Book of Gardens 



47 



The formal pool invariably calls for a formal setting. Here the wide concrete coping 

 forms an integral and important part of the design 



POOLS 



T O 



MIRROR THE 



SKY 



Will Supply that Water Feature Which, Provided 

 It Is in Keeping, Will Add to the Beauty of Any Place 



*' A ■'^D when you have left the desert, and 

 Jr\. come again to the fresh green of the 

 river valleys, the last thing to which you grow 

 accustomed is the sound of running water." 



The last thing and, it might be added, the 

 most welcome and soothing and wholly refresh- 

 ing thing. In the glaring heat of the cactus 

 country one misses keenly the softening effect 

 of water in the landscape. By day, at least, the 

 desert lacks intimacy, and when the reason is 

 analyzed it is found to lie largely 

 in the absence of flowing streams. 

 For whether in Nature's gardens or 

 in our ovrai small imitations of her 

 handiwork, water as a purely es- 

 thetic feature fills a place which no 

 other one element can hope to 

 attain. 



There is no need here to dwell 

 upon this humanizing influence of 

 water in our gardens — our interest 

 is centered rather on how it can be 

 brought to serve our needs. The 

 running brook admits of the great- 

 est variety of effects, perhaps, but 

 for comparatively few of our gar- 

 dens is it available. Most of us 

 must of necessity turn to the vari- 

 ous forms of pools and pond-like 

 water gardens. In the planning, 

 making and care of these are cer- 

 tain well-ordered rules. 



Broadly speaking, there are two 

 kinds of water features : the formal 



and the naturalistic. The first may take one of 

 several forms, such as the fountain basin pure 

 and simple; the lily pool of regular contour, 

 round, oval or rectangular, placed usually at 

 the intersection of the garden a.xes; and the 

 geometrically accurate pool whose primary pur- 

 pose as a mirror of the surrounding trees and 

 architectural features is served without the use 

 of any water plants. 



It is not the purpose here to take up in any 



A cross-section of the concrete-lined pool shows the sloping 

 arrangement of the soil and the partitions to hold it in place 



detail the subject of garden fountains and their 

 accessories, as these fully deserve an article all 

 to themselves. Today one can find in the open 

 market all manner of fountain designs espe- 

 cially executed for garden use, and the only 

 confronting problem is the selection of that one 

 of them which will harmonize best with the 

 planting scheme in general, and the exact loca- 

 tion in particular. 



All of these fountains, of course, have one 

 point in common: they call for a 

 source of supply which has enough 

 force to cause the water to flow 

 from the opening provided for it. 

 Provision must also be made to 

 carry off the surplus water when 

 the fountain is in operation. In 

 some cases this overflow can be 

 utilized to form a little rill which 

 wanders away through the garden, 

 fringed with ferns and cardinal 

 flowers in the shady spots and in 

 the sunlight bright with the blue of 

 forget-me-nots catching the color of 

 the sky. Or it may be led to a bird 

 pool in some secluded comer. 



In the great majority of pools 

 some provision must be made for 

 replenishing or changing the water, 

 usually by simple inlet and outlet 

 pipes, as suggested above. Much 

 can be done to keep the water free 

 from mosquito larvffi by introduc- 

 ing a few goldfish. 



