Practical Plans for the Home Grounds 



VII. An Architectural Garden— By Ruth Dean,' **££"*? y. 



LAST month's garden (which was 

 naturalistic) has this month be- 

 come architectural by virtue of its 

 straight paths, its clipped hedges, 

 and, most of all, its balanced layout. " For- 

 mal" is a misleading word to apply to a 

 garden of this sort, because through long 

 association with that which is stiff and arti- 

 ficial it has come to have an unpleasant 

 sound. But there is no word which will 

 express at the same time the orderliness 

 of a formal layout, and the pleasing in- 

 formality which may, and often does ac- 

 company it, the charm of irregular-growing 

 things, confined within regular lines. There 

 is a certain satisfaction especially in a small 

 garden which may be entirely seen at once, 

 in the sense of order that arises from beds 

 laid out so as to balance each other, in 

 paths that centre with doors and windows, 

 to make long, green vistas, and it is a mis- 

 take to think that such a garden need be 



austere and unpleasing. The garden whose 

 design is carried out in perennials can never 

 be stiff, for they are too irregular in their 

 habits of growth to preserve straight, hard 

 lines. With bedding plants such as coleus, 

 ageratum, geraniums, salvia and the like, 

 the garden may be made really formal, but 

 tall spikes of canterbury bells, next to low 

 masses of grass pinks, with hollyhocks and 

 delphiniums for neighbors, are much too 

 unconventional for true formality. In fact, 

 the materials of a garden and the way they 

 are handled have more to do with its for- 

 mality than the layout itself. For instance 

 grass walks or rough flag walks, are ever so 

 much less formal than those of gravel or hard 

 finished brick and a clipped hedge such as 

 the one surrounding this garden, which has 

 tall irregular shrubs outside to grow up and 

 look over its even top is a pleasanter bound- 

 ary than the hedge which stands free of any 

 softening trees and shrubs. 



The approach to the house I have left 

 just as it was in last month's plan, because 

 this seemed the best solution of the difficulty 

 which is always present in laying out a road 

 on a small place. 



The gardens proper open from the living 

 rooms of the house, with a grassy stretch 

 bounded by two flag walks which lead down 

 to a pool. This lawn might have been length- 

 ened to advantage if the limits of the prop- 

 erty had permitted; as it is the apparent 

 length is increased a little, by the grasses 

 and iris at the corners of the pool, which 

 narrow the width somewhat toward the 

 end. Their primary purpose however is 

 not that of converging the lines of sight, 

 although this is a desirable incident, but of 

 furnishing some planting near the pool. 

 Pools are always more interesting for a few 

 groups about them, of those plants which 

 belong naturally near water. Back of the 

 pool in the shadow of two trees which look 



over the hedge 

 is a seat from 

 which to watch 

 the gold fish 

 among the water 

 lily stems. 

 Outside the end 

 windows of the liv- 

 ing room and those 

 of the dining room, is 

 the flower garden which 

 is done in what might be 

 called an all-over pattern, 

 which, where there is plenty 

 of lawn on other parts of 

 the grounds, and green spaces 

 are not at a premium, is a 

 very good way of getting big 

 masses of color. A sun dial 

 marks the crossing of the paths, 

 but a gazing globe or bird bath 

 as one chooses may be substituted 

 for the dial. Whatever is used in 

 this position should stand on a 

 grassy base, for it is a mistake to let 

 the gravel of the paths run directly to 

 the hard edge of stone or brick. This 

 is a small detail of the flower garden, 

 but one which is important if the gen- 

 eral atmosphere of the garden is to be 

 gracious. 



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