 The terrace, porches, and plantings surrounding the mansion anchor it into the landscape, as does the North Garden. This formal garden room is a living extension of the mansion itself. Blithewold’s landscape architect John De Wolf designed and constructed the garden between 1910 and 1911.
The North Garden replaced what had been a gentle slope from the house to the Great Lawn. Its three stone walls and twin sets of stone steps create an intimate space that borrows the views of the sweeping lawns and broad vistas to Narragansett Bay. Fountains and pools add to the sense of closeness as they mask the sounds outside the garden.
Deep borders frame a lawn the size of a tennis court—the perfect location for a wedding ceremony, or quiet contemplation with easel and watercolors. Children enjoy the mosaic of stones within the small pool and the stepping-stones into
 the wooded Bosquet beyond.
The garden contains a wide selection of perennials, tender perennials, small shrubs, annual, and bulbs. Salvias—perennial and tender—are a mainstay of the garden. The dark blue flower stalks of Salvia ‘Indigo Spires’ often last through October. Shrubs such as the ballerina rose, limelight hydrangea, and climbing hydrangea on the walls provide a framework for the garden.
Spring bulbs, lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis), catmint (Nepeta sp.), yellow foxglove (Digitalis grandiflora ‘Temple Bells’), speedwells (Veronica sp.), bluestars (Amsonia hubrichtii and A. tabernaemontana), blue indigo (Baptisia australis), anemones, phlox, hardy geraniums, leadwort (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides), and asters set the stage for color throughout the summer and well into the autumn.
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