Note: This is the text of an article titled "Mrs. Henry Hulme Sevier In Her Flower Garden At Laguna Gloria: Mrs. Sevier, President of Austin's Garden Club, Writes Special Article for Gossip" published in the Austin, TX monthly periodical Gossip on February 24, 1926 (Vol. 16, No. 1), p. 1.
If it is of any value at all, I am very glad indeed to attempt a brief description of my efforts to develop, to the best possible advantage, a hillside of rock and wild growth into what I now delight to call, and to feel, is my "Laguna Gloria."
I have struggled to make this little homesight of mine into a passably presentable garden of lawns and shrubs and flowers, intersected by paths and steps, with, here and there, glimpses of balustrades, and a few oil jars of ancient and accepted design. I have placed in what I considered a proper setting a number of really beautiful and graceful statues which I was fortunate enough to obtain from one of the oldest and finest garden of old Italy; this to give an Old World touch to an incomparably beautiful Texas landscape and to contribute a little dignity and formality to the riotous caprices of this violet-crowned vale.
I write with the object of endeavoring, in a measure, to encourage others in their efforts to beautify their gardens and grounds, and with the assurance that such efforts are not only beneficial to health, to mental recreation and to spirit revivication, but a delight everlasting to the proprietor, friends within the gates, and even to the passing stranger, who may be fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of verdured loveliness.
In the first place, location is the prime essential in all attempts at landscape beautification. And I assure you I considered the marvelous setting of Laguna Gloria, with the encircling Colorado, hemmed in by these glorious hills, and canopied by the most brilliant skies in all the world.
The hill gardens have the advantage of the flat-lying lands in that there is more opportunity for effective landscaping. Where different levels are naturally existent, your vistas are not so obviously man-created, and it is less difficult to arrange a series of disconnected plots for shrubs and flowers that will elicit surprise and pleasure when one comes unexpectedly upon them. Stone steps always add the necessary architectural touch to well-designed grounds.
I will admit that the preliminary work in the development of my place was strenuous, and at times, discouraging. It required patience and perseverance to the extreme. I am a great believer in individuality and the same personal expression in arrangement of a home's out-of-doors, as that home's interior.
The beginning is by far the most difficult because it is the work that is most important and which shows the least. I mean the practical part in your general scheme, such as the planning of your drainage, marking out the open spaces for green plots, locating your shrubs and beds of flowers, so that all will create a harmonious whole and be displayed to the best advantage.
Nature had very generously endowed my grounds. There were many fine old oaks, some knarled and twisted, but stately and possessed of character. These had to be carefully treated, their sore spots covered with cement, to prevent rapid decay and to prolong their valuable lives; the lichen moss removed and the dead wood carved out. I never allow a fine tree to be what is called "topped." It is cruel to dwarf and disfigure what nature has made so symmetrical.
The many beautiful cedars which adorned the place I have managed to save through constant vigilance and sometimes by violent encounters with depredating vandals.
Thanks to the care of the former owner of the land there was a profusion of wild laurel which is a never-ceasing joy, with its vivid green foliage in the cold months and its gorgeous purple bloom and pungent fragrance in the early spring.
All these lovely evergreens make our hill country charming, even in the sad days of winter, when there is little color to cheer and brighten the landscape.
These lovely things I had to start with as a background, which is so absolutely essential for effective planting of shrubs and flowers.
Flowers are Nature's gems and require a setting of green to increase their beauty, just as a precious stone needs a setting of gold or silver to enhance its brilliance.
My real struggle came when I undertook to combat the rocks. Such a wonderful and fearful crop of rocks I found when I began to dig out the spaces for the lawns, the sunken rose garden and the holes for the plants and palms!
At first the task seemed endless and hopeless and the place looked like a volcanic upheaval with the house perched perilously in the center of a crater ready to drop out of sight at any moment. My visualization of what I wanted and hoped the place would look like seemed as remote and unobtainable as the stars in heaven.
Finally, out of chaos came some semblance of order. The stones were used to make retaining walls, steps and the edging of walks in the more rustic settings. Then the hauling of dirt — hundreds and hundreds of wagon loads — the fertilization and planting of seeds.
In order that I might realize the best possible results with my shrubs and that the roots should have an abundance of good, rich soil to thrive in instead of lime dust, I had the holes dynamited. These holes were from three to four feet in diameter and about four feet deep. For several months there was such a bombarding that there seemed as though a prolonged war was in progress. In fact, my zeal in regards to the plants almost cost me the house. It was frequently in danger of being shaken from its foundation by concussion, and from showers of rocks thrown so high that they landed on the roof. The effect was much the same as a raid by a fleet of booming planes.
I am not mentioning these details to be discouraging, but to emphasize the fact that the preliminary work, when thoroughly done, pays a hundred fold because you not only have better lawns and shrubs but the saving in your planting is enormous.
It is necessary to consult with a nurseryman in regard to the best shrubs to use. Inexperience and experimenting are costly both as to money and loss of time.
In our climate we cannot always have the plants we might like the most, but there are so many that are available, and that flourish with us, that those of the northern clime that pine and wither may not be missed.
I am particularly fond of the tropical plants, but there is no use in dreaming of tropical beauty in a climate that does not admit of any extreme. But I persistently pet and coax my palms and am repaid by the development of some noteworthy specimens. I have, however, lost many valuable ones before experience taught me that there were some that could not endure our sudden climatic changes.
The crepe myrtle which the Violet Crown Garden Club makes a free distribution of each season, is lovely and satisfying, when properly grouped and planted. For most effective results crepe myrtle should be massed and planted in hedges.
The oftimes despised ligustrum I have used extensively and found most useful. Its great advantage is that it is an evergreen. I use it as a background planting and in hedges. Without it, down here, the symmetry of a garden cannot be maintained. The Lombardy poplar is necessary to give height and emphasis to other planting. It is extensively used in France and Lombardy — Lombardy, the province of Italy, which is its native heath. In France and Italy the country roads are lined with Lombardy poplars and the effect is entrancing.
The Italian cypress, so wonderful in it natural environment, where it grows to great
height and through its antiquity assumes a green that is deep and velvety, gives to the
wonder gardens of Italy a stateliness that is majestic and a shade of which can be truly
said
"It is in the stillness of the green world that we hear the sounds that make for
peace and growth."
There is nothing more delightful to the eye than a group of Italian cypress outlined against the sky and lake. These tall, slender trees and spiky plants like the Spanish dagger, yucca and maguay, go particularly well with the character of the hill country.
The joy of a rose garden — the joy of roses everywhere, the Queen of flowers, cannot be exaggerated. Everyone should plant roses. They are easy of cultivation and so beautiful to behold. Any rose is lovely. I find the American Pillar so healthy and vigorous and so gorgeous in color I use it whenever I can.
For seductive perfume in your garden plant tuberoses and honeysuckle. What could be
more entrancing on a moon-filled night than the delicious scent of the tuberose,
permeating the air, and the thrilling notes of the mocking bird filling it with song? To
complete your garden it must in the flowering season blaze with color. Some one has
said:
"A world without flowers! What would it be?"
To those of us who have a real love for our flowers it would appear a drab place indeed without their touches of glorious color to cheer and delight the eye, or their perfume to either soothe or stimulate the senses.
My advice to every one is by all means have a garden. No matter how difficult the work; despite the discouragements of cold and drought, you will get more real comfort and pleasure out of it than of almost anything else. To the lover of Nature to be without a garden in which to dig and plant, to be deprived of a place of cool, soft, shadows, and flicks of sunlight though the tree branches, a place of joy and contentment, where the hurry and nose of a busy world are forgotten, would be a tragedy indeed.
The following lines inscribed on an old garden seat made an especial appeal to me:
"The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's heart in a garden,
Than anywhere else on earth."
If a few of the words I have written in this rambling article may strike a receptive chord, if a few thoughts I have tried to convey may meet a sympathetic response, if a few suggestions I have given may be worthy of following, and if my work as an amateur gardener may encourage others to make a garden for themselves, I shall feel that my efforts have not been wasted. And if the words of a world-wide traveler mean anything, let me assure you I feel that in the gardens of Laguna Gloria, on the banks of the Colorado, among my own people, I have made myself a retreat, to which is it always a joy to come back.
Clara Driscoll Sevier
Clara Driscoll was one of the founding members and first president of the Violet Crown
Garden Club in 1924. The name was undoubtedly taken from Pindar, a Greek lyric poet
of the fifth century B. C., who wrote of Athens thus: "City of light, with thy violet crown,
beloved of the poets, thou art the bulwark of Greece." O'Henry, the popular American
short-story author, borrowed this classical reference when he referred to Austin as the
"city with violet crowned hills." The club dedicated itself to the beautification of the city
through the planting and cultivation of flowers and shrubs.
— www.amoa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_lagunagloria
In the early spring of 1924, Mrs. Clara Driscoll Sevier called a meeting at her home,
Laguna Gloria, for those interested in community beautification. The poet O'Henry
called Austin "The City of the Violet Crown". So the name Violet Crown Garden
Club was adopted. The club met for 26 years in the Crystal Ballroom at the Driskill Hotel,
then at various other locations. They helped to build the garden center at Zilker
Botanical Garden and have been meeting there since their 40th anniversary in 1964.
—www.violetcrowngardenclub.org/
I was introduced to this article as a Word document in the Laguna Gloria Docent Handbook, but that document had some typos and several indications of missing text. I inquired about seeing the original source at Laguna Gloria without result. My quest then led me to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas, since UT's online library catalog indicated holdings of that periodical. Though the staff were very helpful, the particular issue I was looking for was not available either in hardcopy binders or on microfilm. Finally, at the Austin History Center, I found a more complete run of Gossip (archivally preserved, in fact, with the acid-based paper unyellowed — part of the R. Niles Graham-Pease collection). With the February 24, 1926 issue in hand, I made corrections and restored missing passages, producing the text above. I did however correct one obvious typo — "there" for "three" in the sentence "These holes were there to four feet in diameter and almost four feet deep."
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