martinhouseclr

93 2 // SITE HISTORY & EVOLUTION maintenance required to prepare the landscape for the outdoor marriage of his only daughter. Among these preparations were temporary plantings consisting of a formal arrangement of matching specimens of Canterbury Bells ( Campanula ). The plants were arranged in the Summit Avenue lawn in two parallel trajectories that formed a processional track from the verandah’s northern stairs, north across the Summit lawn, turning west at the middle of the pergola, and continuing up over the 16-inch high terrace wall to a temporary alter at the foot of the pergola. A wood beam and ornamental rug were used to traverse the terrace wall, effectively making steps up to the wedding altar from the lawn below. This is notable, as this path cleared through what was once a continuous planting bed along the east side of the terrace. It is unclear if this “break” in the planting bed was made specifically for the wedding events or if it was created in the few years prior as an easier means of egress to the lower lawn. 221 Photographs also clearly reveal that this bed, unlike the bed on the west side of the terrace (against the pergola wall), was amorphous in form – a contrast to the rigid straight line along the pergola side that would have only been visible from the pergola or from the main house’s Unit Room. Perhaps the most spectacular and distinctive 221 Having been 16 inches high, the wall would have not been a simple thing to traverse for elderly or for maintenance purposes (wheel barrows, equipment, etc.). Thus, it is likely that this was opened up specifically for the wedding ceremony. use of the grounds documented at the Martin House occurred during this wedding, which included a complete transformation of the Courtyard area into a tented reception space. As evidenced by historic photograph, a portion of the driveway, the interior courtyard garden and the fountain wall were fully enveloped by an event tent to house the wedding reception. The clothes poles (decorated with what appear to be asparagus fern) and peonies (in full flower at the time) remained in place and the tent appears to have been custom fitted around the elm tree sited at the rear of the fountain wall. Walled in on the western side against the driveway, many sets of table and chairs – evidently for up to 300 guests – were set up on a covered improvised floor and the entire space, with the eastern side of the tent fully open with views to the great perennial border of the pergola edge garden. 222 Reciprocally, views from the pergola into the tent would have been enchanting as guests made their way through the pergola corridor towards the conservatory or the main house. More can be assembled from the wedding photographs as well, including the significant quantity of vines (Clematis and Boston Ivy) growing on the exterior of the main house near the verandah, Clematis and Wisteria on the central segment of the pergola roof, and a series of hanging flower baskets displayed in each portal between pergola columns – the latter likely being a wedding-only feature. Trellis wire also appears to have been fashioned to the roof 222 DDM, Memorandum, 14 June 1923, MFP-UB. Martin’s entry notes that 300 guests were in attendance at the wedding. corners of the Martin House verandah, allowing a climbing rose to make its way up vertically from the ground interior to the Floricycle. As for the Floricycle itself, perennials continued to homogenize, being almost swallowed by the shrub growth at the rear. Curiously, iris seem to dominate the inner ring adjacent to the interior lawn, despite not being the intended design in the original plan. 223 Phlox are visible behind, yet other plants expected to potentially be in bloom in early June are not clearly visible. Perennials such as foxtail lily, oriental poppy, poppy mallow, Jacob’s ladder, digitalis, and delphinium are not readily apparent and their location would make them vulnerable to the ever increasing mass of the mockorange, forsythia, rose of sharon and spindle tree. With the services of a full-time gardener, it is quite probable that the perennials of the Floricycle were often adjusted, changed, and removed and replaced in order to compensate for the growth of the adjacent shrubs and competition from other perennials. 224 Lastly, another feature clearly visible in the 223 Multiple species of iris were designed to be in the 4 th , 6 th , and 7 th rings. The 6 th and 7 th appearing to be at least partially covered by maturing shrubs at this point. According to the plan, the inner rings adjacent to the lawn (potentially flowing in early June) were to be campanula, balloon flower, and foxglove, among others. 224 This is likely the case with most of the perennials beds at the Martin House. Although the species of plant material perhaps remained generally consistent, a constant shuffling and rearranging would have been expected for gardens of this type. The wedding photos do show that perennials, such as Astilbe and Iris (clearly visible in wedding photos), of the Summit terrace areas seemed to remain generally in place to the 1905 planting plan.