THE GARDEN BLUEBOOK 



INTRODUCTORY 



"1^ XOW there are Ornaments also without, as Gardens, FountainSy 

 ^^ Groves, Conservatories of rare Beasts, Birds, and Fishes. 



JL ^ Of which ignoblcr kind of creatures, zve ought not (Saith our 

 greatest Master among the Sons of Nature*) childishly to despise the 

 Contemplation; for in all things that are natural, there is ever something 

 that is admirable. Of these external delights a word or two. 



" First, I must note a certain contrariety between building and gar- 

 dening: For as Fabricks should be regular, so Gardens should be irregular, 

 or at least cast into a very wild Regularity.'' 



So writes the gentle knight. Sir Henry Wotton, in his little treatise on 

 the Elements of Architecture, and so must we conceive our gardens of to- 

 day; to have them share in the quiet dignity and quaint charm of those 

 "various entertainments of his scent and sight'' which delighted him in his 

 seventeenth century England. 



"Cast into a wild Regularity," there is the problem of garden composi- 

 tion. And indeed it is a problem, for the garden must be a bouquet, not 

 like those the children pick, unchosen flowers massed as they come, leaf- 

 less and choking in the little hand, but thoughtfully and graciously ar- 

 ranged with choice of color and plant form well studied, and here and there, 

 between and behind the brilliant blossoms, strong clumps and masses of 

 foHage to rest the eye and give a setting to our garden pictures. 



Many books have been written on color in the flower garden, but few, 

 if any, on foliage in the flower garden, and to my mind that is almost half 

 the battle. Fill the herbaceous border to a third or almost a half of its 

 area with shrubs — Spiraea, Deutzia, bush Honeysuckle, Azalea, Kerria, 

 etc., or even Barberry or Privet — and with perennials that hold fine solid 

 clumps of foliage throughout the year, such as Peonies or Dictamnus; and 

 if these be arranged to give a pleasing silhouette and to group well in their 

 "wild regularity," you may fill the other space with Petunias and Scarlet 



•Aristotle lib. i cap. 5. 



