Many old gardens — even impressive ones like this — understood the need for a porch…and a great view from that porch. Here the homey back porch looks out on a somewhat formal garden design. The boxwood hedges are neatly clipped, but the flowers inside seem exuberant and ready to break out of their confines given half a chance.

This garden also sported something many of us dream of today…a view to the surrounding countryside. This upstate New York location reminds me of the childhood in Ohio. The land is flat, but the view is broken by fence rows, wood lots and streams, which help to provide visual interest.

Here in Los Angeles, nearly every houses hemmed in by fences and walls so gaining any sort of “view” from your garden is difficult, if not impossible. Even large gardens such as this look inward, not outward. Hillside homes can gain some sort of view, but the real estate in these areas is out of reach financially for most.

["The Appletrees," Henry Eugene Coe house, Southampton, New York. (LOC) 

“The Appletrees,” Henry Eugene Coe house, Southampton, New York. (LOC)

Johnston, Frances Benjamin,, 1864-1952,, photographer.

[“The Appletrees,” Henry Eugene Coe house, Southampton, New York. View from porch]

[1914]

1 photograph : glass lantern slide, hand-colored ; 3.25 x 4 in.

Notes:
Site History. House architecture: 19th century farmhouse with additions. Associated Name: Eva Johnston (Mrs. Henry E.) Coe.
On slide (handwritten): “C,” “Coe, Mrs. H.E., Southampton,” and no. “353”(?) Also, gold star sticker and blue star sticker.
Photographed when Frances Benjamin Johnston and Mattie Edwards Hewitt worked together.
Title, date, and subject information provided by Sam Watters, 2011.
Forms part of: Garden and historic house lecture series in the Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection (Library of Congress).
Published in Gardens for a Beautiful America / Sam Watters. New York: Acanthus Press, 2012. Frontispiece plate for Gardens of the East.

Subjects:
Gardens–New York (State)–Southampton–1910-1920.
Flowers–New York (State)–Southampton–1910-1920.
Porches–New York (State)–Southampton–1910-1920.

Format: Lantern slides–Hand-colored–1910-1920.

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA,hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.16274

Call Number: LC-J717-X100- 65

Previously in Garden History:

Read more on this topic:

  1. Garden History: “Killenworth,” George Dupont Pratt house, Glen Cove, New York, ca. 1918
  2. Garden History: Mrs. Francis Lemoine Loring house, 700 South San Rafael Avenue, San Rafael Heights, Pasadena, California. (LOC)
  3. Garden History: “Villa Sciarra,” George Wurts house, via Calandrelli, Rome, Italy. (LOC)
  4. Garden History: Wisteria blooms in Davis Garden (Locust Valley, New York), 1930
  5. Garden History: Santa Barbara Mission, 2201 Laguna Street, Santa Barbara, California. (LOC)