100 GARDENS : THEIR FORM AND DESIGN 



It is when we come to having a large number of 

 shapes like Fig. 75 spotted recklessly about a parterre 

 garden that the topiarist should stay his hand. Trees 

 such as these are often seen in old French prints of 

 gardens, and we know that they were fashionable at a 

 time when, like every phase of taste, this particular one 

 became exaggerated to a ridiculous degree. Let us 

 hurriedly leave this picture, lest we call upon us the wrath 



A 



n 



A 



f^p 

 ^ 



Fig. 7s. 



of the natural-tree lover, and turn to other parts of a 

 large garden where perhaps a moderate use of the clipped 

 hedge may not anger him too much. 



Clipped Hedges 



From a gay herbaceous border full of rainbow tints and 

 ^'oie de vivre, it is pleasant to wander through an arch 

 in a tall yew-hedge, and to find absolute rest and no 

 colour in a long, narrow enclosed garden. The path 

 passes straight through the centre and out under another 

 yew arch beyond. Upon either side of it is a grass margin 

 and then the feature of the place is a wonderful ten or 

 twelve feet high clipped yew-hedge, which surrounds the 

 whole. 



All sorts of birds and beasts are cut out and stand upon 



