February, 1916. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



33 



Informal Planting of the Home Grounds' 



Miss Mary Yates, Port Credit 



THE type of gardening known as 

 formal requires suitable areas 

 and special attention to make 

 it a success. In fact, formal flower 

 gardening, as such, should be in places 

 apart, and not in the landscape at all. 

 Given special treatment, they have 

 great value of their own, but it should 

 be recognized that they are an indi- 

 vidual study, as indeed are. all per- 

 fect types. The Italian garden, with 

 its statuary, and costly symmetrical 

 bedding out, may be an interesting ad- 

 junct to large pleasure grounds. It 

 certainly is not in its true place as the 

 main planting of the small yard, or the 

 rural home. Delight is to be gained by 

 making Italian gardens: Or Japanese 

 gardens : Or paved gardens : Or by 

 gardening in walls : Or by the arrange- 

 ment of Dutch gardens, rockery bor- 

 ders, shrubbery, or a mass of roses : 

 Or by individual collections of irises, 

 hardy asters, paeonies : Or by making 

 bog gardens and fern alleys : And, 

 not the least enjoyable, by collecting 

 the native species. 



But let these bear the same relation- 

 ship to the whole that the library or 

 music does to the dwelling place. Let 

 them be planned for, and approached 

 with due reserves. 



Planting to Make a Picture. 



The free, informal treatment of gar- 

 den spaces cannot be too strongly re- 

 commended for home grounds. 



Was it, do you think, to geometric 

 designs in geraniums and coleus that 

 Tennyson's immortal lover invited his 

 sweetheart when he urged her to 

 "Come into the garden, Maud?" 



•Extract from a paper read at the last annual 

 convtntlon of the Ontario Horticultural Asso- 

 ciation. 



"Come into the garden, Maud ! 



For the black bat night has flown, 

 And the woodbine spices are wafted 

 abroad. 



And the musk of the rose is blown. ' ' 



Neither would it be, I fancy, to -the 

 rows of the specialist's collection, or 

 to unsympathetic plantings of the dot- 

 ted type, but rather to a place of quiet 

 charm, filled perhaps with "the music 

 of some bird-haunted English lawn," 

 where the plantings made a picture. 



Too many gardens are only semi-liv- 

 ing, and are visited moreover by the 

 spirit of unrest that marks the tending. 

 No mistake, indeed, is more general 

 than to believe that, because a man 

 knows something of methods, of propa- 

 gation, or of botany, he is necessarily 

 able to plan the whole picture that 

 should express the individuality, the 

 ideals and the fancies of the owner. 

 Accumulation of knowledge is not the 

 smallest guarantee of intelligence in 

 art or philosophy, and does not, in fact, 

 assist in its development. Gardens or 

 pleasure grounds may be divided into 

 two classes — those having an aim or 

 ideal and those without one. The lat- 

 ter present too often, as Dean Bailey 

 says, a spectacle for the birds to laug'h 

 at, and of which we are quite consci- 

 ous but uncertain how to remedy the 

 evil. 



Those who would put ideals into 

 their work should turn for inspiration 

 to the wild, where the grace, the pro- 

 fusion and the charm are the despair 

 of the garden maker. Concentration is 

 involved to prevent failure. Drudgery, 

 that gray angel of .success, is required 

 if we would become artists in the task 

 of creation or of development. Noth- 

 ing is easy that is Avorth while. 



Every yard should form a picture 

 with each feature contributing its part 

 to one strong effect. 



Use whenever possible the original 

 native planting of trees and, allowing 

 the freedom of nature to remain, de- 

 sign to suit these. 



The house, its style and position, play 

 an important part in determining the 

 character and general design of gar- 

 dens and small yards. It is folly to 

 ignore this. The house is incomplete 

 Avithout a garden, and the garden with- 

 out a house. The blending of the two 

 together is an intellectual and emo- 

 tional art. Scattering trees and bushes 

 over the area defeats the fundamental 

 purpose of the place which is to ac- 

 centuate the homeliness of the home. 

 All powers of the imagination should 

 be brought into play to accomplish 

 this. 



In most home grounds, the deficiencj- 

 is not in too little planting of trees and 

 shrubs, but that planting is meaning- 

 less and has no part in the general de- 

 sign. The primary considerations in a 

 good domain are the structural ele- 

 ments of the place, and should be de- 

 signed first. 'The flanking and border- 

 ing masses are then planted. Finally 

 the flo\yers and accessories. All this 

 means that the greatest artistic value 

 lies in the effect of the mass, and not 

 in the individual plant. Plant fewer 

 varieties and more of a kind. 



In the plan maintain the open centre 

 and mass upon the boundaries. Or 

 plant in good groups, never scattering 

 aimlessly. The more closely these 

 groups can be made part of the gen- 

 eral design, tbe better the effect will 

 be. 



Some persons likt^ painted stones, 

 others iron bulldogs, in the front yard, 

 and the word "Welcome" worked into 

 the door-mat, and others like barbered 

 trees. It would seem better taste to 

 put such curiosities in the back yard 

 where the owner may admire them 

 without molestation. 



The central idea is the residence 

 with a full open green sward in front 

 of it. Trees and bushes are massed in- 

 to a framework to give effectiveness to 

 the picture of home and comfort. This 

 style of planting makes a landscape 

 even though the area be no longer than 

 a parlor. 



This landscape at all seasons should 

 present features of interest. These are 

 gained by line effects, bold groupings 

 of trees and shrubs, good vistas, etc., 

 becoming thereby independent of mere 

 color. 



(To be contir^ued.) 



Large beets may be put in moist soil 

 near a sunny window, and give a few 

 crops of greens between now and 



Splrca Van Houttll blooming agdln.st the wall of the residence of Geo. Simpson, Ottawa. Ont. spring. 



