I could hardly believe my ears: While on a Garden Conservancy tour this past weekend, two ladies told another group that the first two gardens on the tour "really weren't worth visiting."
What do they know? There are two houses on the site (in South Dartmouth, MA), and the original layout for the property was designed by Warren Manning in 1910, including the "pleasure drive" (the dotted line that runs to the rear and around), tennis courts, apple orchard and bathing beach on Buzzards Bay. They were designed for ambassador Alanson B. Houghton and his brother, Arthur, as a summer place for their families to congregate.
In 1937, the garden to the right, above, was redone by Ellen Biddle Shipman, and her design for an all-white garden is now being restored by the current owners, who have her original plans. Shipman also designed the gardens for the second house (to the left in plan above). Although neither garden today is filled with flowers -- apparently what garden tourists want to see -- there are magnificent plants (a full-size Sourwood tree, gorgeous evergreens, and Viburnum sieboldii that are the size of trees) -- just to mention a few. The thrill of seeing these gardens is to look carefully at the integrated structure for both. It's not very often that you get a chance to see private gardens like these.
More on them in a future post, with many photos.
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