THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 



sense is far oftener the attribute of women than 

 of men. Still, there is the art of painting to refute 

 this argument. 



Color as an aid to garden design is a matter 

 ever present to my mind where a plan of high 

 beauty has been adopted and already carried 

 out. One occasionally sees a fine garden which, 

 due to the execrable color arrangement, must of 

 necessity be more interesting in winter than in 

 summer. Sir William Eden's plea for the flower- 

 less garden comes to mind: 



"I have come to the conclusion that it is flowers 

 that ruin a garden, at any rate many gardens: 

 flowers in a cottage garden, yes, hollyhocks 

 against a gray wall; orange lilies against a white 

 one; white lilies against a mass of green; aubrietia 

 and arabis and thrift to edge your walks. Del- 

 phiniums against a yew hedge, and lavender any- 

 where. But the delight in color, as people say, 

 in large gardens is the offensive thing: flowers 

 combined with shrubs and trees, the gardens of 

 the Riviera, for instance, Cannes, and the much- 

 praised, vulgar Monte Carlo beds of begonias, 

 cinerarias at the foot of a palm, the terrible crim- 

 son rambler trailing around its trunk. I have 

 never seen a garden of taste in France. Go to 



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