The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1911-06-08

ENGLAND and elsewhere Whereas this form of
horticultural sculpture is lacking the Virginia
gardens are embellished by many an artistic
touch For instance, the grassy or fowerbanked
terraces which be rendered so effective have
been introduced whenever the character OF the
site seemed to render 1t advisable and foun-
tains, stone garden seats, ETC., are to be found
just in the gardens laid out in more precise
fashion. The gardens of the Old Dominion also
disclose wide variety of pergolas arbors and
summer houses. Some of these are Of rustic
construction and almost all of them are unpre
tentous in character compared with the orna-
mental buildings to be found in twentieth
tury gardens where money has flowed like WATER
but for quiet repose and the charm Of sylvan SOL
itude and as trystng places for those who desire
to exchange condolences in a sympathetic though
secluded environment it is doubtful if there is
in the entire country anything to compare with
these vine-covered nooks
Perhaps the ideal time to visit an old Vir.
gina garden is in the spring or early summer
when the prim box hedges have tips every
branch, giving them new coat Of soft green and
imparting the touch of feathers when the hand
is passed over the soft surface. Rose time is
bound to be a favorite season because roses were
ever Of the most cherished charges of the
oldtime gardeners in this favored cline, and
here may find in all their glory number
of beautiful varieties, such as the Nelly Custs,
which will not be encountered elsewhere unless
they have been transplanted from Virginia soil,
But in reality 1T is injustice to praise the rose
season above other intervals in the prolonged
blossom time The chief ambition of the owner
OF colonial garden in the Old Dominion has
ever been to so select and arrange the flowers
that the garden will be continual mass of
bloom from the advent of the magnolia, the
SNOWFALL and the lilac in the early spring until
after the passing of the Virginia creepers, the
jessamines, the passion vines and the hardy
chrysanthsmums of the waning season.
The amount Of care necessary to keep Wiz
ginia garden In proper condition would be likely
to surprise a resident of more northerly state
not familiar from experience with the rapidity
with which things grow in this favored cline.
Even the box hedges-perhaps two hundred
years old-must be trimmed back every year if
they are to be kept less than shoulder high so
that they will not prevent visitors to the garden
from obtaining general views of the labyrinth of
greenery. The average colonial garden which
has been maintained in anything approaching it's
old-time glory has a greenhouse attached in
which plants may be given a favorable start
early in the spring and later transplanted to the
flower beds. Many of the old gardens also have
in corner of the plot tiny ornamental
building used a seed house and tool house,
whereas in not few of these ancient floral do
mains the timehonored sun dial has been made
the central object in the garden and the flower
beds have been arranged around 1t pivot.
At many 81 the estates in Virginia, partcu-
larry those which were the homes of men of ma