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A Grand Tour of Gardens: Traveling in Beauty Through Western

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A Grand Tour of Gardens: Traveling in Beauty Through Western A Grand Tour of Gardens A Grand Tour of Gardens Traveling in Beauty through Western Europe and the United States Anne Sinkler Whaley LeClercq THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA PRESS © 2012 University of South Carolina Cloth edition published by the University of South Carolina Press, 2012 Ebook edition published in Columbia, South Carolina, by the University of South Carolina Press, 2012 www.sc.edu/uscpress 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 10987654321 The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition as follows: LeClercq, Anne Sinkler Whaley, 1942– A grand tour of gardens : traveling in beauty through Western Europe and the United States / Anne Sinkler Whaley LeClercq. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-61117-068-9 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Gardens—Europe, Western—Anecdotes. 2. Gardens—United States—Anecdotes. I. Title. SB455.L38 2012 635.094—dc23 2011048942 Title spread: photograph: A river god at Villa Lante, Bagnaia, Italy; scroll illustration: © istockphoto.com/Cloudniners ISBN 978-1-61117-177-8 (ebook) For my family and friends and garden lovers everywhere This page intentionally left blank Contents LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii Prologue 1 Part 1 An Overview: Visiting and Enjoying Gardens 5 Gardening as Art and Entertainment 7 Emily Whaley Rules of the Road When Traveling and a Visit to Dunrobin Garden 9 Part 2 Italian Gardens: From Renaissance Inspiration to Romantic Intuition 15 Finding Inspiration and Art in the Gardens of Palermo, Sicily 17 Visiting Shops and Gardens on Lake Como 20 Italy: Gardening and Dining by the Sea 23 Discovering Lucca, an Italian Walled City 27 Ninfa: A Romantic Italian Garden 30 The Amalfi Coast: Positano, Ravello, and Capri 33 Italian Renaissance Gardens: A Day Trip from Rome 36 Visiting Gardens near Florence: Villa Le Balze, Villa Gamberaia, Villa I Tatti, the Boboli Gardens, and La Pietra 40 Tuscan Gardens: Villa Chigi Cetinale and Villa La Foce 45 A Tale of Two Cities: Taormina and Venice 48 Part 3 Switzerland: The Art of Seasonal Gardening 51 Summer Gardens in Switzerland 55 The Swiss Alps in July, with a Surprise Visit to Lake Maggiore, Italy 57 Part 4 French Classical Elegance 61 The Joy of French Gardens: From the Dordogne to the Île de France 65 Monet’s Garden 69 viii Contents France: In Our Own Car 71 The Atlantic Coast of France: Off the Beaten Track 75 Part 5 A Plantsman’s Paradise: En gland, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland 79 Chewton Glen and Exbury Garden, En gland 83 Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Buscot Park, and Waddesdon Manor, En gland 85 Stourhead and the Danesfield House Hotel, En gland 88 Gravetye Manor and William Robinson, En gland 90 West Dean Gardens and Lainston House Hotel, En gland 94 Mapperton House, Montacute House, and Barrington Court, En gland 96 Newby Hall, Castle Howard, and Middlethorpe Hall, En gland 99 Levens Hall and Sharrow Bay Hotel, En gland 102 Edinburgh and Prestonfield House, Scotland: A Base for Discovering the Borders 105 Broughton House, Culzean Castle, and Hill House, Scotland 108 July Gardens in Scotland 112 “Oh, My Ireland of Dreams!” 115 Bodysgallen, Bodnant, and Powis Castle, Wales 119 Part 6 Germany: From the Island of Rügen to the Bavarian Mountains 123 Inspiration for a Fall Garden: Insel Mainau and Lake Constance 127 A Summer Visit to the Island of Rügen on the Baltic Sea 129 Berlin: The Heart of the New Germany 131 Germany: Schloss Linderhof, Ettal Cloister, and Oberammergau 133 Part 7 Iberia: The Moorish Influence 135 Christmas in Majorca 139 The Spanish Costa del Sol: Marbella Club Hotel and a Side Trip to Granada 143 Traveling to Madeira 146 Part 8 Discovering Garden Spots Closer to Home 149 Biltmore, North Carolina: An Estate for All Seasons 153 The Orchard Inn: A Mountain Destination in Saluda, North Carolina 157 Contents ix Beyond Miami: Coral Gables, Vizcaya, and the Biltmore Hotel 159 Beyond Disney: A Taste of Florida’s Orlando 163 An Adventure in Art: Cà d’Zan, the Ringling Estate in Sarasota, Florida 167 Touring the Hudson River Valley in Fall 170 Visiting Philadelphia 174 Finding an Angel in New Orleans, and Diversions along the Way 176 Epilogue: Stories and Memories 179 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 187 INDEX 189 Illustrations COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS following page 2 Entrance to Emily Whaley’s garden An antique garden urn filled with spring blooms Emily Whaley enjoying her colorful perennial border Reflecting pool and summer blooms in her garden Blue hydrangeas and yellow Parkinsonia in Emily Whaley’s garden Spring blooms in Emily Whaley’s garden Garden view from her terrace The reflecting pool in her garden following page 74 Chateau of Chenonceau The house and garden at Bois des Moutiers The author in the garden at Giverny The Japanese bridge in Monet’s water garden Fred LeClercq in the garden of Chateau Brecy Chateau and garden of Vaux le Vicomte following page 98 The garden at Gravetye Manor The author at Dunloe Castle Hotel The Edwardian pond at Bodysgallen The knot garden at Bodysgallen The Pin Mill at Bodnant Garden A reflecting pond at Bodnant Garden The garden at Powis Castle Threave Castle and garden The water garden at Threave Castle The walled garden at Culzean Castle Culzean Castle in Maybole Drummond Castle Gardens Illustrations xi The formal garden at Drummond Castle The garden at Levens Hall Newby Hall with colorful herbaceous borders Waddesdon Manor near Aylesbury The water garden at Exbury Henry Hoare’s Palladian mansion The Pantheon from the Palladian bridge The formal water garden at Danesfield House The pergola with wisteria at Chewton Glen The garden at Sharrow Bay following page 130 Spring gardens at Insel Mainau The pool and garden at Linderhof The fountain at King Ludwig II’s Linderhof The view of Linderhof from the Temple of Love BLACK-AND-WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS The fountain and stairway to Villa Carlotta 22 Rita Pane in her garden, Villa Tritone 23 The LeClercqs having tea at Hotel Splendido 24 The vista from La Cervara 25 The waterfall at La Mortella 26 Palazzo Pfanna 29 The tower at Ninfa 31 A river god at Villa Lante 37 Villa d’Este and the walk of a hundred fountains 39 Garden entrance, Villa Le Balze 41 The formal garden at Villa I Tatti 42 A view of the formal garden, Villa I Tatti 43 A temple of love at La Pietra 44 Villa Chigi Cetinale 46 Looking west from Chigi Cetinale 46 The vista from Villa La Foce 47 Mt. Etna and the Greek amphitheater at Taormina 47 Vista from Son Morroig 140 Water jets in the garden at Alfabia 141 Reflecting pool, the Alhambra 144 Water jets in the Generalife garden 145 xii Illustrations Men of Madeira and their sleigh-riding customers 147 The Biltmore Mansion from the garden 155 The walled garden, Biltmore Estate, 156 The water staircase, Vizcaya 161 The Bok Tower Garden on Lake Wales 164 The Cummer Museum and Garden 165 The John and Mable Ringling Museum 168 Belvidere Plantation House 180 The author at Belvidere House 181 Acknowledgments My family and friends have inspired me to bring my Charleston Mercury articles together as a book. First, I am deeply appreciative to the editor of the Charleston Mercury, Charles Waring, who granted permission for the use of my travel essays. My husband, Professor Fred LeClercq, has been an indispensable travel partner. He excels in finding a garden off the beaten track. He enjoys searching for the perfect word to describe each adventure. His passion for history adds perspective and depth to each essay included here. I owe a special note of thanks to Alexander Moore, my acquisition editor of the University of South Carolina Press. He encour- aged me to bring these essays together as a coherent whole. In addition, Bill Adams, the managing editor at the press, has been a highly competent and delight- ful person who has assisted in editing the work. This page intentionally left blank Prologue MANY OF THE ESSAYS GATHERED HERE were published originally in the Charleston Mer- cury, a news paper published twice a month; I have served as news paper’s chief gar- den and travel correspondent since 2004. My husband, Fred LeClercq, and I have traveled frequently in Europe, with gardens and art as a major focus. These essays provide a roadmap for visiting and enjoying gardens. The focus is the discovery of gardens as a source of art, inspiration, and entertainment; each chapter will touch on garden history, design, and horticulture. My goal is to tempt and inspire the reader to get out into the magic of sun, sky, and garden enjoyment. My hope is to provide us with a garden microscope and a handful of rubrics for assessing the suc- cess of each garden in terms of aesthetics and efficacy. Enjoying a garden requires knowledge of each country’s unique national style. It also requires a set of rubrics against which a visitor can gage the effectiveness of a garden’s design and horticulture. The tips in these essays will provide a visitor the tools for deciphering the “language” of a garden. No garden is perfect. It is essential in assessing the effectiveness of a design and the robustness of the planting scheme to ask the right questions. Is this an “all at once” formal design that can be comprehended at a single glance? Is this a romantic landscape design with twists and unexpected delights? How has the gardener met adverse conditions of topog- raphy, wind, sun, and soil? What devices has the gardener used to meet these chal- lenges? What combinations of plants have been used to develop the horticultural scheme of the garden? Is the final result a garden with pleasing aesthetics in terms of design, color, and plant combinations? What standards are essential to create an architectonic design or floor plan for the garden? Is this a garden that entertains and delights with its sense of immediacy? The introductory essay, “Gardening as Art and Entertainment,” was written by my mother, the late Emily Whaley.
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