Good Taste in Gardening^ 



GOOD taste in gardening should be 

 applied, first, to the formation and 

 arrangement of beds, secondly to 

 the arrangement of backgrounds, third- 

 ly, to the allowance for variations in the 

 heights of plants ; and, lastly, to the 

 disposal of color — all four good practical 

 points. Perhaps, someone may say, 

 "Why not follow nature?" We reply, 

 "Certainly; while it is not always pos- 

 sible in a limited garden to follow nat- 

 ure's lavish ways, nature supplies us 

 with two good principles, of which one 

 is, 'never be formal or stiff,' and the 

 other, 'never make right-angled de- 

 signs.' " Bearing in mind these two prin- 

 ciples, we approach, first, the formation 

 and arrangement of beds. It is well- 

 known that good drainage is an essential 

 point in making a flower bed, which, 

 therefore, should be raised well above 

 the level, thus ensuring good drainage, 

 and the best exhibition of the flowers 

 grown on that bed. You combine utility 

 and good taste. It is not the beds 

 themselves that you want to show, but 

 the form and beauty of your flowers. 

 Good taste demands also that your flow- 

 er beds shall be shaped in curved and 

 rounded outlines, just as nature disposes 

 of her masses of flowers with here and 

 there a straw stem or flower flung out, 

 just to be as unconvential as possible. 



AVOID ANGLES 



t 



Whoever saw a square mass of ane- 

 mones, or bergairont, or sunflowers, or 

 golden rod, upon the prairies? Uncon- 

 sciously, people unskilled in gardening 

 wonder why So-and-so, who has as good 

 or better flowers than his neighbor, can- 

 not make so good a show. Dispose 

 your curves, then, as naturally as pos- 

 sible, so that the eye glances readily 

 from curve to curve. It is all in good 

 taste; there is none of that abruptness 

 none of* that stiffness, none of that con- 

 \entionality, against which the artistic 

 eye can protest. 



ABOUT ARTIFICIAL PATTERNS 



Under the same ban come all such ar- 

 tificialities as large so-called ornamental 

 pots, tubs, or cans, all of which are an 

 abomination for outdoor gardening. For 

 the same reason, geometrical figures are 

 not in good taste. It certainly shows 

 ingenuity when a inan cuts 



out a bed . to the shape of a 

 Maltese cross, or makes wonderful pat-, 

 terns and designs in carpet bedding, but 

 it is just as certainly poor gardening. 

 That is why public gardens are so dis- 

 mally formal when run by men who 



'Extracts from an address before the recent 

 Coiiveiilioii of Tlie Western Horticultural Society 

 held in VViiiiiipeg. 



Dr. H. M. Speechley, Pilot Mount, Manitoba 



will make artificial patterns. It is not 

 in good taste. Therefore, just as nature 

 does not reveal all her beauties to you at 



The lri> is Hardy and Beautiful 



once, but hides them behind many a 

 curving outline, so the lines of your 

 beds will be in various curves, which 

 will produce a series of pleasant sur- 

 prises for your guests. 



Often you will see a perfectly straight 

 border full of all kinds of beautiful flow- 

 ers, it is true ; but open out that straight 

 cut edge with a curving bay or two, and 

 you will at once see the improvement. 

 The same may be worked out in the 

 arrangement of garden paths, whether 

 of gravel, clinkers or cement. A cement 

 path is essentially formal, and not really 

 suitable except for the main business ap- 

 proach to a house, but even a slight 



Phlox Drummondii Growing at Ease 



curve will rob the cement walk of much 

 of its formality. As, however, the other 

 paths are likely to wander mere or less 

 in and out amongst the garden beds, 

 you will probably dress them with gravel 



or clinkers, and so dispose them that , 

 they will harmonize with the curving out- 

 lines of the beds. 



BACKGROUND OF GREEN 



Now we come to our second point, 

 the arrangement of back-grounds. Re- 

 garded as an artistic scheme, a garden 

 requires as its natural setting a back- 

 ground of green ; no other color shows 

 up the brilliance of flowers so well. But 

 in this country of strong winds and ec- 

 centric frosts, the background should 

 serve as a protection against both wind 

 and frost. It is not, however, desirable 

 in a garden to have too many tail trees, 

 especially if their roots go far afield. 1 

 recommend, therefore, the use of hedges, 

 as backgrounds, both for small and large 

 gardens. 



If you want a hedge ten feet in 

 height, Manitoba maple makes an ex- 

 cellent one, but if you require hedges 

 of from four to five feet high, nothing 

 better can be planted than hedges of 

 lilac, caragana or Tartarian honey suck- 

 les. Happy is the gardener who can 

 have hedges of each kind, because each 

 flowers early, and each has its own pe- 

 culiar shade of green. Spruce hedges 

 are not to my taste, especially if cut to 

 odd shapes. The cutting of hedges into 

 the shape of birds and beasts, or artific- 

 ial objects is, to my mind, a monstrosity, 

 and in thoroughly bad taste. It is us- 

 ually absolutely necessary to clip a hedge 

 but formality is avoided by rounding off 

 the top and the sides, and never cut- 

 ting it on the square. You see the same 

 effect in the rounded masses of willows 

 which border every sloughy spot upon 

 the prairie. Clipping will have to be 

 undertaken at least three times through 

 the spring and early summer, not only to 

 keep back the fierce young sh(>ots but to 

 prevent a too lofty hedge from depriv- 

 ing the flowers of the light they need. 



VARIETY OF CONTRAST 



Our third point is the allowance for 

 the variation in the height of plants. 

 Good taste demands of the gardener 

 that he shall arrange all his plants so 

 that not only shall each plant be seen 

 to the best advantage, but as far as 

 possible, each plant shall .set off its 

 neighbor by way of contrast. Young 

 gardeners have always to learn this im- 

 portant point by their mistakes, just as 

 most of us have to learn many other 

 things in life. It is obvious that if you 

 plant a 'dwarf nasturtium between a tall 

 larkspur and a Shirley poppy, you will 

 completely hide the nasturtium, espec- 

 ially if the larkspur is to the front. 



The easiest way to think of this is to 

 imagine that you have a broad border to 



