Introduction. 



xlix. 



A frequent example of 

 waste of effort is wliere a 

 narrow border at the foot 

 of a house is filled with 

 small plants — annuals or 

 other summer flowers. The 

 border itself is often poorly 

 devised, fussing and 

 dodging in and out among 

 bays and slight projections. 

 It is much better to carry 

 the border straight across, 

 and to fill the spaces next 

 the house with something 

 of solid and shrubby 

 character, such as laurus- 

 tinus, choisya and escal- 



with a planting, 



m 



Fir,. XI.L- 



-ANOTHER FORECOURT TREATIIEXT. 



large- 

 and the 



SUGGESTED PLAN 



PROVIDE 



TURNING SPACE 



MOTOR-CAR, 



Ionia, witn a 

 the narrower spaces and 

 towards the path, of smaller 

 shrubs, such as lavender, 

 rosemary, phlomis, the 

 dwarf rhodode ndrons, 

 olearias and hardy fuchsias ; 

 then, if front spaces still 

 need filling there is nothing 

 better than the 

 leaved megaseas 

 stately acanthus in com- 

 bination with the dark- 

 leaved shrubs, and of 

 southernwood and santolina 

 with the grey. 



The title of this ^'olume, 

 " Gardens for Small Country 

 Houses," needs, perhaps, 



some explanation, because a few of the pictures reproduced belong ob\'iously to large 

 gardens. Although some of the gardens described in the earlier " monograph " 

 chapters (I. to VL) are of fairly large extent, they mark the increasing tendency to be 

 generous in the provision of garden space round country houses which ma\' fairly be 

 called small. We have not attempted to deal with the little plots which belong to little 

 cottages, as they give scarcely any scope for invention or conscious design. Several 

 scores of photographs have been taken specially for the purposes of the book, but it 

 has not been found possible to rely solely on existing small gardens, known to us, 

 for pictures that would elucidate the points we wished to make. It is fair to claim, 

 however, that no feature has been illustrated which would not be fitting in a small 

 garden when reduced in scale, or which it would be wrong so to reduce. In order 

 that the range of illustration should be as wide as possible, we have been glad to 

 avail ourselves of several sketches for pools, walls and the like, which Mr. Inigo Triggs 

 has kindly placed at our disposal. To Mr. J. Maxwell Scott and Mr. Charles Yates, 



y 



