Garden Notes

Promanade section of formal garden showing boxwood structure

As a rule I prefer a more casual approach to gardening and am particularly fond of cottage gardens. However, on our recent trip to New Orleans, we toured the historic home and gardens of philanthropists Edith and Edgar Stern located just minutes from the French Quarter in New Orleans. It was called Longue Vue House & Gardens and is a national historic landmark in that city.

The Longue Vue house was spectacular and had been designed originally so you could see gardens from every window. All of the grounds were beautifully landscaped and they included a variety of gardens. There was the mysterious bamboo tunnel, the discovery garden, the butterfly garden, the vegetable and herb gardens, as well as a large and elaborate formal garden.

The formal garden was my favorite. Our guide told us that this garden was based on one in Spain that the homeowner had admired. Her idea was to use many of the same plants in her garden because Spain had hot weather like New Orleans they would probably do well. Obviously that was a good call because the garden has flourished and is still beautiful today!

Her landscape architect used boxwood to create a unifying structure on both sides of a long promenade that started near the house and ended with a fountain and a wall structure that served as a focal point. The boxwood areas had small fountains, small trees and large pots with flowers to add interest and color to the long expanse of green and the whole design worked very well as a unit. I was hard pressed to pick a favorite section because the whole Longue Vue formal garden was so well done. It was by far the most elaborate and beautiful garden that I have ever seen.

Shows both ends of formal garden, the house on left and fountain on right