152 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



June, 



THE COMPLETE GARDEN.* 



VI, 



BY A "WELL-KNOWN HORTICULTURIST. 



(Continued from page 133.) 



4. Strength of Features. Some materi- 

 als and some methods of arranging it is im- 

 portant early to observe are more freely 

 admissable for ornamental effect in gardens 

 than others. The employment of a good grass 

 sward, for one thing, can hardly be overdone; 



a. The heavy group, 

 c. Isolated plantings . 



b. The light open group, 

 d. The open central area. 



FIGS. 9-12. VARIOUS RELATIONS OF TREES, ETC. 

 TO THE LAWN. 



however extensive the area, even though bai-e 

 of all other growths (a thing never desirable), 

 yet it cannot outrightly offend the eye. What 

 is true of grass is also in a lesser degree true of 

 shrubs and trees naturally arranged in groups, 

 plants seated upon the grass, water, rocks, etc. 

 These, in places and in a manner in which they 

 are not in a general way inappropriate, may be 

 brought in very freely without danger of mar- 

 ring the effect. 



In the Une of embellishments, which although 

 most useful, and in many cases positively 

 necessaiy, but the use of which may easily be 

 overdone are to be mentioned : 



Trees and shrubs arranged in formal lines. 



Trees and shrubs clipped into unnatural shapes. 



Hedges and edgings. 



Flowers and plants geometrically arranged. 



Formal terraces and slopes. 



Statuary, fountains, vases, trellises, etc. 



Arbors and seats. 



Ornamental walks, drives, areas, avenues. 



These might not inappropriately be called 

 adornments in gardening, occupying a place 

 similar to Jewels and like adornments in dress. 

 They are very desirable in their place, but used 

 to excess and their power to gratify is at once 

 greatly lessened. 



5. Diversity of Arrangement. The grass 

 sward serving as the ground work of the pleas- 

 ure ground, trees and shrubs naturally occupy 

 the position of permanent furnishings. Look- 

 ing upon these together as constituting the 

 major features of ornamental gai-dening, it 

 should be observed that in all the best specimens 

 of landscape and garden effects they bear rela- 

 tion to one another somewhat as follows, and 

 illustrated in figures 9-13: First, trees and shrubs 

 in the form of thick groups or masses, as in a; 

 second, the same in somewhat open groups as 

 in b, and of which a pleasant grass carpeted 

 grove affords a type; third, trees, shrubs, etc., 

 standing singly, in pairs or as small groups, 

 more or less isolated (e) ; fourth, an absence of 

 trees or other natural embellishments besides 

 grass, as in an open meadow or as shown cen- 

 trally at d, in the figure referred to. To ar- 

 range a garden for displaying all of these dis- 

 tinct qualities, each one in its appropriate 

 place, and in fair proportion, is always desira- 

 ble. Let it be borne in mind that it is the at- 

 tempt to make a handsome gai-den by unduly 

 enlarging upon any one of these, at the expense 



■ Copyright, 18«7,*y Popular Qardening Publishing Co. 



of the others that leads to faulty work. More 

 as to these principles further on. 



6. The Open Area. As the grassy plot 

 stands first in importance among ornamental 

 garden features, so therefore the open area 

 shown at d, figures 9-12, and which best provides 

 for this, is entitled to leading consideration in 

 arrangement. Without its presence in a marked 

 degi'ee in one or more parts of the garden, that 

 garden must unavoidably present a more or 

 less confused effect to the eye. It will be de- 

 void of a natural seat for the trees and other 

 features, and thiough which openness they can 

 be viewed to advantage. It is the presence of 

 this condition more than any other which con- 

 tributes that air of breadth and repose, which 

 is one of the most enjoyable qualities of a good 

 garden. This open area should be given a 

 somewhat central location as related either to 

 the entire garden or to one or more of its main 

 parts, and varying in size proportionally with 

 the part in which it is located. Even so much 

 as a vase or flower bed should never occupy a 

 position centrally in the open area. Receding 

 from this area in aU suitable directions, the 

 other features of figures 9-12 may find their 

 appropriate location. 



7. On Grouping or Massing Trees, etc. 

 Next to the open area in importance stands the 

 group in its endless modifications as a means of 

 providing garden beauty. It has well been 

 called the keystone of natural, modern garden 

 arrangement. * It is the very opposite of the 

 stiff and formal arrangement of trees, etc. , in 

 rows peculiar to the Dutch school of gardening, 

 and of which too many illustrations in some 

 form exist even to the present day. No matter 

 how few or many trees or shrubs are to be used 

 in embellishing a place, they wUl prove vastly 

 more effective in every way when arranged 

 naturally in groups than when brought in as if 

 one were setting out the fruit garden. This we 

 attempt to show by way of contrast in figures 

 13 and 14, which represent the front grounds 

 of the same place, each planned to use about the 

 same number of trees and shrubs, but these ar- 

 ranged entirely different as to style. Observe 

 the comparatively open and uncramped effect 

 of figure 14 ; here everything is arranged in an 

 easy, graceful style, at once restful and satis- 

 tory to the eye, and making the place what it 

 should be, a true pleasure ground. 



Having explained that the open areas of a 

 place should occupy central places, it naturally 

 follows that the groups should be given position 

 towards the boundaries. The plantations consti- 



^'f- 15 



Fig-, ry 



Fig. 16. The faulty Serpentine Curve. 

 Fig. 16. An Approach in which the Curves are too slight. 

 Fig. 17, An Entrance Wallc with too much sweep either 

 for looks or titility. 



For excluding prevailing winds or the sight 

 of unpleasing objects it should be made a study 

 to have the marginal groups heavier in the di- 

 rection of these. 



Where there are undulations of the surface, 

 the elevations and their sides in part should be 

 clothed with groups of trees or shrubs, while 

 all low places should, as a general thing, be de- 

 voted to grass if not devoted to water. 



The inner bends or bays of walks and drives 

 (See figures IS— 20) are appropriate points at 

 which to introduce 

 groups of trees, shrubs, 

 rocks, etc., as provid- 

 ing an apparent cause 

 for the desired bend. 



8. On Curves, 



i Graceful curves in 



walks, drives, borders, 



plantation margins, 



etc, possess marked 



value in producing or- 



namental effects in 



grounds, as they do in 



every other kind of 



embellishments. Hence 



the old saying, curves 



for beauty, straight 



Fig. 13. Trees, Slii-ub.'^, lines for use. Still it 



Walks etc.. stiffly arrang- jg ^^^ ^ y^ supposed 



ed in stratght Lines. , ... 



that curves in order to 



be beautiful must necessarily be so positive or 

 indirect as to be inconvenient of use in garden- 

 ing. When so made, as indeed they too often 

 are, it is not that they are thus either more 

 perfect as curves or more beautiful, the reverse 

 being usually the case. In order to convey 

 correct ideas on this important matter I pre- 

 sent in figures 15-20 numerous views of garden' 

 curves both good and bad, mostly taken from 

 actual examples that have fallen under my 

 eye. Fig. 1.5 represents a very common as it 

 is a very faulty style of curve, namely the 

 serpent-like curve. The objections to it are its 

 numerous uniform and useless bends, robbing 

 it of character, and its deviations so slight from 

 a straight line that a carriage following its 

 course would be sure to leave the inner bends, 

 as at A, unused, while shaving the opposite 

 projections, as at B. Another fault is its in- 

 directness, for if the middle of it was strictly 

 to be followed as by one on foot the distance 

 from end to end would be considerably longer 

 than a straight walk, but without compensation 

 of any kind for the increased length. In con- 

 trast with this and to illustrate the true princi- 



Fir- iS 



Fi^. 20 



Fig. 18. Curves in Walles as they should be. 

 Fig. 19. Fig. 16 improved: Short bold curves. 

 Fig. 20. Hota Fig. 17 may be improved to be simple, di- 

 rect and handsome. 



SOME CURVES, GOOD AND BAD, ILLUSTRATED, 



tuting these should as a rule be the heaviest at 

 the extreme outside, employing more or less 

 Evergreens here, and then have them break or 

 lighten up towards the central plots, employ- 

 ing deciduous kinds more largely here. 



pie figure 18 is presented. Here for a similar 

 distance there are not only less bends but these 

 vary much in their length, and this is desirable. 

 There can be no objection to almost any num- 

 ber of bends in a walk or drive provided tte 



