The program for the garden came from the decision to maintain the traditional appearance of a Bucks County farm, with the outbuildings and landscape design evolving stylistically as though they had been added at different periods of time. Many aspects of the layout of garden rooms adjacent to the house reflect formal gardens created during the early 20th century. Instead of using the Pennsylvania fieldstone prevalent in the area, many of the walls are poured concrete, a technique perfected in the early twentieth century by noted Bucks County historian and builder, Henry Chapman Mercer.