King Fountain & CroQuet Lawn Areas

landscapes and as models for other areas of the park;

• to develop a vision for the vegetation of the King Fountain and Croquet Lawn that can be put in place over time as resources allow;

Historic landscapes are understood through the identification of character-defining features which indude topography, vegetation, natural systems, circulation, non-habitable structures, site furnishings and objects, water features, spatial relationships and surroundings.4 When addressing vegetation the character-defining qualities of spatial organization also come into consideration as plants often form spaces. With all these basic preservation concepts and goals in mind, a long- range vegetation proposal has been developed for the King Fountain and Croquet Lawn areas.

The Proposed Vegetation Plan, shown on page 33, portrays the long-range plan for the vegetation of the King Fountain and Croquet Lawn areas. Historic trees identified on the Existing Vegetation Plan are retained on this plan. Over time, as these tree die, they should be replaced with the same genus and species of plant in the same location. This practice will insure accuracy in the renewal of at least these known elements of the landscape. All areas of the landscape of the King Fountain and Croquet Lawn are not fully documented in historic views. Using a combination of the Egerton Plan, historic plant list, published account, available historic views and the existing historic trees a historically based proposal for the vegetation renewal of these areas has been developed. Each element of the proposal is discussed by type in the following sections.

The formal trees surrounding the Croquet Lawn, edging the north and south of the King Fountain and lining the Mall are all shown as replaced. Nineteen elms were originally planted around three sides of the Croquet Lawn and disease resistent elms or trees of similar form such as Red oak, Zelkova and stature should be planted to replace them. The type of deciduous used trees around the King Fountain is not know for certain. Historic views indicate that they were large shade trees. Two remaining trees, an American linden and a Ginkgo are the only ones that appear to be located in the historic positions, with the linden as the most likely to be correct. The American Linden, a long-lived, formally shaped tree would be a good choice for the fifteen trees required. The Croquet Lawn and King Fountain areas are generally open at this time. The replacement process for these trees is a good early action project to begin the process of recapturing the spatial organization of these two areas. The Croquet Lawn has seen a recent increase in use, as a passive space ad for summer concerts. The addition of formal trees at the lawn edges would not inhibit these uses and would provide some shade for the open space.

The character-defining features of historic landscapes are described in the NPS Guidelines on pages
9 and 10, which are included in the Appendix.