around the four sides
OF tho garden and another circular |
path inside. Little walks radiated
from the centre. where, amid a riot
OF color and fragrance, appeared the
favorites planted under milady's direc-
tion. with the glow Of coral honey
suckle and the seven sisters" climb
ing riotously against the garden wall.
Says a writer of to-day who has
been thinking TO some purpose on the
subject OF gardens:
Sometimes we see them yet, these
relic gardens. fraught with memories.
Here and there. in little corners OF
our Southern states, they bloom in
grandeur still. at Mount Vernon the
old-fashioncd garden. planted by
George Washington, is carefully tended
To-Day. n In Germantown there is
one. 'Grumblethorpe,' the garden of
Charles J. Wister. q true Colonial land
mark. But in the stress OF civil events
the old-fashioned garden dropped and
almost died. Elsewhere, in almost every
country. they had grown and pros
pered. Under skies and climates they
assumed. perhaps. characteristics ma
tional and distinct, but all were beau
tiful. and the country life of Europe |
had q JOY we knew not OF until in |
later years the American, critical and
unabashed. began to travel. He roarncd
through Scotland. and he saw. nesting |
E =. "a ~ H., ., .-J 10 "a, rxn IL - - - n.
growth. he marked the velvet grass
paths and the glow of strange new
flowers. and ne leaned with interest In
the midst of these, over the shadow OF
an old sundial. He saw in England
gardens trim and clipped and kept
hedseu in with box and with a wealth
of bloom; In France cool fountains and
soft Southern flowers. and last. in
lteiS, great terraces of trees and POM
p0ts statuary.
And home he came. and looking
back. he said: Well. most of them for
me- and the old fashioned or formal
garden became again a part of coun-
try life in America. Perhaps, too, we
are ....Aing out. as most civilized ma
lions found out long ago, that 1t is not
good TO live In cities; that the cool
Of the evening in Gods country IS
for US and for our children, and, per-
haps. believing this. we may we'll be !
commended when we endeavor to
make the country home the home
beautiful.
And so the American garden in its
features has taken the best from every
nation. n although restricted In its
contents by our severe winters and our
torrid summer suns. the abundance of
our native flowers make the least OF
them. indeed "a beautiful outdoor
room"
The sundial has come to be a neces-
sary part of the old-fashioned garden
that the twentieth century knows. The
oldest method OF marking time at
noon. 1t symbolizes the romance of
dead centuries. Milady bends above its
face. whereon she is emulous OF cary
Ing a motto that will, like those In
days OF old. arrest the attention Of all
|, passers-Dy.
DR.. Henry a Dyke. always remark
able for originating the best of what
lever line he attempts, has recently
written ar inscription for a friends
dial that says:
Hours fly. flowers die; new ways.
new days pass by: love stays"
And milady might look far and never
- fir1 n O. nj n a ~ : n, h ~ - scot = /