36 GARDENS: THEIR FORM AND DESIGN 



If we think of the many different outlines which ancient 

 initial letters give us we shall be surprised to find how 

 many pretty gardens we can invent. Each one will 

 have a tall (seven or eight feet high) surrounding yew- 

 hedge. The entrance to the garden, the paths and 

 borders within, can be arranged as fancy pleases. 



Heart-shaped beds are often used in Italy, and in that 

 romantic garden of San Francesco 

 at Siena we see them in the enclosed 

 court, as we look from under the 

 covered walk surrounding it. Time 

 has perhaps helped this garden 

 somewhat, and the slight irregu- 

 larity of the whole is pleasing, and 

 prevents an impression of too great 

 g formality. The height given by the 



A, Tall orange. pots; B, trees and by the well-head is good; 

 c" h" d" lof tox ""^ ''^'^*' ^°'" ^ courtyard garden, if kept flat, 



is apt to become monotonous. 

 Height of colour above the ground is well understood by 

 Italians. We see this in their ornamental pot-gardens. 

 Often a large flat terrace of gravel is converted into a 

 lovely flower-garden of varying height without a single 

 flower-bed being cut in it. To give strength to the design 

 according to which the flower-pots are placed, clipped 

 box-hedges are sometimes planted in rings or ovals. 

 We see this in Fig. 28, Inside the two-foot high rings 

 of dark green formed by the box stand varying heights 

 of terra-cotta pots. They are graduated in heights and 

 size, so that the highest, with bright yellow azaleas in 

 them (A), stand up above the others in the centre of the 

 circle. Repetitions of the group shown in the plan upon 

 the wide terrace near the house are very effective. 

 Plenty of space is left between each group for walking 

 and sitting, and the colours of the flowers in the orna- 



