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The Gardener's Gift of Travel - Page 2

© Georgene A. Bramlage

The apparent cohesiveness and formality of the gardens found in the Historic Area of Williamsburg is the consequence of a notable union of materials: evergreen shrubs, especially boxwood, and the various colors and shapes of "brickbat paving," an antique form of paving that made use of the accumulation of broken bricks at a colonial house or commercial site.

Regardless of the overall formality of design and function, the union of green with the variations of red brick offers the collection of individual gardens in the Historic Area a unity of elements. This unity also allows an infinite selection of modifications upon the basic formal composition.

Traveling further down the Atlantic coast to 14 miles northwest of Charleston, S. C., we arrive at , believed to contain America's oldest landscaped gardens and now also registered as A National Historic Landmark. This was the home of four important generations of Middletons from 1741 - 1865 beginning with the father Henry Middleton, President of the First Continental Congress; the son Arthur, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; the grandson Henry, Governor of South Carolina and an American Minister to Russia; and the great-grandson Williams, a signer of the Ordinance of Secession.

The House Museum, built by Henry Middleton in 1755 as gentlemen's guest quarters, is the only surviving portion of the three-building residential complex that once stood overlooking the Ashley River.

The garden incorporates 65 acres of landscaped terraces, most notably the grassed terraces leading from the house to the Butterfly Lakes, ethereal allees, garden rooms and ornamental ponds. All are laid out with precision symmetry and balance to represent an 18th century idealized expression of nature, the triumphant marriage between man and nature, or as some garden historians express the concept, man's triumph over nature.

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens (Miami,FL) the winter home of International Harvester vice president James Deering, offers a unique glimpse of the vanished pre-income tax lifestyle of the early 20th century in America. Uniquely set on Biscayne Bay, the Italian Renaissance villa took two years to build and was completed in 1916. It was designed to look as if it had been lived in by succeeding generations of the same family, with each generation adding its own period furnishings of the time.

The view toward Biscayne Bay on the east.

The house and gardens are the creation of three architects: F. Burrall Hoffman designed the buildings; Diego Suarez planned the gardens; and Paul Chalfin was the general artistic supervisor for every phase of the project. Early on in the planning, Deering wrote the following to Chalfin, "My idea about orchids was to have a place where they could be raised for the use of the house. I am very fond of them and would like an ample supply if it's possible to have it." This sort of guidance helped set the elegant tone for the project.

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