The quarter-acre garden surrounding the Maxwell Mansion was created based on the design principles of two famous Victorian landscape architects, Andrew Jackson Downing and Frank J. Scott. They felt the setting should harmonize with the house.  One hundred and fifty varieties of trees, plants, shrubs, ferns, and flowers now fill the area. Curving brick walks lead gracefully around the property.

The front and right garden was inspired by the pre-Civil War garden concepts of Andrew Jackson Downing. He promoted clumps of bold, irregular plantings that look picturesque as in a wild forest. The deer enhances the woodsy area, adds surprise and seems appropriate to the surrounding natural landscape. The English had decreed that plantings close to the house create darkness, dampness and hence illness.

Frank J. Scott, a writer several decades later, inspired the left and rear garden. The look is daintier incorporating a lawn with intricate flower beds. Scott’s plan also included a practical kitchen garden; ours is planted with fruits. A hemlock topiary arch is a Scott idea as is the arbor-vitae screen positioned to protect the fruit trees (two apples, a pear and a cherry) and the run of red currants. 

“Those positioned opposite large windows of parlours may demand much more skill and arrangement.”-Frank J. Scott