Gardening for Amateurs 



507 



The Little Formal Garden 



VARIOUS styles are adopted in 

 laying out gardens, but for practical 

 purposes they may be grouped under 

 two headings the Formal, and the Natural 

 or Informal. It is invidious to compare 

 them, as each has a charm of its own. 

 Much of the Formal gardening in England 

 is of exotic 

 origin, owing 

 the greater 

 part of its in- 

 fluence to the 

 old gardens of 

 Italy ; it often 

 occurs as the 

 intermediate 

 link uniting 

 the house 

 with the gar- 

 den proper ; 

 sometimes it- 

 amounts only 

 to a number 

 of beds of 

 regular out- 

 line cut in the 

 turf, yet it 

 may comprise 

 a garden of 

 geometrical 

 design en- 

 closed by 

 hedge or wall, 

 or embrace a 

 scheme in 

 which terrace, 

 steps, and gar- 

 den are exe- 

 cuted in elab- 

 orate detail. 



It is rare, however, to find Figure garden- 

 ing, that was so much in favour during 

 part of last century, practised to any 

 extent, except where its association with old 

 houses gives it historic interest. Fonm-rly 

 elaborate schemes were developed, intricate 

 scrolls cut in turf, and variously coloured 

 gravels employed to heighten the effect, tin- 

 plants and flowers in most cases being of 



A?cale. /inch, to to feet. 

 A simple design for a small formal garden. 



Key to planting scheme: 1, Pink Lavatera : 2. Clarkia Salmon 

 Queen ; 3, Rose Larkspur : 4, Dwarf Pink Godetia ; 5 Blue 

 Branching Larkspur : 6, Aster sinensis, mauve ; 7. Lupinus 

 Hurtwegi: 8, Brachycome iberidifolia ; 9, Nigella Miss Jekyll : 

 10, Lavender Branching Larkspur: 11, Mauve Centaurea : 12, 

 Mauve Candytuft. 13, Viscaria fulgens : 14, Pink and Rose 

 Scabious; IS. Godetia Schamini, rose: 16, Carmine Candytuft; 

 17. Giant Rose Ten - Week Stock: 18. Dwarf Mauve Stock. 

 19. Viscaria oculata coerulea : 20. Antirrhinum, carmine: 21, 

 Giant Pink Stock ; 22. Dwarf Lilac Stock : 23, Antirrhinum, 

 pink : 24, Brachycome. blue : 25, African Marigold, orange ; 

 26, Eschscholtzia, orange. 



subordinate value. Such schemes are no 

 longer in favour, and in their place we have 

 Formal gardens of the simplest possible de- 

 scription designed exclusively for displaying 

 plants and generally providing conditions 

 favourable to their success. Whatever posi- 

 tion we assign to any formal feature, it should 

 at least har- 

 monise with 

 the garden 

 scheme, and 

 this is never 

 really difficult 

 to accomplish, 

 so far as the 

 plants are 

 concerned, 

 when we con- 

 sider the un- 

 limited mate- 

 rial at hand 

 for furnish- 

 ing it. 



A formal 

 design is es- 

 pecially suit- 

 able in the 

 Rose garden, 

 which is essen- 

 tially a sum- 

 mer garden 

 wherein we 

 associate a 

 feast of colour 

 with delicious 

 perfume. The 

 formal design 

 promotes or- 

 der, provides a 

 simple scheme 

 of arrangement, and makes the l>eds easy to 

 deal with ; rose-covered arbours, weathered 

 sundial, paved path, and garden seats, half- 

 veiled, half disclosed among the Roses, give 

 an old-world glamour. 



Formal Rose Garden. The scheme illus- 

 trated on page 508 shows a formal Rose 

 garden ; it is rectangular, the lines are simple, 

 and the plan may be enlarged or curtailed at 



