16* 



KKVIEW. 



flower garden properly so called, has generally been too much governed by 

 the laws of landscape gardening, and these often ill-understood, and mis- 

 applied. In the days of "clipped hedges and pleached alleys," the parteriea 

 and flower-beds were of a description the most grotesque and intricate 

 imaginable. At a subsequent period, when the natural and the picturesque 

 became the objects of imitation in the park, there appeared the most extra- 

 vagant attempts at wildness in the garden. The re-mlt has been equally 

 unfortunate. It is not meant that when there are merely a few patches of 

 flowers by way of foreground to the lawn, they should not be. subordinated 

 to the principles which regulate the more distant and bolder scenery ; but 

 wherever there is a flower garden of considerable magnitude, and in a 

 separate situation, we think it should be constructed on principles of its own. 

 In such a spot, the great object must be to exhibit to advantage the graceful 

 forms and glorious hues of flowering plants and shrubs j and it is but seldom 

 that mere elegancies in the forms of compartments, and other trickeries of 

 human invention, can bear any comparison with these natural beauties. To 

 express the peculiar nature of garden scenery, as distinct from the pictures- 

 que in landscape, Mr. Loudon has invented the term gardentsque ; and, 

 whatever may be thought of the term itself, it is very desirable that the 

 distinction should be preserved. 



Two varieties of flower gardens have chiefly prevailed in Britain; one in 

 which the ground is $turf, and the pattern, so to speak, is composed of a 

 variety of figures cut out of the turf, and planted with flowers and shrubs ; 

 and another, when the flower-beds are separated by gravel walks, without 

 being dispersed, with grass at all. The choice of one or other of these 

 varieties ought greatly to depend upon the situation. When the flower 

 garden is to be seen from the windows, or any other elevated point of view, 

 from which the whole or the greater part of the design may be perceived at 

 once, perhaps the former should be preferred. Where the surface is irre- 

 gular, and the situation more remote, and especially where the beauty of 

 flowers is the chief object of contemplation, the choice should probably fall 

 on the latter. This variety, too, seems preferable, on the principle of con- 

 trast, where there are large lawns in the outer grounds, in order that kept 

 (or smoothly mown) grass may not be found every where. 



Respecting the situation of the flower garden, no very precise directions 

 can be k given, as it must be influenced by the size of the domain, the nature 

 of the lawns, and the site of the mansion to which it is attached. Generally 

 speaking, it should not be at any great distance from the house ; and in 

 places where there is no distant view of importance, it may be constructed 

 under the windows. In retired scenes, it is delightful to step out of the 

 drawing-room into compartments of flowers, in the vicinity of a greenhouse 

 or conservatory. On the other hand, when the park is spacious, and the 

 prospects extensive and picturesque, it is perhaps better that the flower 

 garden should be at some distance, but not more than a quarter of a mile, 

 out of sight of the house, and with an easy access in any sort of weather ; 

 an arrangement which would give an agreeable termination to a short walk, 

 a desirable matter in most cases, for it has been often remarked that many 

 parts of extensive grounds remain unvisiled, because they afford no re- 

 markable object to attract the attention. 



The particular form of a flower garden is equally beyond the inculcation 

 of specific rules. Indeed, it may be of any shape, and, except where the 

 dimensions are extremely limited, the boundaries should not be continuously 

 visible. The taste of the proprietor or designer, and the capabilities of the 

 situation, must determine not only the external configuration, but also the 

 arrangement of the interior parts. By judicious management, it may be 

 made to pass through shrubbery, gradually assuming a more woodland cha- 

 racter, and groups of trees, into the park on the one hand, and. into the 

 kitchen garden or orchard on the other. 



(To be Continued.) 



