Garden Design - Mount or Mound

Colonial British American gardeners often constructed artificial viewing sights called mounts or mounds to survey their gardens and the nearby countryside. These mounts usually consisted of a pile of earth heaped up to be used as the base for another structure such as a summerhouse or as an elevated site for surveying the adjoining landscape or as an elevated post for defensive reconnaissance or just a spot for fresh and cooling air in the summer.

Occasionally gardeners planted their mounts with ornamental trees and shrubs. Mounts were often formed from the earth left from digging of cellars and foundations. Walks leading up the slope of a mount sometimes has their breadth contracted at the top by one half to add the illusion of greater length.

European pleasure gardens & parks often contained a model Greek Mountain of Parnassus [see Catshuis for example]. In antiquity, the Parnassus, dedicated to Apollo & the Muses, was the traditional home of poetry & music. Deer are being hunted at the foot of the 'mountain.'

Francis Bacon, (1561-1626), English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, & author, wrote in his 1625 Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall in the essay entitled Of Gardens, "I would also have the alleys spacious and fair. You may have closer alleys upon the side grounds, but none in the main garden. I wish also, in the very middle, a fair mount, with three ascents and alleys, enough for four to walk abreast; which I would have to be perfect circles, without any bulwarks or embossments; and the whole mount to be thirty feethigh, and some fine banqueting house, with some chimneys neatly cast, and without too much glass."

Bacon added, "At the end of both the side grounds I would have a mount of some pretty height, leaving the wall of the enclosure breast-high, to look abroad into the fields."

English writer John Evelyn had mentioned a mount in the middle of his garden in his 1641-1705 Diary. In his 1718 Ichnographia Rustica; or The Nobleman, Gentleman, and Gardener's Recreation, Stephen Switzer described a garden, "On one Side you ascend several Grass Steps, and come to an artificial Mount, whereon is a large spreading Tree, with a Vane at the Top, and a Seat enclosing it, commanding a most agreeable and entire Prospect of the Vale below."

Switzer describes another garden of the period, "From hence you advance to a Mount considerably higher... on the Top of which is a large Seat, call'd a Windsor Seat, which is contriv'd to turn round any Way, either for the Advantage of Prospect, or to avoid the Inconveniencies of Wind, the Sun... Here 'tis you have a most entertaining Prospect, all all round, and you fee into several Counties of England, as well as into Wales."

"There are abundance of Ever-greens, and Green Slopes regularly displayed; and to the West of the Garden, on an artificial Mount, is a pleasant Summer-house." This description is from one of Daniel Defoe's (1659-1731) greatest works, (often overlooked) the magisterial A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724–27), which provided a panoramic survey of the British landscape & trade on the eve of England's Industrial Revolution.

South Carolinian Eliza Lucas Pinckney described her neighbor William Middleton's mount at his estate Crowfields in 1743, “to the bottom of this charming spot where is a large fish pond with a mount rising out of the middle-the top of which is level with the dwelling house and upon it is a roman temple.”

By the fall of 1769, William Eddis wrote of the Governor's House at Annapolis, Maryland, "The garden is not extensive, but it is disposed to the utmost advantage; the center walk is terminated by a small green mount, close to which the Severn approaches."

Also built in Annapolis during the 1760s is the 2 acre William Paca Garden. Multi-tier terraces define the garden. The lower terraces feature a fish-shaped pond whose bridge leads to a 2-story summer house built upon an artificial mount, plus serpentine paths through lush lawns & past beds of native plants.
William Paca Garden in Annapolis, Maryland. Dr. Jean Russo, historian for Historic Annapolis, writes that Paca built his garden mount with dirt dug out of his fishpond to give visitors a prospect from the summer house of the harbor & river over his brick wall and to keep "an eye eye on the governor on the other side of the (governor's) pond!"

George Washington wrote in his spring 1786 diary from Mount Vernon, Virginia, "I set the people to raising and forming the mounds of Earth by the gate in order to plant Weeping Willow thereon."

In 1787, the Rev. Manasseh Cutler described the mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in his journal, "The artificial mounds of earth, and depressions, and small groves in the squares have a most delightful effect."

Eliza Clitherall wrote in her 1801 diary when visiting, Wilmington, North Carolina, "In this Garden were several Alcoves, Summer Houses, a hot-house ...Upon a mound of considerable height was erected a Brick room containing shelves and a large number of books--chairs and table and this was call'd the family chapel, for in those days there was no regular worship in Wilmington."

More detailed descriptions of garden mounts are easier to come by in British publications mid-century. Details of the New College garden at Oxfordshire appeared in a 1755 issue of The Universal Magazine in London, "In the middle of the garden is a beautiful mount with an easy ascent to the top of it, and the walks round about it, as well as the summit of it, guarded with yew hedges." The children of the gentry in the British American colonies often made their way to Oxford to continue their education during this period.

In 1783, the garden at New College in Oxford was described in a guidebook, "In the Garden is a beautiful Mount well disposed, behind which and on the North Side are some curious and uncommon Shrubs and Trees. The whole is surrounded by a Terras. Great Part of the Garden... is encompassed by the City Wall, which serves as a Fence to the College."

An issue of the 1773 London Magazine published a view of Mr. Garrick's House and Gardens at Hampton. "At the north part of the garden is a mount, which commands an extensive prospect into Surry; from thence, by a gradual descent, you pass through an arch, and immediately you are surprised with a prospect of the Thames."

Some British American gardeners constructed more than one mount on their grounds during the colonial period. An advertisement offered for sale “a very large garden both for pleasure and profit, with a variety of pleasant walks, mounts, basons, canals” in the South Carolina Gazette on January 30, 1749.
Artist Diane Johnson's Depiction of Thomas Jefferson's Plan for Poplar Forest.

Thomas Jefferson built two mounts at his retreat Poplar Forest 90 miles south of Monticello in Bedford County, Virginia. Poplar Forest was an estate of 4,800 acres which Jefferson inherited in 1773, from his father-in-law, John Wayles. He supervised the laying of the foundations for a new octagonal house in 1806, in accordance with Andrea Palladio's architectual principles.

The house includes a central cube room, on a side, porticos to the north and south, and a service wing to the east. On either side of the house, Jefferson had mounts built. Two artificial mounds on either side of the sunken lawn behind the house served as ornamental architectural elements and screened identical octagonal privies.
Poplar Forest Mound and Privy.

Palladio’s architecture normally featured a central architectural mass, flanked by two wings, each ending in a pavilion. However, Jefferson substituted landscape elements for bricks-and-mortar: double rows of paper mulberry trees formed the “wings” and earthen mounds replaced the pavilions.

In Europe, Jefferson had seen mounds placed away from the houses to serve as vantage points for surveying ornamental grounds. At Poplar Forest, Jefferson placed his mounds close to the house, planted them with circles of aspens and willows, and used them as a component of his symmetrical landscape.
Thomas Jefferson used the landscape he planted around his house, including the mounts, to visually imitate a Palladian archiectural plan. Poplar Forest with earthen mounds planted with trees subsituting for traditonal pavilions and lines of trees forming Palladian“wings” or “hyphens.”

The house, “wings” comprised of trees, and earthen mounds formed an east-west axis, separating the ornamental grounds within the circle into two distinct areas which Jefferson designed to reflect opposing sensibilities. At the front of the house, he created a landscape that appeared natural, even wild, like gardens he had seen in England.
Poplar Forest Mound or Mount.  See: Masters thesis on Poplar Forest , University of Virginia School of Architecture: C. Allan Brown, "Poplar Forest: Thomas Jefferson and the Ideal Villa," UVA Landscape Architecture 1987

A Curiosity

William Stuckeley (English, 1687–1765)  1723 image of Marlborough “Mount” Wiltshire, England

William Stuckeley (English, 1687–1765) 1723 image of Marlborough “Mount” Wiltshire, England Detail

An article on 31 May 2011 from the BBC notes, Marlborough Mound: 'Merlin's burial place' built in 2400 BC. "A Wiltshire mound where the legendary wizard Merlin was purported to be buried has been found to date back to 2400 BC.  Radiocarbon dating tests were carried out on charcoal samples taken from Marlborough Mound, which lies in Marlborough College's grounds.  The 19m (62ft) high mound had previously mystified historians...Silbury Hill, an artificial man-made mound about five miles away, also dates back to 2,400 BC. Marlborough Mound was reused as a castle and became an important fortress for the Norman and Plantagenet kings.  It was also the scene for major political events, such as the general oath of allegiance sworn to King John in 1209."  It had previously been suggested the Mound dated back to about 600 AD, the Arthurian Age, legend claiming it as the elusive site of Merlin’s grave. Merlin, as Arthur's wizard, is largely the creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Vita Merlini, (Life of Merlin) c.1150AD.

1810 Engraving of Marlborough Mount from Colt Hoare's Ancient Wiltshire

Marlborough Mount today

Swept Yards

Swept Yards

The swept yard is a landscape tradition once common in America's deep South: a bare dirt area denuded of any grass, kept 'clean' by sweeping with a broom made of twigs (dogwood often was preferred). The hard red clay of the bare-earth yard would eventually become almost stone like. The swept yard was the outdoor room. 

Back in West Africa, especially due to the heat as well as space constraints, much of the cooking, washing of clothing, and gathering was done outside. Therefore for convenience, pest control, and safety issues, neighbors swept their yards with crude brooms made of twigs removing all grass, debris, and weeds from the areas surrounding their homes. Most of the cooking was done outdoors, if there were grass, then there was the possibility of a stray ash igniting the grass and starting a fire. Lawns were thought to be unnecessary and labor-intensive. In Africa, the natives were more concerned with growing crops than cutting grass. 
Sweeping the Yards in Rural South Carolina.  

With the advent of slavery in America, West African slaves brought the concept of swept yards to America. And as European settlers were preoccupied with growing crops and not grass, the swept yard concept survived for centuries in the American South. 

In 1791, William Bartram describing a typical house in Cuscowilla, GA, wrote “The dwelling stands near the middle of a square yard, encompassed by a low bank, formed with the earth taken out of the yard, which is always carefully swept.”

The swept yard is mentioned in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird," where the Radley's had a "swept yard that was never swept." 

When you were expecting company in the South, it was said that you baked cakes and swept the yard. Martha Ogle Forman wrote from Cecil County, Maryland in 1818, "preparing for company: made cake, and had all the yards swept."

In SC, Catherine Waiters swept her yard daily. The yard broom was made of tree branches, while the house broom on the left was made of broom-straw.

Garden History - Design - Grass Plot

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In the second half of the 18th century, Americans tended to use the word plot to refer to a plat or piece of ground of small or moderate size designated for a specific purpose, usually the growing of grass. This became a popular garden design component as beds of fussy flowers faded from popularity among the gentry.

In 1767, according to Deborah Norris Logan, Charles Norris in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had his garden, "...laid out in square parterres and beds, regularly intersected by graveled and grasswalks and alleys...with a grass plot and trees in front, and roses intermixed with currant bushes, around its borders." A parterre refers to a formal area of planting, usually square or rectangular.

Charles Carroll of Annapolis instructed his son in 1775, "Examine the Gardiner strictly as to ... Whether he is an expert at levelling, making grass plots & Bowling Greens, Slopes, & turfing them well."

When John Enys visited Mount Vernon in February of 1788, he wrote, "The front by which we entered had a Gras plot before it with a road round it for Carriages planted on each side with a number of different kinds of Trees among the rest some Weeping Willows which seem to flourish very well."

When the fashion changed from planting intricate flower beds to more simple yet elegant, green gardens, Elizabeth Drinker wrote of replanning her garden Philadelphia, "flower roots...were dug out of ye beds on ye south side of our Garden--as my husband intends making grass-plots and planting trees in that side."


Flowers would regain their popularity toward the end of the century, when the midling sort found enough free time to begin pleasure gardens of their own.
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Garden Design - Foundation Plantings

Charles Willson Peale, State House, Annapolis, Maryland, Columbian Magazine, February 1789.

About 20 years ago, the brilliant longtime archivist of our state showed me the print above saying, "Where are all the plantings and gardens?" I just expected that private dwellings and public buildings in the 18th century British American colonies seldom had any plants placed near their foundations. But, perhaps it needs to be noted, for the sake of those who haven't poured over these images for long years.

James Madison's Montpelier, Orange County, Virginia by Baroness Hyde de Neuville. c 1800

Princeton, New Jersey, in 1764

George Washington's Mount Vernon, Virginia, c 1800

Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1786

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, Virginia, in 1820s

Plants & Catalogs - Nurseryman Joseph Breck 1794-1873 & his spectacular 1833 circular flower bed

Joseph Breck (1794-1873) of Boston, Massachusetts

Breck, born in Medfield, MA, established his business, Joseph Breck & Company, in 1818 in Boston. From 1822 to 1846, Breck was the editor of the New England Farmer, one of the earliest agricultural magazines established in the U.S., and the first of its kind in New England. In 1833,

In 1840, Breck published his company’s first catalog New England Agricultural Warehouse and Seed Store Catalogue, which was a small book, 84 pages in length.  Breck attempted to use horticulture as an uplifting, educational tool. He included French plant names, listed standard works on horticulture, used illustrations to improve his readers’ tastes. The 1840 catalog featured 72 black-and-white engravings. Breck’s catalog may have been his rural customers only exposure to graphic arts and horticultural literature.

He was one of the founding members of the American Seed Trade Association and a president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society from 1859-1862. Breck experimented with different forms of catalogs, for one of his schemes he packaged a collection of seeds targeted at specific markets such as the West Indies.  Long essays on gardening were included with the products.  In 1856, he published The Flower Garden, a book about the cultivation of ornamental plants such as perennials, annuals, shrubs and evergreen trees.

Breck Nurseries in 1850, located in Brighton, MA

In 1833, he wrote The Young Florist to educate upcoming generations about natural history and flowers.  In this book, designed "to attract young persons to that delightful employment, the cultivation of a flower garden," he presents a rather complicated plan for a bed of garden flowers. The text is presented as a conversation between an older gardener and his young pupils.

H. You see here a square, within which are three circular beds, or concentric circles, having two rows of figures in each. Now these circles are to be filled with annual flowers, and each number represents a different sort, and you see they are numbered as high as 100, so that I have designed it for one hundred different kinds.

I shall shortly show you a list of these, with their numbers opposite to their respective manes.

I have contrived it so that the tallest plants shall be in the centre and cover an arbor, as you see I have marked. You see a walk from the outside of the square to the arbor, communicating with one large and two smaller circular ones.

For the inner circle of all, such plants as climb to the height of ten feet or more, as the Morning Glory, Flowering Beans, &c., for which it will be necessary to put down birch poles with the branches of the tops left on to form the arbor.

For the second row you will find I have selected Sweet Peas, Cypress Vine, Nasturtium, &c. which are also climbers, and will require brush for their support, neatly trimmed, about four and a half feet high.

For the third circular row, the tallest plants which do not climb; and each successive circle of plants diminishes in height to the outer one, which is composed of dwarfs--and you will find by inspecting the key that no two kinds or colors of flowers come together, so that when it is all in bloom, it will have the appearance of a cone of flowers of every shape, color and shade tastefully intermingled, as represented in the following drawing; in which, however, I have not introduced any arbor, which can be done or not, at pleasure.

M. This will be beautiful, surely, and must have taken some time and patience to arrange it; but I think it will be a perplexing piece of work to transfer it to the ground, and have all the plants sowed in the place you have allotted them.

H. Nothing will be easier, as you will see when I come to lay it out and sow them.

M. What is to be put in the outer part of the figure, and what is the meaning of the letters?

H. That is the place for the perennial plants that we have in our little garden, and for such as we may procure from other gardens and the fields, and may be arranged in any fanciful manner we please. The letters represent fanciful groups of flowers to be in bloom at the same time, for different months of the year, to be composed of annuals and perennials. Ju. for July, Au. for August, A. for April, M. for May, &c., and here you may have opportunity to exercise your taste.

M. That will please me; and by the time you get the ground in readiness, I will exhibit a plan for every month in the season. I wish you would give me a copy of that part which contains the annuals, as I wish to send it to cousin Eliza; she had but a small piece of ground and her father has no place of his own, and or course does not want to be at the expense of cultivating many perennials, as he moves so often from one place to another.

H. I shall be happy to furnish you with a copy for her, and will also send her a portion of our seeds, with directions how to cultivate them. On the following pages you will see a list of the plants arranged in order; you will find some numbers and plants inserted twice; this is done to fill out the circle; and some of them are very showy. Be particular not to make any mistake while you write it off for her.

A KEY TO THE PLAN FOR A GARDEN.

First Circle.
No.
1 Scarlet Flowering Bean, scarlet.
2 Blue Morning Glory, dark and light blue.
3 White Flowering Bean, white.
4 Rose Morning Glory, purplish red.
5 Purple Flowering Bean, purple.
6 Superb Striped Morning Glory, white striped.
7 Scarlet Morning Glory, or Ipomea, scarlet.
8 Two Colored Lemon Gourd (ornamental fruit), yellow.
9 Starry Ipomea, delicate blue.

Second Circle
No.
10 Nasturtium, deep orange.
11 Scarlet Sweet Pea, red.
12 Balloon Vine, white, curious seed pods.
13 Purple Sweet Pea, purple.
14 Mexican Ximenisia, yellow.
15 Cypress Vine, brilliant crimson.
16 White Sweet Pea, white.
10 Nasturtium, deep orange.
17 Tangiers Crimson Sweet Pea, dark crimson.
12 Balloon Vine, white.
15 Cypress Vine (scald this seed), crimson.

Third Circle
No.
18 Red Four o’Clock, deep red.
19 Violet Zinnia, violet.
20 Yellow Immortal Flower, brilliant yellow.
21 White Chrysanthemum, white.
22 Prince’s Feather, very dark red.
23 Tall Blue Larkspur, lively blue.
24 Yellow Four o’Clock, yellow.
25 Variegated Euphorbia, elegantly variegated white and green.
26 Red Lavatera, light red strip’d with deep.
27 Blue Commelina, celestial blue.
28 Yellow Chrysanthemum, yellow.
29 White Lavatera, pure white.
30 Love Lies Bleeding, blood red.
19 Violet Zinnia, violet.
20 Yellow Immortal Flower, brilliant yellow.
21 Variegated Euphorbia, white and green.
26 Red Lavatera, light red.

Fourth Circle
No.
31 Grand Flowering Argemone, elegant white flower and yellow centre.
32 Yellow Zinnia, tawny yellow.
33 American Centaurea, pale purple.
34 Tricolored Amaranthus, each leaf red, yellow and brown.
35 Long Flowered Four o’Clock, white with purple centre.
36 Grand Flowering Evening Primrose, yellow.
37 Purple Amaranthus (soak the seed in milk 24 hours), purple.
38 Red Zinnia, red.
39 White Amaranthus (soak the seed in milk 24 hours), white.
40 Golden Coreopsis, fine yellow with brown centre.
41 Red Opium Poppy, purplish red.
42 Crimson cockscomb, deep crimson.
35 Long Flowering Four o’Clock, white with purple.
43 African Marigold, orange.
37 Purple Amaranthus, purple.
34 Tricolored Amaranthus, yellow, red and brown.
39 White Amaranthus, white.
44 French Marigold, brown velvet orange.
41 Red Opium Poppy, purplish red.
42 Crimson Cockscomb, deep crimson.
46 Night Flowering Primrose, yellow.
27 Commelina, bright blue.

Fifth Circle
47 Tricolored Chrysanthemum, white, yellow and brown.
48 D’ble white and variegated Balsams, white and variegated.
49 Fennel Flower or Love in a Mist, blue.
50 Red Quilled Aster, red.
51 Long Flowered Evening Primrose, yellow.
52 White Expanded Aster, white.
53. Blue Lupin, blue.
54 Double Carnation Poppy, of sorts, red, pin, &c.
55 Yellow Hawkweed or Crepis Barbata, yellow and brown.
56 White Quilled Aster, white.
57. Blue Bottle, blue.
58 Fire Colored and Crimson Balsams, red.
59 Scorzonera, deep yellow and brown.
60 Double White Fringed Poppy, pure white.
61 Purple and Lilac expanded Aster, purple and lilac.
62 Scarlet Malope, red, with purplish stripe.
63 Pot Marigold, orange.
64 White Catchlfy, white.
65 Lemon Balm, blue and fine scent.
66 African Rose, every shade of red.
67 Beautiful Ketmia, straw and purple.
68 Variegated Asters, white, with blue and red stripes.
69 Azure blue Gilia, fine blue.
70 Red Quilled Aster, red.
45 African Hibiscus, straw and deep purple.
71 Sweet Basil, or Lavender, white with delightful scent.
72 Mexican Ageratum, blue
73 Double Purple Balsams, purple.
66 African Rose, every shade of red.
55 Yellow Hawkweed, yellow and brown.
60 White Fringed Poppy, pure white.
69 Azure Blue Gilia, blue.
74 Convolvulus Minor, fine blue and yellow.
75 Scarlet Cacalia, scarlet.
76 Snails, yellow, with curious pod.
77 Sweet Alyssum, white sweet scented.
78 Purple Candytuft, purple.
79 Daisy Leaved Catchfly, fine pink.
80 Caterpillars, yellow, with curious pod.
81 White Evening Primrose, pure white.
82 Double Dwarf Larkspur, purple, pink and white.
83 Lobel’s Catchfly, red.
84 Mignonette, yellowish, very fragrant.
85 White Candytuft, white.
86 Purple Immortal Flower, fine light purple.
87 Beautiful Clarkea, red.
88 Horns, yellow, curious pod.
89 Venus’ Looking Glass, blue.
90 Red Hawkweed, pale red.
91 Hedgehogs, yellow, curious pod.
74 Convolvulus Minor, fine blue and yellow centre.
75 Scarlet Cacalia, fine scarlet.
84 Mignonette, yellowish, very fragrant.
77 Sweet Alyssum, white and fragrant.
92 Wing Leaved Schizanthus, light and dark, purple and yellow.
93 Sensitive Plant, pink, very curious plant.
94 Coronilla, beautiful leaf, yellow.
95 Ice Plant, curious plant, white.
96 Nolana, light and dark blue.
83 Lobel’s Catchfly, red.
84 Mignonete, yellowish, fragrant.
81 White Evening Primrose, white.
97 Forget-me-not, blue.
79 Daisy Leaved Catchfly, fine pink.
98 Thunbergia, fine new plant - yellow and brown.
99 Heart’s Ease, purple, yellow and white.
87 Beautiful Clarkea, red.
100 Purple Jacobea, purple.

History Blooms at Monticello

Note from Peggy Cornett

After his death in 1826 Thomas Jefferson’s granddaughter, Cornelia Jefferson Randolph, sketched the ground plan of Monticello, which included a south corner “triangle bed” meant to grow violets and other fragrant flowers: intending it to be a “nest of sweets.” Archaeologists confirmed this design feature and today it is planted with Hyacinths, sweet white violets, Historic tulips, and Dianthus.

1704 connection between Massachusetts & the Gardens at Dyrham in Gloucestershire, England

Engraving of Dyrham Park by Johannes Kip, 1712. In 1688, William Blathwayt  (1649-1717) inherited the Dyrham estate in Gloucestershire upon the death of his father-in-law. Blathwayt was a civil servant & politician who played an important part in administering the British American colonies.  He joined the diplomatic service in 1668, to serve at a post at the English embassy in The Hague.  In 1680, he became the 1st auditor-general of royal revenues in America; & after 1685, became the secretary of the Privy Council's committee on trade & foreign plantations, a key figure in American affairs. He was responsible for establishing the charter of the Crown colony of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, which would become the state of Massachusetts.  He promoted trade in America & the Caribbean, which included the slave trade, & reportedly he benefited considerably from "gifts"  received in connection with his office (as was the usual practice in his day). In 1686, he married Mary Wynter, a wealthy heiress. It was her father who died, leaving his estate to Blathwayt only 2 years after their marriage.  Diarist John Evelyn commended him as "very dexterous in business" & as a man who had "raised himself by his industry from very moderate circumstances."

Michael Dahl (1659–1743) Portrait of Colonial Secretary William Blathwayt (1649-1717)

Soon after Blathwayt inherited Dyrham, he commissioned an estate plan to be drawn in the Dutch style he had seen as a young man in The Hague.  Formal Dutch & French style gardens were the height of fashion in England from about 1660 to 1715.  Completed in 1704, William Blathwayt’s Dutch garden to the east & west of the mansion was geometric in design. The west garden had a cascade, 2 pools, a fountain & flower beds planted in a fashionably sparse style. The east garden had a canal, fountains & a cascade.  There there were parterres cut out of grass & filled with colored gravel; shrubs in tubs clipped into formal shapes of cones & spheres; & terraces on the slopes from which visitors could admire Blathwayt's creation.