CHAPTER II. 



DESIGN AND POSITION AGAINST STYLES, USELESS STONEWORK, 

 AND STEREOTYPED PLANS TIME'S EFFECT ON GARDEN DE- 

 SIGN ARCHITECTURE AND FLOWER GARDENS DESIGN NOT 

 FORMAL ONLY USE IN THE GARDEN OF BUILDERS', AND 

 OTHER DEGRADED FORMS OF THE PLASTIC ART. 



ONE aim of this book is to uproot the idea that a flower garden must 

 always be of set pattern placed on one side of the house. The wants 

 of flowers can be best met, and their varied loveliness best shown, 

 in a variety of positions, and the first thing to do is to consider the 

 effect of arraying all our flowers in one spot under the same con- 

 ditions, as such a plan can never give us a tithe of the beauty which 

 our gardens may afford. The settled way has too often been to regard 

 one spot with the same soil and aspect with every condition alike, 

 in fact as the only home for open-air flowers, though near at hand 

 there may be positions, each favourable to different groups of flower. 



For all that concerns us in this artistic question there are laws which 

 will guide us if we seek for them. The laws here meant are Nature's 

 laws not merely landmarks set out by man for his convenience. 

 Only they are not laws that bind with weary fetters, but as infinite in 

 delightful change as the restless clouds on the hills. We shall never 

 settle the most trifling question by the stupid saying that it is " a 

 matter of taste," and if the reader will come with me through these early 

 chapters, I hope to convince him that flower-gardening is " a matter 

 of reason." The laws of all true art can only be based on the eternal 

 laws of Nature, and these are the source from which all our guid- 

 ance should come. 



One of the first things we have to do is to get a clear idea of 

 the hollowness of much of the talk about " styles " that forms a great 

 part of what has been written in books about laying out gardens, 

 and there are many dissertations on the several styles, the authors 

 going even to China and to Mexico for illustrations. The first 

 thing every writer on this subject does is to puzzle his readers with 



