The garden at Hillwood is divided into quadrants separated by paths, with a shallow pool in the center. Each quadrant contains a low hedge of English boxwood tightly clipped into a fluid, organic pattern of scrolls. The French doors from the mansion’s west wing open onto a terrace that features an elegant swan fountain of pink marble, dropping water into a basin lined with glass tiles. A small frog fountain spews water into a second basin at the opposite end of the garden. Water flows from both basins, spilling over into limestone rills and rippling into the center pool, where lead putto riding a dolphin and a seahorse send a stream of water splashing into the middle of the pool. On a pedestal above the frog, a terra cotta statue of Diana, goddess of the hunt, seems to be walking out of the wooded area behind the garden, as if she is returning from the chase with her faithful dog at her side. White marble sphinxes are perched on the balustrade of the terrace, surveying the scene below.

The entire garden is enclosed within a high wall of English ivy, lending a sense of safety and privacy to the space. Unexpected niches at the center of the north and south sides of the ivy wall, graced with tall, limestone urns and comfortable chairs, provide an even more intimate experience. Guests frequently linger in these spaces to enjoy the relaxing timbre of trickling and splashing water, while they study the sensuous shapes of the boxwood scrolls placed so carefully within the very formal, straight lines of the French parterre garden’s foundation.