Early photographs from the 1880s and 1890s show a garden in front of the Mansion, located near the steps that led guests from the circular driveway to the front staircase. It had become overgrown with, among many things, Lilies of the Valley and a menacing rosebush when Centre Furance Mansion gardener Margery Johnstone and her student assistant, John Levengood, rescued the area and expanded upon it.
Its location, close to the house and in view from the Mansion’s front parlor windows, this was an ideal spot for a garden that allowed for the scent of a fragrant combination of roses, perennials, and annuals to drift into the Mansion.
Plant List
Trees/Shrubs
- Rose “Louise Odier”
- Rosa mundi
- Hydrangea, white (actually separate from main bed) (Hydrangea arborescens)
- Flowering quince (actually separate from main bed) (Chaenomeles sp.)
- Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
- Japanese tree lilac (Syringa reticulata)
Perennials
- Lamb’s Ear (Stachys byzantine)
- Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ (Sedum telephium ‘Autumn Joy’)
- Goldenrod, dwarf (Solidago sp.)
- Siberian bugloss ‘Jack Frost’ (Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’)
- Garden phlox, White, purple, and pink varieties (Phlox paniculata)
- Tiger lily, double (Lilium lancifolium ‘Flore Pleno’)
- Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
- Maiden pink ‘Zing Rose’ (Dianthus deltoides ‘Zing Rose’)
- Ladybells (Adenophora confusa)
- Dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis)
- Herb-robert (Geranium robertianum)
- Rose campion (Lychnis coronaria)
- Spike speedwell, blue (Veronica spicata)
- Periwinkle vine (Vinca sp.)
- False indigo (Baptisia australis)
- Obedient plant, white (Physostegia virginiana)
- Iris, bearded (Iris germanica)
- Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum odoratum)
- Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis)
- Hostas (Hosta sp.)
- Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla)
- Japanese anemone, pink (Anemone × hybrid)
- Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis)
- Yucca (Yucca filamentosa)
- Daffodils (Narcissus sp.)
- Peony (Paeonia lactiflora)