A Glorious Jaunt through the Royal Gardens of Oz

                                By
                          Melody Grandy

     The Royal Emerald City Palace gardens, that is.  Why not an 
article that takes in the Palace itself and everything inside it?  
_Many_ Palace and grounds descriptions pepper the Oz Canon and its 
Oz Club sequels.  When fed to the computer, sorted, commented on, 
architectural terms from the dictionary added in, the lot boiled 
down into a first draft that could BE the Baum Bugle!   
     Therefore we'll be serving up the large article one slice at 
a time.  This is the Garden slice.  Enjoy your tour!
     The landscaping is part of the Palace, providing clues to 
its layout, so this series of excerpts begins with the gardens 
and wall: "(The Palace) gardens and ample grounds were surrounded 
by a separate wall, not so high or thick as the (city) wall... 
but more daintily designed and built all of green marble."  
_Emerald City_ calls it a 'high wall.'  Another passage adds it 
"was a great wall, thickly encrusted with glittering emeralds."  
In _Jack Pumpkinhead_ Mogodore, unassisted by ladder, hitched up 
to peer over this 'great wall,' and then climbed over it with his 
army.  So the garden wall must be seven or eight feet tall. 
    It is almost surely a great square or rectangular wall; in 
his title book, the Hungry Tiger runs to "the remotest _corner_ of 
the garden."  Difficult to find a corner in a round wall! 
     The wall has a North and South gate, maybe a West gate, and 
probably no East gate.  McGraw's excellent _Forbidden Fountain of
Oz_ called the South Gates "wrought-iron gates, gold-tipped."  
("Jewel-studded" in _Dorothy and the Wizard_.)  Kabumpo, heading up 
the South Drive, spots Ozma heading straight from her own nearby 
apartments.  Baum puts Ozma's apartments at the front of her 
Palace, so the front Palace and gardens face South.  
     Therefore, when Kabumpo first 'strode...through the North 
Gate and down the Main Drive' he 'swung up' the back steps into 
the palace.  _Tik-Tok_ put the stables behind the palace, so   when 
Sawhorse in _Magical Mimics_ dashed down the stable drive to the 
street leading to the City gates, _he_ used the North Gate. 
     In _Land,_ the Sawhorse dashes from the Palace to Winkie Land.  
To make a beeline, as Baum implies, the Sawhorse would need a 
West gate.  In _Wishing Horse_, Ozma's parade proceeds to the West 
Palace gardens, likely through a West gate.  We place a gate -- 
and drive -- there by implication rather than a bald statement 
by any Oz historians. 
     None of the histories speak of or imply an East gate.  If 
there _is_ one, it's used seldom or not at all. 
     
     The North Gardens

     _Wizard_ makes first mention of the palace garden when Dorothy 
is awakened by a "green cock, that lived in the back yard (North) 
of the palace, and the cackling of a hen..."  In _Emerald City_ 
Dorothy suggests the back yard "where the cabbages grow an' the 
chickens are playing" as a better place to welcome Uncle Henry 
and Aunt Em.  Sure enough, after their abrupt arrival in Oz, they 
"went into the back yard...walking along winding paths some 
distance... "  "Winding paths" hint of curved paths, per Ozian 
tastes, rather than straight. 
     Uncle Henry and Aunt Em have to walk a way to reach an 
"attractive little house," Billina's "fine house," perhaps in the 
northeast gardens near the stable.  In "the house, which Aunt Em 
declared as neat as a pin.  ...all Billina's chairs were 
roosting-poles made of silver... 
     "Then they had to go into the back rooms occupied by 
Billina's nine Dorothys and two Daniels...
     "In the yards were all the children and grandchildren (of 
Billina's eleven chicks)."
     In _Kabumpo_, Wag tells Peg: "There's a kitchen garden over 
there near the royal stables."  With carrots, lettuce, and no 
doubt other fruits and vegetables, too.  "Sitting in a cabbage 
bed," Peg examines her gold box by the "light streaming from the 
stable window."  The garden and stable are that close.  Assuming 
the length of the stable parallels the North drive, at least part 
of the kitchen gardens are located east of the stables. 
     Assuming the Royal Stables are separate from the palace, 
they are part of the North grounds.  In _Wizard_, the Palace had no 
stables.  So the Cowardly Lion sleeps in a chamber inside the 
Palace.  In _Land,_ the Sawhorse is put in the treasury.  In 
_Dorothy and the Wizard_, Jim the Cab-Horse gets a fine set of 
rooms in the back of the palace, as does the Sawhorse.  But by 
_Tik-Tok of Oz_, "(The Lion, Tiger, Hank, and the Sawhorse) were in 
a beautiful stable in the rear of Ozma's palace, where the wooden 
Sawhorse...lived in a gold-paneled stall, and where there were 
rooms for the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger...filled with 
soft cushions...to lie upon and golden troughs...to eat from."  
     The stable is built of marble, has a marble floor, and a 
richly carved, presumably marble, entrance.  In _Wishing Horse_, 
the stalls have showers.  Since the West gardens are more 
'public' than the East, the stable must be east of the north 
drive for the animals' privacy.  Here must also be a coach-house, 
parking-lot or both for the Red Wagon, Ozma's chariot, and any 
other conveyances Ozma or guests might bring to the Palace.         
     So most of the North gardens are devoted to mundane uses 
like growing fruits, vegetables, and chickens.  And stabling 
animals, chariots, and Red Wagons.  
          
     The West Gardens

     In _Wishing Horse_, Ozma's parade proceeds "in triumph to the 
West Gardens of the park."  "... they wound through the streets 
of the capital, ending up in the West Gardens of the Palace, 
which seems big enough for gymnastic displays."  But abundant 
trees, flowerbeds, benches, statuary, and other garden ornaments 
might make that impractical.  Ozma's parade probably entered the 
West gate, going down the West drive.  The West drive probably 
crosses the Main Drive into the passageway leading into the 
Palace's interior courtyards.   
    Thompson mentions a pond, in a sentence about Kabumpo leaving 
the Palace for Pumperdink in Gillikin country.  Logically, he 
must have seen the pond during his ramble from the stable to the 
North Gate.  His view of the northeast gardens being blocked by 
the stable, the pond must be in the northwest garden.  "Shaggy 
and Dear Deer are running races round the pond!", apparently the 
same one, in _Ozoplaning_.  
     Summing up, the West gardens seem devoted to public use. 

     The South Gardens

     In _Dorothy and the Wizard_, Baum calls the South gardens a 
"courtyard, (1) where splendid flowers were blooming and pretty 
fountains shot their silvery sprays into the air."  
 
    1. Because a courtyard is a space enclosed by walls adjoining 
or in a large building, one wonders if the enclosure Baum 
imagines is the main garden wall itself, or subdividing walls 
within the wall. 
 
    Jim the Cabhorse "drew the buggy along the jewelled driveway 
to the great (South) entrance of the royal palace."  The South 
Drive could be a straight drive ending in a traffic circle before 
the entrance, with the Main Drive branching west from the South 
drive to continue around the West Palace.  
     In _Forbidden Fountain_, Ozma looks from her sitting room at a 
marble courtyard two stories below.  Lowering herself to the 
courtyard, she and Lambert run for the nearest clump of trees, 
which shade ozball courts.  And just beyond the courts is a 
grassy knoll, topped by a bronze statue of the Scarecrow as ruler 
of Oz.  The knoll slopes down gently to the South Drive.  
     So the South gardens, to a degree, are open to the public, 
too.  

     The East Gardens

     In _Forbidden Fountain_, Emeralda wanders away from the Clover 
Fair festivities, in the public South and West gardens, "around 
the east...palace into an area of trees and little mossy paths 
and secluded walled gardens with doors so overgrown with 
flowering vines that they were all but hidden.  They were...the 
oldest of the palace gardens, closed to all but Princess Ozma and 
other palace inhabitants -- and even they seldom had reason to 
penetrate into the farthest, half-forgotten ones." 
     _Forbidden Fountain_ goes on to say:  "... When, peeking into 
the remotest garden of all, (Emeralda) spied a fountain, she did 
not hesitate.  Tugging hard at the door -- its hinges were rusty 
and a tangle of honey-blossom nearly bound it shut -- she 
squeezed through and ran to the great golden basin, from which 
the water bubbled up into a sparkling jet and fell back 
musically.  There was a sign, quite faded and vine-covered ... 
mounted on a silvery stake beside the golden basin.  It said:  
ALL PERSONS ARE FORBIDDEN TO DRINK AT THIS FOUNTAIN."  So here 
in the East garden is the famous Forbidden Fountain.  (2) 
 
   2. However, the Fountain's wall must have been built _after_ the 
invasion of the Nome King's armies.  No wall is mentioned in 
_Emerald City._
 
     "On fine days, Ozma," according to Thompson, "always has 
breakfast in her private garden," probably surrounded by wall or 
hedge, and in the East gardens. 
     Perhaps not the same private garden as in _Forbidden_ 
_Fountain._  Here, Ozma heads "for the far (East) side of the 
palace and her favorite rose garden."  She hears 'only the 
twittering of finches in the jade bushes," perhaps outside this 
particular private garden.  "...she...stepped into her favorite 
rose garden and closed the door... sat on a little greenwood 
bench..."  And after she has lost her memory: "But the door 
through which she had entered...was behind her, with a huge 
sugar-bush in the way.  The door she saw was a little gate to the 
left of the bench, all but hidden beneath a mass of clinging-
vine.  Beyond was an even more neglected garden, fragrant with 
honeybush and swarming with bees.  Ozma, follow(ed) the grass-
grown little path across it... Ducking under a tangled arbor of 
the clinging-vine, she found herself in a sunny space gone wild 
to goldencups and silverbells, over which a million butterflies 
danced, looking like airborne flowers themselves.  But she could 
see no further gate."  After pushing through a wall of thorns to 
escape this "neglected garden," Ozma finds herself far north of 
the Emerald City.  The vine-covered gate must have been a magic 
portal to this mysterious 'neglected garden.' 
     Summing up, the East gardens are the private gardens for the 
palace residents.  

     The Central Gardens

     Yes, the gardens have a _middle_!  Only _Land of Oz_ speaks of 
the courtyard "in the center of the great palace."  It has, or 
had, the huge Royal Palm Tree and at least one lawn for Scarecrow 
and Jack Pumpkinhead to play quoits.  In later books, at least 
some passing mentions of the gardens must refer to the interior 
courtyard, an important clue to palace layout.           

     Garden miscellanea

     Neill mentions terraced gardens around the palace.  Likely 
because the palace rests on a gentle slope.  In _Road_, the 
athletic games had to be held outside the City; no Palace garden 
lawn was big enough.  Neill's terraces would be a further 
hindrance to audience and athletes alike.     
     Baum tells of the "delightful and extensive" gardens as a 
whole: "splendid trees and flowering shrubs and statuary and 
fountains abounded.  One could walk for hours in this fascinating 
park and see something interesting at every step.  In one place 
was an aquarium, where strange and beautiful fish swam; at 
another spot all the birds of the air gather daily to a great 
feast which Ozma's servants provided for them... There was also 
the Fountain of Oblivion, (Baum mentions a marble bench near 
it) ... But there were also fountains that were delightfully 
perfumed, and fountains of delicious nectar, cool and richly 
flavored, where all were welcome to refresh themselves."  The 
aquarium could be _anywhere_ in the South or West gardens.  The 
bird feast is likely near the kitchen, yet where the public can 
see it -- the Northwest. 
     The gardens must have more roses than any other flower.  In 
_Land of Oz_, Mombi transforms into a red rose growing on a bush.  
A later Thompson book mentions a rose garden.  In _Merry-Go-Round_, 
Billina flutters out from beneath a rosebush.  Then there is the 
fateful rose garden of _Forbidden Fountain. _
     Other palace garden ornamentals include: flowers, trees, 
bushes, high hedges, shrubs and vines.  Plants are so ephemeral 
and interchangeable -- with magic, even large trees could be 
moved easily -- I won't even _guess_ where the following were when 
the Oz historians mentioned them.  In _Rinkitink_, the Wizard 
plants shoetrees.  Thompson graces the grounds with a tall 
breakfast tree, tulip trees, a button bush, a balloon vine, 
flowering arches, a butterfly bush, lime-drop trees, flowering 
plum trees, a grove of nameless trees, and a snowball bush.  The 
McGraws plant a lily bush, a snowball bush with real snowballs, a 
lantern tree, a winterbush, a green-gage tree, jade bushes, a 
sugar-bush, clinging-vine, greenwood trees, Quadling poppies, a 
lavender marshmallow bush, and whiffletrees edging the palace 
drive near the East gardens.  
     Because of the last, it is questionable whether the East 
gardens contain a driveway.  The McGraws don't mention Ozma 
crossing a drive in her escape, and a drive would disturb the 
privacy of the East gardens, so there are probably paths only.  
We _have_ established the green marble drive from the South Gate 
which circles around the West palace to the North Gate.  And a 
West drive intersecting with this Main Drive.  
     There are other buildings in the gardens besides the stable 
and chicken house.  "Mogodore's men march the palace servants" 
into "a small summer house.(3)"  Such vast grounds likely have 
several. 
  
     3. 'A small, open structure in a garden, park, etc. for 
providing a shady place.'  
 
     Omby Amby emerges from his cottage at the garden (likely 
South) gates, going through a patch of trees to the palace in 
_Kabumpo_.  
     Only fountains of marble and gold appear in the Oz canon and 
Oz Club sequels, but fountains wrought or carved of other 
materials could exist.  Thompson mentions a 'lovely fairy 
fountain' in the remotest part of the garden, perhaps in the 
private East. 
     In _Wishing Horse_, Dorothy leans against a golden faun set 
near a crystal pool outside the Banquet Hall (in the Northwestern 
Palace.)  This could be a different, smaller body of water than 
the pond, and could be west or north of the palace. 
     Palace garden benches in the Oz books are of gold or marble.  
Oz folks lounge in hammocks in several Thompson books.  In 
_Kabumpo_, Glinda checks a golden sundial set in the center of a 
flower bed.  Waddy stumbles over a gold flower urn in _Speedy_.
  
     So we diagram the gardens like this:









    I hope you've enjoyed your jaunt through the Royal Gardens of 
Oz, and that you will return to tour the Royal Palace of Oz. 


                             The End