The Walled Garden

The Walled Garden. . , Alice Delafield Clarkson Livingston (1872-1964) created this garden ca. 1930. It blends Italian design with plantings suggested by the early 20th-century English gardening authorities Gertrude Jekyll and William Robinson. Gardens that Alice admired while living in Florence, Italy, in the 1920s influenced the Walled Garden's formal layout and the use of iron gates and statuary. It is believed that the iron gates once at the garden's south entrance were brought home from Italy., The garden continued to evolve well into the 1950s, as Alice refined its design and experimented with new plant species. The magnolias are among her latest plantings, and they suggest an effort to introduce more shade into the garden., [Captions:] , This c. 1940s image shows cedars along the eastern wall and clumps of English yew. The garden included a smoke tree, magnolia, apple, flowering plum, quince, and redbud as well as lilac, bridal wreath, mock orange, honeysuckle, roses, and peonies., Alice brought her gardens inside by studying floral illustrations in books such as Flower Art of Japan., The garden as it appears in 1935. Yews flank the garden gates; at the far end, a trellis, covered with climbing roses and clemantis, frames a marble must. Alice made extensive use of cast-stone and lead birds, squirrels, cherubs, and decorative finials in the garden., Honoria Livingston McVitty, wearing her gardening hat in this ca. 1935 photograph, inherited her mother Alice's love for gardening. She could often be seen here in her later years, deadheading flowers. Honoria also provided invaluable early assistance with the restoration of Clermont's landscape.