GARDEISERS' CHROr^lCLE 



Beautifying Home Surroundings 



ARTHUR SMITH 



IX presenting one or two articles upon tlie above subject, 

 we propose to deal with it briefly from two main 



aspects, the underlying principles and the practical 

 carrying out of those principles. 



While the whole practice of Horticulture is undoubtedly 

 an Art, that part of it known as Landscape Gardening 

 calls for the fullest appreciation of, and the carrying out 

 of the highest artistic principles. We use the term Land- 

 scape hardening in preference to that of Landscape x\rch- 

 itecture. for ' the simple reason that Architecture, 

 in its proper sense, as being llie art or science 

 of building, has in itself no direct connection with garden- 

 ing. It is fashionable we know in some quarters to use 

 those calling themselves Landscape Architects to plan 

 home grounds, parks, etc., but the term is really a mis- 

 nomer, as architecture in its true sense deals only with 

 inanimate materials, like wood and stone, and these with 

 other dead things can be combined artistically or the 

 reverse. If one desires a somewhat higher-sounding 

 title than Landscape Gardener there appears to 1>e no 

 objection to that of Landscape Artist, although this may 

 quite as well refer to one cajjable of arranging colors 

 so as to produce a beautiful picture upon canvass, as 

 to one who can create the same thing upon the surface 

 of the ground by using living plants. 



Landscape is eminently a line art. The enumeration 

 of painting, sculpture and architecture as the only fine 

 arts is seriously deficient, although it has wide currency. 

 A fine art creates organized beauty, unites many dis- 

 similar parts into one harmonic whole. In this respect 

 landscape gardening stands upon a level with other fine 

 arts, and in some respects it even surpasses them. The 

 fact that some who ]>ractice landscape art are absolutely 

 wanting in artistic taste does not affect the question, as 

 the same deficiency is to be found among followers of 

 other arts, although unfortunately the landscape gardener 

 or the landscape architect can get away with and get 

 ])aid for. inartistic work with greater ease than the others. 



To some people the art of land.scape gardening is only 

 apijlicahle to landed estates and public parks. This, how- 

 ever, is far from being the case, in fact from some points 

 of view, it is more difficult to handle artistically a very 

 small ])iece of ground than it is an extensive area. The 

 fundamental principles of landscape gardening inay be 

 applied to home grounds regardless of their size. No 

 matter how small and modest they may l>e there are rules 

 to observe if vou want your surroumlings cliarming and 

 attractive. 



Mrs. \'an Kcns-elacr. in her delightful book, .hi out 

 of Doors, which deals with the theory but not with the 

 practice of landscape art. wrote: "If now we ask when 

 and where we need this Fine Art, must not the answer 

 be, whenever and wherever we can touch the surface of 

 the ground and the i)Iants it bears with the wi.sh to pro- 

 duce an organized result that shall ])lease the eye. It 

 does not matter whether we have in mind a great park 

 or a small city square, a large estate or a modest door- 

 yard, we must go about our work in an artistic spirit 

 if we want a good result. Two trees, six shrubs, a sera]) 

 of lawn and a dozen flowering plants may form either a 

 beautiful little picture or a huddled disarray of forms 

 and colors." 



A s.(>n(] deal is heard from time to lime re.garding 

 varicns "stvles" of gardens. Some large places have 



their so-called Dutch garden, Italian garden, and so on. 

 To the uninitiated, these names may have a superior 

 sound, but they generally mean nothing, and i have yet 

 to see an Italian garden in this country which has any 

 special or real relation to the typical gardens of Italy. 

 There is of course no particular harm in extensive 

 grounds containing" different gardens entirely separate 

 from each other, laid out in different manners ami giving 

 them any name one desires, so long as the artistic unity 

 of the whole is not impaired; for after all, '"What's in 

 a name?" It does not matter a great deal what kind 

 of designation is given to any particular garden, the 

 main thing to be considered is whether it is artistic and 

 has been laid out with good taste, an harmonious whole, 

 having for its fundamental principle, naturalness ; or on 

 the other hand if it contains numerous discords, has stiff- 

 ness and formality for its basic principles, and is therefore 

 unnatural. Producing a garden of the latter kind is not 

 landscape gardening at all, inasmuch as it has nothing in 

 common with landscape, although such gardens are un- 

 fortunately frequentlv planned by those calling them- 

 selves landscape architects. In this connection a definition 

 of real landscape gardening suggests itself namely that it 

 is the art of making a garden which shall be a landsca])e 

 or picture. 



There is no reason why we should not have true art 

 in the garden, and no reason why a garden should be 

 ugly, bare or conventional. The word art as used here 

 is "power to see and give form to beautiful things" and 

 this is based on the study of and love for Nature. The 

 work of the artist is always marked by its fidelity to 

 Nature, and all deviation from the truth of Nature, though 

 it niay jiass for a time, is, in the end. classed as drhascd 

 art. ' ' 



There are people who object to the term "natural 

 gardening" as being ine.xact, inasmuch as no gardening 

 result is absolutely natural, but at the most only natural- 

 istic. While to some extent this may lie true, at the same 

 time the word natural is used in contradistinction to that 

 of mmatural. for behind the contents of a natural garden 

 sits ])rimeval Nature, but Nature "to advantage dressed"; 

 Nature stamped with new qualities, led to new con- 

 clusions by man's skill in selection, and artistic combina- 

 tion. A natural garden i> man's transcript of the wood- 

 land world: it is connnon vegetation ennobled: wild 

 scenery neatly writ in man's small hand, and is .Xature's 

 rustic language made fluent and intelligible. 



.■\s there is uf) godd |iicture wliich does nut purtray 

 the beaulv of natural things, so no garden from a land- 

 sca])e ])oint of view can be good unless it grou|)s living 

 tilings from a natural way. P.y this it is not meant that 

 we .should reproduce in a garden exact fac-similes of 

 Nature's plantings, but that by adopting the fundamental 

 principles set forth in the wild growth of herbs, shrubs 

 •and trees, we shall be able to see and feel everywhere 

 in our gardens the sjiirit of Nature softened and refined 

 bv .\rt. Whatever the character of a natural landscape, 

 discord is unknown for everything in Nature always 

 liarmonizes. and it is in the avciidance of discords that 

 the landscape gardener shows his skill more tli.in in .'Uiy 

 other way. 



In creating a honu — b\- llic word hume w c mean a house 

 and its accessories, with the surrounding grounds — it is 

 obvious that some unnatural features nnist be introduced. 



