For more than a century, hand-laid stone walls have played an important role at Greenwood in creating a terraced landscape and other defined spaces in the garden. The quality of the original craftsmanship of the walls is evident in the way they have persevered through time, only needing repair in the last several years. We use the winter months, when the garden is closed to the public, to address maintenance projects such as these.

Recently, we have been rebuilding the low stone walls that define the Teahouse Lawn. The original walls were constructed to give the appearance of dry-laid stone, a technique of stacking perfectly fitted stones into a wall that does not require mortar as a reinforcement, though in this case, “hidden mortar” was applied internally to maintain the structure of the wall through time. After more than 100 years of weathering the seasons in the garden, the internal mortar had disintegrated to the point that the walls had begun to collapse, a situation further exacerbated by the weight of the large urns flanking the curved steps at the entrance to the lawn.

To the naked eyed, the restored walls will appear as before because they are reconstructed from the original stone and using the same dimensions.

Other stone walls from the 1920s have been restored, including those surrounding the Croquet Lawn, a project completed last winter to accommodate the area’s revised grading. Luckily, we were able to use stone original to the site.

Greenwood Gardens has changed dramatically over the last two decades since its inception, thanks to carefully planned projects undertaken to address a century of wear on the garden and to accommodate the public. A new presentation entitled Celebrating Twenty Years of Nature, Beauty, and History: The Creation of Greenwood Gardens highlights how the founders’ dreams of an enchanted 28-acre historic oasis became reality, along with insights into the unique challenges and the required renovations. That presentation, along with Q&A, will be given by Abby O’Neill, Executive Director, will take place on March 16, 2023.

–A special thank you to Santagata Landscaping for their assistance with restoring the stone walls at the Teahouse and Croquet Lawn.