VIEWS AND VISTAS 



between the dark foliaged boughs of Scotch Fir, it 

 makes no vain appeal to the garden-lover. How crude 

 a thing is a long brick wall, solid and stolid from one 

 end to the other ! Even if rightly planted, it still 

 lacks real garden magic. But make an opening in it, 

 or, if it is long enough, make two, either with door or 

 gate or without, as may seem best, and how the prospect 

 changes ! In the mind's eye at once there rise visions 

 of clambering Rose and clustering Clematis, luxuriant 

 Woodbine and fine-leaved Vine draping the pillars of 

 the doorway, drooping seductively from the arch, and 

 hailing, with a fragrant Salve, every passer-by. And 

 the glimpse of the garden beyond, what an aid it is 

 to the creation of illusive distance ! What oppor- 

 tunities it gives to the planter for the development of 

 some charming little spot that shall greet the visitor as 

 he passes through the walled gateway ! Similarly, the 

 meanest gate or door that opens on the garden needs 

 only to be environed with tapestry of leaf and blossom, 

 and no longer is it commonplace. 



A short flight of stone steps may or may not be 

 attractive ; it depends upon whether they are stiff and 

 flat and level, each one exactly like the other, or whether 

 they are rough-surfaced and irregularly placed. In 

 either case they are assured of greater appeal if their 

 margins are suitably draped. The mason's steps I would 

 verge with Pinks and Picotees, Ivy-leaved Geraniums, or 

 with Sweet Alyssum and Snapdragons and spreading 



47 



