GARDEN AND GARDENING 



3422 



GARDEN AND GARDENING 



Tudor gardens of that period, 

 blended with the Dutch introduc- 

 tion of a century later, form, per- 

 haps, the basis of modem horti- 

 culture. The Dutch, or formal, 

 style of garden was much in evi- 

 dence until the mid-Victorian era, 

 when William Robinson and other 

 practical gardeners started a vigor- 

 ous campaign in favour of a less re- 

 strained and more natural arrange- 

 ment of trees, shrubs, and flowers. 

 The ultimate result has been a 

 modification in the art of garden 

 planning. To-day the best-arranged 

 gardens have formal beds and bor- 

 ders near the house, and gradually 

 fade away into irregularity as 

 thejr mingle with the landscape. 



COMPONENT PARTS OF A GARDEN. 

 According to modern usage the 

 complete garden should include an 

 exotic house, a temperate house, 

 and a cool greenhouse. In addi- 

 tion, there should be one or two 

 houses for the cultivation of such 

 things as grapes and tomatoes, 

 supplemented by a number of 

 cold frames. The outdoor arrange- 

 ments should provide for a tennis 

 lawn or bowling green, formal 

 beds and borders near the house, 

 rock garden, wild garden, water 

 garden, kitchen garden, and shrub- 

 bery. Of gardens within gardens 

 the rose garden is the most popu- 

 lar form, but the vast range of 

 possibilities is shown by the late 

 Leopold de Rothschild's Japan- 

 ese garden at Gunnersbury House, 

 in which all the inhabitants are 

 Japanese plants, and Memory's 

 garden, where each flower is said 

 to have been planted for the 

 countess of Warwick by a per- 

 sonal friend. In the garden of what 

 was The Rookery, now an addition 

 to Streatham Common, London, 

 is a white garden, where every 

 blossom is of that colour. The 

 Golders Green extension to Hamp- 

 stead Heath, the residence of the 

 late Sir Spencer Wells, has a 

 Shakespearean garden, every in- 

 habitant of which is mentioned in 

 the works of the poet. 



The Villa Garden 



In gardens . of moderate dimen- 

 sions, and with a view to the most 

 economical employment of the 

 ground, the water garden, the 

 wild garden, the tropical house, 

 and the rock garden may be dis- 

 pensed with, in the order named, 

 the result being what is techni- 

 cally known as a villa garden. 

 When planning gardens of still 

 more*mode8t dimensions, the lawn 

 as a playground disappears, and 

 its surface is cut up and studded 

 with flower beds, the shrubbery is 

 dispersed, and shrubs grown only 

 as specimens. As far as glass is 

 concerned, one heated house, sup- 



plemented by cold frames, must 

 do all that is necessary. Speak- 

 ing generally, it is more profitable 

 to grow vegetables than fruit in a 

 small garden. The small back 

 garden of the suburban house gives 

 the best results if devoted entirely 

 to the culture of flowers, unless 

 it is over 50 ft. or 60 ft. in length, 

 when a small part may be used for 

 easily grown vegetable crops. 

 The Ideal Aspect 



Many otherwise good houses 

 have bad gardens for the reason 

 that the builders have indifferent 

 ideas, or none, concerning horti- 

 culture. The nature of the ground 

 and the direction of the prevailing 

 winds have to be taken into con- 

 sideration, but the ideal site for a 

 garden is one which slopes gently 

 in a S. or S.W. direction. The 

 pleasure space should be relegated 

 to the E., or the least favourable 

 position. Such games as tennis, 

 bowls, and croquet are played only 

 in the summer months, and it is a 

 waste of space to place a pleasure 

 lawn in a favoured position. Dean 

 Hole says that, supposing the 

 front of the house to have a S. 

 aspect, he would place his garden 

 for the general cultivation of trees, 

 shrubs, and flowers on the E. side, 

 and arrange upon the W. side the 

 smaller gardens for special collec- 

 tions of distinct varieties, such as 

 the rose garden, the rock garden, 

 the water garden, and the fernery. 



THE FORMAL GARDEN. This is 

 a combination of the old Dutch 

 system of gardening with the early 

 and mid-Victorian fashion of car- 

 pet bedding. It is usually nearest 

 to the house, and is planned more 

 or less geometrically. Where it is 

 found necessary to terrace the 

 land, the formal bedding is usually 

 installed upon that terrace. It is 

 a great mistake, however, to con- 

 struct a terrace merely for the 

 sake of having a formal garden, as 

 such a plan necessitates the em- 

 ployment of a considerable quan- 

 tity of brick or stone, neither of 

 which is needed in a garden of 

 living plants, except in the rock 

 garden. Except for an occasional 

 stone or rustic wooden seat or sun- 

 dial.the fewer manufactured articles 

 in a garden the better. By judicious 

 management, formal beds will 

 present a blaze of colour and 

 beauty for about nine months out 

 of the twelve. The earliest effects 

 are afforded by the crocus and snow- 

 drop, from Feb. onwards. These are 

 followed by narcissi and daffodils, 

 wall-flowers, forget-me-nots, and 

 other subjects, including the early 

 tulips. Afterwards, later tulips and 

 iris give way to summer bedding 

 plants, to be followed by asters, 

 dahlias, and open-air chrysanthe- 



mums, until the frosts render the 

 existence of anything but dwarf 

 evergreens impossible. It is diffi- 

 cult, except at a wasteful expendi- 

 ture of plant life, to keep all the beds 

 in a formal garden at the zenith of 

 attractiveness from early spring 

 until late autumn. Where, how- 

 ever, plenty of glasshouses and 

 cold frames are available, and ex- 

 pense is a secondary consideration, 

 it may be done. 



THE HOCK GARDEN. The 

 primary use of a rock garden is for 

 the establishment and collection of 

 plants from the Alpine and other 

 mountainous districts of the world. 

 Rock gardening used to be- one of 

 the most abused forms of horti- 

 culture, the real reason for its 

 existence being either ignored or 

 misunderstood. Rock plants, in 

 natural conditions, flourish upon 

 sunny hillsides, though, at the 

 same time, they are moisture- 

 loving subjects. The rocks or 

 stones, between whose crevices 

 they grow, help to protect the soil 

 underneath from the rays of the 

 sun, and therefore conserve the 

 necessary moisture for the nourish- 

 ment of the plants. Hence, in 

 order to make a good rock garden, 

 it is necessary that the stones or 

 rocks should, for the most part, 

 be placed horizontally upon the 

 ground, or, at all events, at such 

 an angle as will afford the maxi- 

 mum amount of shade to the 

 Alpine plants. Vulgar fashion has 

 attempted to make an attractive 

 display of the rocks or stones, 

 giving a result like a Liliputian 

 cemetery or a miniature Stone- 

 henge, entirely ignoring the welfare 

 of its living inhabitants. It is the 

 arrangement of the plants, and not 

 of the stones, that makes a good 

 rock garden. 



THE WATER GARDEN. This 

 popular feature in large gardens 

 is one which can be most easily 

 dispensed with. 



Essentials of the Water Garden 



The situation of the water garden 

 is naturally at the lowest level of 

 the garden, where it automati- 

 cally receives the drainage from 

 the other parts of the place. The 

 secret of success is so to arrange 

 things that the flow of water is as 

 gentle as possible. Most water 

 flowers, including lilies, nuphars and 

 the like, thrive best in water which, 

 although not stagnant, possesses 

 only a gentle motion. Therefore, 

 where a good collection of water 

 plants is desired, artificial waterfalls 

 and fountains must be avoided. 



THE WILD GARDEN. The theory 

 of the wild garden is to place per- 

 fectly hardy exotic plants in situa- 

 tions where they will take care of 

 themselves. Actually the wild 





