Bulletin - Fall 1979 - North American Rock Garden Society

mistaken for tumbled columns. In onewas a collection of plants from theCaucasus, in another plants from theSpanish Sierra — all out in the fullplant-huddling sun.Though my first visit was in Augustwhen few plants were in bloom, thevery health of the vegetation, the beautyof the foliage, and most of all theabsolute clarity and beautiful proportionsof the structural setting mademy spine tingle with admiration —and a touch of envy for the imaginationand artistry that had invented this stunningconceit. Here was indeed, a pieceof architecture, simple and straightforward,using the most prosaicmaterials. It combined in a magicalway the romantic beauty of a tumbledGreek temple and the starkestangularity of a modern building. Formfollowed function — less was more.Then a couple of years later I returned.No longer along the approachfrom the house did I see the openface of the three walls. Across the frontwas a new concrete block wall, notas high as the other walls nor as stark.As I approached once again down thelong narrow sweep of grass, it wasas though I were looking toward, nota Greek temple, but rather a Moorishor Middle-Eastern building.With some ordinary concrete blockand an elegant selection of pierced andpatterned ones a front wall had beenconstructed. This filagreed wall extendedon either side beyond the originalside walls, which had also been extendedoutward into two set-backs to format each end of the building elaborate,almost sculptured entrances. The fronthad balanced square juts and a longbay, the lower portion solid, but toppedfrom end to end with fluted and openspacedblocks. One entered from eitherside through a Moorish gateway.Against this front wall, inside thegarden, was a whole new built-up rockgarden constructed entirely of the sameThe Sanctum in Greenport, N.Y.H. L. Foster186