68 ROSES FOR ENGLISH GARDENS 



illustrate such a Rose garden as I think should be 

 made. In this, as in so much other gardening, it 

 is much to be desired that the formal and free ways 

 should both be used. If the transition is not too abrupt 

 the two are always best when brought into harmoni- 

 ous companionship. The beauty of the grand old 

 gardens of the Italian Renaissance would be shorn of 

 half their impressive dignity and of nearly all their 

 poetry, were they deprived of the encircling forest- 

 like thickets of Arbutus, Evergreen Oak, and other 

 native growths. The English Rose garden that I 

 delight to dream of is also embowered in native 

 woodland, that shall approach it nearly enough to 

 afford a passing shade in some of the sunny hours, 

 though not so closely as to rob the Roses at the root. 



My Rose garden follows the declivities of a tiny, 

 shallow valley, or is formed in such a shape. It is 

 approached through a short piece of near home wood- 

 land of dark-foliaged trees, for the most part ever- 

 greens ; Yew, Holly, and Scotch Fir. The approach may 

 come straight or at a right angle ; a straight approach 

 is shown in the plan. As it belongs to a house of 

 classic design and of some importance, it will be 

 treated, as to its midmost spaces, with the wrought 

 stone steps and balustraded terraces, and such other 

 accessories as will agree with those of the house itself. 



The bottom of the little valley will be a sward of 

 beautifully kept turf, only broken by broad flights 

 of steps and dwarf walls where the natural descent 

 makes a change of level necessary. The turf is some 

 thirty feet wide ; then on either side rises a retaining 



