ORANGE, Va. -- Over dinner at his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, James Madison frequently discussed American politics with visitors, including his close friend, Thomas Jefferson, as well as the Marquis de Lafayette.

Afterward, the father of the U.S. Constitution often relaxed by strolling the long path through Montpelier's large, formal garden, which is still lined by a 5-foot-tall hedge of English and American boxwood.

The 2-acre sanctury retains the dimensions, form and contours present during the life of the nation's fourth president. But it also shows the influence of Annie duPont and her family, who bought the estate in 1900. That year, Mrs. duPont confronted a scene that would have dismayed anyone who has ever worn gardening gloves:

"The only path was the earth-inclined path from the entrance to the foot of the garden. The box hedge was broken, bare at the bottom and overgrown on top when we got it. Small terraces had been plowed down. No walk, no path, no tile edging, no grass, no vases, no flowers -- just a wilderness of weeds."

Mrs. duPont added brick walls, Italian marble statuary from Europe, crescent-shaped beds and a wrought-iron garden gate whose design features the seed pods of honey locusts, gilded in gold leaf.

Today, Montpelier is being restored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the formal garden reflects both Mr. Madison's tastes and Mrs. duPont's passion for trees and flowers, said Sandy Mudrinich, a horticulturist who is overseeing its restoration and that of a Japanese garden on the property.

Mr. Madison's garden contained roses, stock, China pinks, love-lies-bleeding, amaranthus, hyacinths, jonquils, daffodils, narcissus, lillies, sweet William, peonies, tulips, snow drops, hollyhocks, primroses and fig trees, which are useful as well as decorative.

"He wanted to be the one to pick the figs from his garden," Ms. Mudrinich said, adding that the man who wrote the Bill of Rights also grew grapes and strawberries.

Whether you are inside or outside the formal garden's red brick walls, you cannot help but look up and marvel at the more than 50 species of trees on the grounds, including an astonishing cedar of Lebanon planted in Mr. Madison's time that towers near the garden's entrance.

Modern visitors will also see a saucer magnolia, gorgeous American hollies and two golden arborvitaes that frame the garden's upper tier. There is a 20-foot drop from the top of the garden to its lower level.

"The duPonts kept trees that were here and planted trees they loved," Ms. Mudrinich said. "They complemented what was already there with tree choices of their own. Right next to a Madison English oak, you'll have a duPont false cypress. Everything has room and space to grow."

The land is especially fertile because it contains the prized Davidson soil, the richest earth in the Piedmont. Packed with nutrients that are easily accessible to plants, the soil offers excellent drainage and good water holding capacity, Ms. Mudrinich said.

Work on the grounds at Montpelier is part of an overall effort to restore the estate to how it looked in Mr. Madison's day.

"We are in the process of interpreting Madison's landscape and adjusting what we have now to best fit the image of his landscape," Ms. Mudrinich said, adding that this task presents some hard choices.

"We have a Spanish fir that's a state champion. It is not very readily found outside of its native range, which is in Spain, where there's not many of them. This is a most unusual specimen and unusual in how good its form is. Yet, it is right between a series of buildings that existed in Madison's time, the slave quarters and smoke houses.

"If you are to redo that area to best illustrate Madison's use of that space, where does that tree fit? It's a duPont specimen. It doesn't go back to Madison's time, but its unique qualities give it a lot of worth and make it valuable," she said.

Old walnut trees that stand behind the mansion also pose problems. They can drop nuts on unsuspecting visitors and staff.

"They are Madison trees, so ideally you would replant them. But they are in a heavily trafficked area. Are they the wisest choice? How precise does that interpretation need to be to still give you the flavor and essence of his landscape?" Ms. Mudrinich said.

While the garden she loved has evolved, Annie duPont would likely still recognize -- and love -- the property she admired a century ago:

"The grounds around the house owe their ornaments more to nature than to art," she wrote.