LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING 1795 



necessarily vary according to locality and climate and 

 are modified by soil conditions. 



Avenues are usually made with deciduous trees of 

 symmetrical and enduring form, such as oak, linden, 

 locust, plane, and the like. Often evergreens are used: 

 cypress, holm oak, pine, cedar. Hedges are usually 

 evergreen and made of material that will easily stand 

 the shears: box, arbor-vitse, holm oak, hemlock, holly, 

 yew and so on. The design of the parterres is outlined 

 by means of dwarf box edging inclosing geometrical 

 spaces filled with low-growing annuals or perennials. 

 Roses are also very commonly used for this purpose. 



these gardens, such as lilacs, mock orange, forsythia, 

 calycanthus, and the like, to fill the corners, to soften 

 the architectural lines of the house or the terrace, to 

 give privacy to the entrance or to the porch. The lady 

 of the house took charge of the garden and special care 

 of the perennial and the annual beds. Most of the 

 flowers acquired sweet, attractive names, reflecting an 

 age of delightful sentiment and real love for the out-of- 

 doors. To give only one example, the Viola tricolor or 

 English pansy was known as ladies' delight, bird's-eye, 

 garden-gate, none-so-pretty, Kitty-come, Kit-run- 

 about, three-faces-under-a-hood, come-and-cuddle-me, 



2088. An open-center formal treatment. 



Perennial and annual borders are planted against 

 walls and hedges either in masses of single varieties or 

 mixed in order to secure so far as possible a definite 

 arrangement of height and color and to procure a 

 succession of bloom. 



Specimen evergreens of geometrical shape, such as 

 conical, cylindrical, globular and spiral, are used to 

 accentuate points of interest in the design or to estab- 

 lish the corners of beds in parterres, or the corners of 

 hedges, or the axis, and so on. When the topiary art 

 is given more freedom, the ornamental evergreens 

 assume the shape of birds, ships, tables, and the like. 

 Box, yew, and privet seem to be the most favorite 

 materials for this work. Sometimes the same effects 

 are obtained by growing ivy over a wire frame repre- 

 senting the object desired. 



Plants in tubs or in ornamental vases, such as bay 

 trees, lemon, or orange trees, box, century plants and 

 oleanders, are intended, as a general rule, to supply 

 ornamentation during the favorable season with plants 

 which require the shelter of the greenhouse or the 

 orangerie during the winter. 



It has already been seen how in America the formal 

 garden gradually developed by the same process that 

 brought it into existence elsewhere. The colonial 

 garden clearly reflected the social and economic con- 

 ditions of the times in which it was produced. It was 

 simple, well-proportioned and exceedingly well adapted 

 to local conditions. It was small, secluded by a hedge 

 or wall or fence covered with vines. The flower-beds 

 were well defined by box edging; the paths were paved 

 with brick. A good use of a few shrubs was made in 



pink-of-my-Joan, kiss-me, tickle-my-fancy, kiss-me- 

 ere-I-rise, jump-up-and-kiss-me, and finally meet-her- 

 in-the-entry-kiss-her-in-the-buttery, which is the long- 

 est plant name in the English language. 



Since the colonial days, very much has been accom- 

 plished in the United States toward the development of 

 the art of landscape design. The great variety of 

 topographical conditions, of climate and soils, offered 

 to the artist diversified problems and opportunities. 

 The formal style has been used in moderation on the 

 whole, and, if one disregards a few sad mistakes, with a 

 great deal of common sense. The prevailing opinion 

 is that its best adaptation is in the very small proper- 

 ties where it is evident that the house and the bounda- 

 ries are too geometrical and close to allow aught else 

 than a formal design. In the medium-sized country 

 place when the topography is flat and several proper- 

 ties are close together, it is sometimes advisable, but, as 

 a general rule, and certainly in the case of large estates, 

 the formal style finds its best justification in the 

 immediate surroundings of the buildings because their 

 artificiality cannot be hidden or transformed. Here it 

 usually answers all purposes of convenience and utility 

 as well as it reveals harmony of composition. It is in 

 fact the best means of gradual transition from the 

 architectural to the rural and the picturesque. 



Literature: Charles Latham, "The Gardens of Italy." 

 Georges Biat, "L'Art des Jardins." Gressent, "Pares et 

 Jardins." Alice Morse Earle, "Old Time Gardens." 

 Repton, "The Art of Landscape Gardening." Ell- 

 good & Jekyl, "Some English Gardens." Mawson, 

 "Art and Craft of Garden . Making." Vacherot, 



