154 FLOWER GARDENING 
keener edge on the pleasure to be derived from 
“the adaptation of things in the natural world to 
the uses of life’’—to quote one definition of art. 
Art, by the way, need not be taken so seriously 
as to make the pursuit of it in the garden at once a 
worry and a despair. If it seems too much of a bug- 
bear think of it “‘as the application of skill to the 
production of the beautiful by imitation or design,” 
and let it go at that. With good taste and imagi- 
nation, perhaps with only common sense, you will 
arrive at a sufficiently artistic goal. 
Garden pictures have the same beginning as 
paintings on canvas—composition, always with the 
idea of adapting nature rather than merely imitat- 
ing it. Form, which may not overlook so simple a 
thing as a flower stem; foreground and background 
are all prominent factors in this. Color, when 
taken to mean the hue of blossoms, is non-es- 
sential; it may be left out altogether. But color 
does not signify that, despite loose usage of the 
word; else would garden pictures be but patchwork 
quilts. It is made up of foliage as well, and of 
sky, rocks, buildings and everything entering into 
foreground and background. 
Pictures, of course, may be set down anywhere: 
again and again this is done with wholly satisfying 
results. But what makes the pains really worth 
while is to create these pictures precisely where they 
ought to be—which is determined by the natural, 
or potential, advantages of a certain spot. 
To illustrate; thcre is no law against planting 
