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Formal Garden

Mathematical precision, Versailles-inspired sculpture, and color from spring through autumn.
Designer / Architect: Bruce Price
Year / Era: Designed before 1910
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Contact Information
Michael Gross, Ph.D.
Director of Arboretum; Professor of Biology
732-987-2373
[email protected]
Office Hours

Introduction

The Formal Garden is a study in order and artistry — an elliptical flower garden laid out with geometric precision, its maze-like boxwood paths leading to a bronze replica of a fountain cast in 1670 for the Gardens of the Palace of Versailles. Designed by Bruce Price before 1910, the garden offers one of the longest color seasons of any garden on campus, with something in bloom from May through October.

Formal Garden Highlights

Bronze satyr sundial — replica of a 1670 Pierre LeGros fountain from Versailles

Elliptical layout with maze-like boxwood hedge borders

Early-blooming peonies and irises around the sundial at Memorial Day

Nearby — two life-size bronze falconer sculptures by Eugene A. Lansere (1876 & 1878)

Peak Bloom

Best Times to Visit: • Around Memorial Day — Peonies around the garden perimeter and irises around the central sundial at peak bloom • June – September — Russian sage flowering around the sundial • May – July — Lavender in bloom in the 15 small boxwood-bordered beds • Overall color season: May 15 – October 1

Description

The Formal Garden’s elliptical shape and boxwood-bordered pathways reward slow exploration. The maze-like walks lead visitors through 15 small flower beds — planted with lavender — to the garden’s focal point: a bronze sculpture of three satyrs supporting a sundial.

The sculpture is a replica of part of a pair of fountains cast in 1670 by Pierre LeGros, found in the Gardens of the Palace of Versailles along the Allée d’Eau between the Dragon Fountain and the Bath of the Nymphs of Diana.

The trees ringing the garden include American Holly (Ilex opaca), White Pine (Pinus strobus), Norway Spruce (Picea abies), Moss Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera), Ashleaf Maple (Acer negundo), Japanese Apricot (Prunus mume), Common Horsechestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), Sapphireberry (Symplocos paniculata), Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia), and White Ash (Fraxinus americana).

After visiting the Formal Garden, walk around the back of the Mansion to see the large stand of pines and the pair of life-size bronze falconer sculptures by Eugene A. Lansere, cast in 1876 and 1878.

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