Gardens and Their Accessories 



293 



to their own form of growth, and it is only with the smaller variety that he has 

 taken liberties. He has, with the aid of certain informal details, arrived at a 

 formal result, and the whole has been effectively tied and blended by the extreme 

 formaLty of small details. What he lacks in the way of the sculptured accessory 

 of the Italian he has made good in his love of flowers, and in this comes that 

 human note so harmonious with domesticity. 



The English garden is planned with the idea of utility first and beauty 

 afterward, not that the one is sacrificed to the other, but that the latter consideration 

 is used to clothe the framework of the former. A requisite of the English home life 

 requires approaches and courts to gain access to the house. There is the main 

 approach and that to the kitchen and servants' quarters, neither of which are 

 considered desirable as outlooks. The chief living rooms, then, are naturally 

 opposite these and overlook the most favourable aspect. The privacy of the 

 separate approaches and the garden proper is obtained through the medium of 

 walls and high hedges. From this it will be seen that the house is naturally in the 

 interval between the entrance and service court on the street side and the garden or 

 "forecourt" in the rear, and on which the living rooms of the house face. As has 

 been stated by one writer: "The place is considered as an outdoor house. The 

 grounds are divided up according to their use, and each portion has a well- 

 established boundary." Thus the entrance courts, kitchen garden, stable and 

 yards, lawns and pleasure grounds are laid out as best serves their several pur- 

 poses. Although this subdivision is very apt to be on the lines of an unbalanced 

 plan, yet the details of the decorative outlay are formal. This may be a rather 

 meagre description of the typical English garden, but it should serve to show the 

 chief considerations 

 in its planning. 



As old Colonial 

 architecture was but 

 the English revival 

 of the Classic and 

 Renaissance, usually 

 called "Georgian," 

 it was but natural 

 that the Colonial 

 garden follow after 

 the English models. 

 But the former type 

 usually differs, in a 

 measure, from the 



marked extremes OI Plan of the Anderson garden and its approaches. Notice its square outline, the pergola 



the Darent Style as at the eastern entranc e, the central strip of lawn, and the three levels which supply the 



*, ' changing viewpoint. Also how the grove hides the garden. Length of garden, including 



It Was natural that pergola, 206 feet; width, 196 feet 



a plantation should 



differ from an English estate. The plot is usually level and the general plan 

 extremely simple, and, as far as the old examples of the James River suggest, the 

 terrace did not exist. In some old New England examples, the garden was on 



A-T^ati '<* Ai^^^-tf j^'-i' ; ^^'lc^.'vjffi<Biffiyaiy jNjfflfet) ^3sr&. 



' 



