Women in the garden in Japan, late 19th to early 20th century, via Photographs of Japan Collection, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, The New York Public Library.
Tag: topiary
Life in gardens: bay trees
Placing potted bay trees on the east wing terrace, White House, Washington, D.C., between 1910 and 1917, by Harris & Ewing, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (both photos).
East terrace, White House, 1923, by National Photo Company.
Topiary seat
“Deux femmes assises dans un jardin” (two women sitting in a garden), France, between 1859 and 1910, by Eugène Trutat, via Bibliothèque de Toulouse Commons on flickr.
On this clipped green throne, she could take in the sun and still be protected from the chilly winter or early spring breezes.
We can make do with so little, just the hint
of warmth, the slanted light.— Molly Fisk, from “Winter Sun“
Clipped weeping fig
Near the same corner with the pelican tree, there is a pharmacy with several nice topiary of Ficus benjamina (weeping fig).
Oiseau de France comme avant
I have looked at a lot of photographs of topiary lately, but this one is particularly spiffy (beau, somptueux, resplendissant).
It’s from the Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) was one of the first American women to achieve prominence as a professional photographer. After studying art in Paris, she returned home to Washington, D.C., in the 1880s and opened a photography studio about 1890. Her family’s social standing gave her access to the capital’s elite, including the First Family, politicians, and diplomats, and her business soon took off. In the 1910s, she turned to garden and estate photography.
