Fransen uses plantings to disguise certain functional elements such as downspouts. "We must have them," he says, "but there are ways to soften them." He and Ruthie have accomplished this with jasmine and 'Cécile Brunner' climbing roses that turn the spouts into lush, living columns.

Fransen is quick to point out that Ruthie and Lou are dedicated gardeners. She chooses and rotates many of the seasonal plants herself. Her tastes run to perennials and a cool palette because, she says, "I love pastels and white, which are showy at night." A trip to Hyder House, a restored 18th-century house in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where they witnessed the lavish use of planters and window boxes, gave the Friersons the idea to include them in their garden.

Eleven planters hang as window boxes or along the railings of the second-floor terrace; six hang on the front fence; and seven are positioned between the columns outside the conservatory. The automatic watering system, installed by Lou, ensures that the planters always stay perfectly hydrated.

In the secret garden, Fransen has expanded on Freret's original design and installed new plantings. Eagleston hollies on the rear property line screen the neighboring house, and 'Mine-No-Yuki' sasanqua camellias have grown large enough to shape into sculpted beauties. The presiding personality at the center of this little jewel box garden is the circular fountain tended by statues representing the four seasons. Water from the antique urn-on-pedestal fountain spills like liquid fringe into a lush ecosystem created for the resident fish, blue iris, white hyacinth, and pickerel weed. Butterfly iris blossoms flutter above the surrounding planters.

The heady fragrance of blooming Confederate jasmine, sweet olive, roses, ligustrum, and gardenia surely must be the lagniappe of the Frierson garden -- that little something extra New Orleanians are so fond of giving each other.