TYPES OF GARDENS 



independent scheme ; but they are not to be blotted out because they 

 restrict the gardener's freedom of action and impose limitations upon 

 his plan. 



There are, indisputably, occasions when these natural features are so 

 dominating that the designer, " although preferring invention," has 

 simply to accept them as fixing the whole character of his work. All 

 he has to do is to devise ways of making them more convincing, of 

 amplifying them and perfecting their beauty ; to interfere with them 

 would be a scandalous piece of inartistic indiscretion. To quote Mr. 

 Mawson again : " Wild scenery, especially near towns, should be 

 jealously guarded ; a copse of gorse, resplendent with golden bloom ; 

 a columnar grouping of timber trees ; or a meandering stream ; yet 

 they may sometimes be enhanced and additional interest secured to 

 them by adding touches gathered from observation of nature." It is 

 in this process of enhancing that the skill of the designer is displayed, 

 and it is here that he has his chance of proving how far he is capable 

 of suiting himself to circumstances and the demands of the moment. 

 Obviously, when work of this order has to be done he must lay aside 

 the decorative conventions that have served him so well in his formal 

 designing and must become for the time being a landscape gardener 

 pure and simple, trusting to his observation of nature to help him in 

 choosing the right touches to fill out his picture. 

 On this point too Mr. Mawson has something to say : " Whatever 

 be the landscape gardener's purpose in view, or style of design to be 

 adopted, there are so many considerations both of a local and practical 

 nature to influence him that he finds his designs must be inspired on 

 the spot ; he must recognise, not only the special and peculiar re- 

 quirements of the proprietor, but also the natural contour of the land 

 and the characteristics of the landscape, more especially of that 

 portion which comes within the proposed garden boundary. For 

 instance, there may be a beautiful stream or pond, perhaps a group of 

 silver birches or Scotch firs, rocky projections, and scores of other 

 details which could not be destroyed, but must be made to form an 

 integral part, in some way or other, of the garden design." 

 It is, then, in such a situation that landscape gardening is right, and 

 the formal design becomes undesirable. The local and practical 

 considerations decide the position and inspire the manner of treat- 

 ment ; and, as nature does not work on architectural lines, the 

 methods of the architect cannot be accepted as artistically right in 

 dealing with a garden site on which she has already elaborated a very 

 definite design of the character she prefers. To cut away her groves 

 and shrubberies so as to make space for planting rigidly ordered 



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