1864 



Canadian Forestry Journal, September, 1918 



would use the species and varieties of 

 our own country, rather than the 

 exotic or foreign varieties, harmoniz- 

 ing this material in its arrangement 

 with our own style of architecture 

 as applied to our houses or buildings 

 as well as with our own natural 

 landscapes. 



In the laying out of grounds, 

 however, whether in formal or in- 

 formal style, in order to get a clear 

 and definite conception of "the results 

 in a finished state, a plan should be 

 made, and after being decided upon 

 should be strictly adhered to. The 

 foundation of the Natural style of 

 Ornamental Gardening is the open 

 lawn. The plantings should, gener- 

 ally speaking, be "confined to the 

 boundaries: buildings where possible, 

 ought to be located at one side: 

 drives and walks should never be 

 cut straight through the grounds, 

 but of graceful curves, unless there 

 is the best of good reasons for having 

 them otherwise, for you will sel- 

 dom find a straight line in Nature. 

 Trees should be planted in groups — 

 never in straight lines — for that is 

 the way they are found in Nature. 



A liberal planting of shrubs and 

 flowering plants is fully in accord 

 with the Natural style of gardening 

 and these should be planted in 

 clumps and masses, for nature rarely 

 scatters her plants. Tall trees should 

 be planted to screen out objectionable 

 features in the near landscape and 

 low shrubs and plants to keep before 

 you some desirable features of the 

 surroundings. 



The use of Shrubs. 



In order to obliterate the lines of 

 demarcation of a building, shrubs 

 should be grouped irregularly around 

 its walls and massed in the nooks 

 and corners. Climbers should also 

 be planted to cover certain portions of 

 the walls and porches. Avoid the 

 conventional rockery unless naturally 

 placed. Don't place a trellis on a 

 lawn for climbing plants. Let them 

 climb naturally on the porches, walls, 

 trunks of old trees, or over the tops 

 of shrubs. Be careful in placing the 

 summer-hocse, for if placed naturally 

 and artistically, it is a feature of 



harmonious beauty. If not, it can 

 easily be made a monstrosity of 

 ugliness. Wherever possible, avoid 

 a fence, for there is no beauty in the 

 fanciest fence made; in fact, the 

 fancier the fence, the, uglier it is. A 

 hedge, while planted in a straight 

 line, may be broadened out at one 

 point, drawn in at another, and 

 finally merged into a clump of trees 

 or shrubs, and thus sers^es the pur- 

 pose of a fence and at the same time 

 adds to, instead of detracts from, 

 the naturalness and beauty desired. 

 I dislike "weeping trees" of the 

 top grafted, umbrella-shaped species, 

 and shrubs or evergreens sheared into 

 unnatural or grotesque forms, not 

 only because of their ugliness, but 

 also because of their lack of harmony 

 in otherwise natural surroundings. 

 Yet it is strange the fascination these 

 have and_the prominence given them 

 on so many of our Canadian lawns. 



Plan the Grounds. 

 A plan of one's grounds should 

 express an idea as well as perform 

 a service. It should be in harmony 

 with the architectural design of the 

 dwelling and its proper desjgn is 

 just as important, for one dollar 

 expended on the grounds will pro- 

 duce more beauty than twenty spent 

 on the house. It is, therefore, sur- 

 prising, that of the vast amounts of 

 money expended on the Architecture 

 of the dwellings in our land, more 

 thought and money is not devoted to 

 the proper treatment of the grounds, 

 for good grounds, like good houses, 

 result only from intelligent study and 

 design. Especially is it surprising, 

 as there are so many good books on 

 the subject of Ornamental Garden- 

 ing, any one of which will give an 

 intelligent person a working know- 

 ledge of the subject. — E. B. Luke. 



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