FORMAL GARDENS 21 



careless grace with which Penshurst and dozens of other English 

 gardens bear their honours, I believe that perfection of detail 

 is undesirable. For it inevitably suggests straining after effect. 

 True perfection in flower gardening is characterized by a gay and 

 buoyant spirit. The formal garden dominated by flowers is the 

 type that England has perfected. It is the cheeriest and most 

 home-like of all. Another name for it is Colonial. A perfect 

 modern example of it is Mr. Larz Anderson's garden at Brookline, 

 Mass. If we ever develop an American formal garden, I believe 

 it will be along these lines. 



I have seen only one other large garden that seems to me 

 to have made important contributions toward an American style 

 of formal garden. That is Blairsden, at Peapack, N. J., the home 

 of Mr. and Mrs. C. Ledyard Blair. It has the real Italian "gar- 

 den magic," i. e., the charm that is not dependent upon flowers. 

 And it is not a copy. The real spirit has been transported and 

 actually adapted to American conditions. The main features 

 are a pool and staircase which are illustrated in colour in Country 

 Life in America for October, 1910. 



To sum up: It is only by going through some such process 

 as this, consciously or unconsciously, that we can put the best 

 of our personality into a formal garden We are sure to put in 

 our worst if we override the designer and the plantsman. For, 

 if we ride over them, we violate the laws of art. These laws are 

 not mere abstractions; they are the crystallized experience of 

 thousands who have lived and done this very thing before us.* 



* It is doubtful whether a successful book on " How to Make a Formal Garden " can ever be written, because the prin- 

 ciples of design are hard to teach and harder to apply. To the professional designer, the most useful work, possibly, 

 is "The Art of Garden Design in Italy," by H. Inigo Triggs. There is plenty of inspiration, but little practical help in 

 the sumptuous books on Italian gardening by Wharton, Latham, and Elgood. "The Formal Garden in England," by 

 Blomfield, contains many good architectural details. Some American formal gardens are pictured in works of Guy 

 Lowell and L. V. Le Moyne. Loring Underwood has worked out a new type of American back yard in "The Garden 

 and Its Accessories. " Alice Morse Earle has pictured in "Old Time Gardens" some of the best Colonial gardens and 

 plants. The most comprehensive classification of "old-fashioned flowers" is in Country Life in America, vol. II., 

 pages 511 to siS (March, 1907), but groups III and IV under "Annuals" should be under "Perennials." 



