Planning the Garden Picture— By w. s. Rogers 



THE TREATMENT OF THE SMALL PLOT, AND THE FACTORS THAT CONTROL THE DESIGN 



npHE design of a garden should take 

 -■- its general character from the local 

 conditions and environment. The con- 

 tours, slope, and aspect of the plot are the 

 first factors to be considered; the shape 

 of its boundaries is important, and equally 

 so the position and shape ^ of the house. 

 The aim of the designer should be to bring 

 all these factors into a consistent and pleas- 

 ing combination, in which the garden and 

 house are in entire harmony with each 

 other. Do not plan for mere effect on 

 paper. The lines of the plan, representing 

 as they do the projection of the design on 

 the horizontal plane only, have little mean- 

 ing if they are not intimately co-related 

 with some effect in the third dimension. 



I cannot too strongly urge the impor- 

 tance of eliminating symmetry from the 

 general garden picture; not only because 

 it precludes a picturesque effect, but for 

 the practical reason that it is rarely con- 

 sistent with a design which gives due 

 weight to the all-important factor, aspect. 



Many complaints of undue formality 

 have their basis in the existence of a 

 meaningless symmetry. In observing these 

 injunctions against symmetry it must 

 not be understood that they apply with 

 the same force to details. On the. contrary, 

 the treatment of certain parts of the gar- 

 den may be governed with advantage 

 by considerations of symmetry. For in- 

 stance, in a group of beds on the lawn, a 

 one-sided arrangement would be opposed 

 to good practice, particularly if associated 

 with a grass plot of regular shape. 



Formality, as usually understood, ;may 

 arise from several causes. The most 

 common one is symmetry in the general 

 lines of the design. Another cause may 

 be injudicious planting, particularly when 

 the gardener has not adopted means of 

 building up a well-considered picture in 

 the vertical plane. Trees planted sentinel- 

 wise, at equal distances, will produce a 

 formal effect. The repetition of some con- 

 spicuous feature at regular intervals also 

 makes for formality. 



Complexity in detail may suggest for- 

 mality, by proclaiming too insistently 

 the artificial character of the garden. 

 Still another cause is neglect to preserve 

 a proper scale in the various details. It 

 might be concluded that the use of straight 

 lines and right-angles would lead inevitably 

 to a formal result; on the contrary, in 

 small gardens the use of straight lines, 

 in combination with a studied simplicity 

 of treatment, is the most efficient means 

 of securing an informal result, because 

 it enables the designer to harmonize his 

 plan with the shape of the garden boun- 

 daries. On the other hand, curved lines 

 may only render too conspicuous the rigid 

 outlines of these boundaries. 



I must here emphasize the value of 



variety — variety in outline, variety in 

 shape (as opposed to too frequent repe- 

 tition of similar shapes), and variety in 

 planting so as to secure a good effect in 

 the vertical plane. Such variety must 

 be carefully thought out, and made to 

 give character to the garden as a whole. 

 This does not imply over-elaboration, 

 nor is it opposed to simplicity of treatment. 

 It is just the avoidance of undue repeti- 

 tion of lines and shapes. 



Another factor in the attainment of 

 the picturesque is what I may term "re- 

 ticence." It is not well to aim at giving 

 too comprehensive a view of the garden 

 from any one point. The planning should 

 be so contrived that the various garden 

 features are seen one at a time as it is 

 traversed from end to end. This may be 

 arranged by judicious screening, for which 

 trees, shrubs, arches, trellis, and other 

 objects may be employed. A long her- 

 baceous border, filled with flowers carefully 

 graded in height, the tall ones all standing 

 at the back and the short ones in front, 

 presents a rather monotonous vista. Its 

 charm is greatly enhanced if the process 

 is partly reversed, so that here and there 

 a bold clump of flowers or foliage is allowed 

 to push forward. Incidentally this arrange- 

 ment affords shelter to the smaller and 

 more tender plants lying between their 

 robuster companions. 



Again, the garden may be divided up 

 into ' separate conpartments, each only 

 to conje into full view when it is entered. 

 Passing down between well-filled borders, 

 we may thread a pergola clustered with 

 flowering climbers, to emerge upon an 

 Alpine garden which in turn leads to a 

 shady grass plot, or by another flower- 

 flanked path to the vegetable ground. 

 Each section of the garden is complete 

 in itself, though all united in a consistent 

 and harmonious whole. 



The task of the designer does not stop 

 at this point. He has other factors to 

 consider. It is essential that the picture 

 should not be merely a group of closed-in 

 compartments. He must contrive a series 

 of vistas, which, whilst giving pleasant 

 peeps from certain points, convey a sense 

 of space. In other words, the treatment 

 must include that artistic quality known 

 as "breadth." This is to be attained in 

 part by the opening up of vistas, and in 

 part by simplicity of character in the 

 principal details of the design. 



One frequently hears the terms "a 

 natural garden." A natural garden within 

 the limits of four square boundary walls 

 in the sense of a garden which shall deceive 

 the spectator into believing that he is 

 looking at a piece of pure Nature, is un- 

 attainable. The effects which we create 

 in our gardens must be so contrived as 

 not to reveal too patently the means by 

 174 



which they are produced. By the ob- 

 servance of this principle we get the near- 

 est approach to a natural garden, inasmuch 

 as the examples of Nature's work then 

 impress us more strikingly than the work 

 of the garden designer. 



A further quality which it is important 

 to introduce into the garden is repose. 

 Repose is closely co-related with breadth 

 of treatment, but it also involves a proper 

 proportioning of the main elements of 

 the design, the borders, grass, and walks. 



As regards the walks, it is only necessary 

 to see that they exist for a definite pur- 

 pose and that they do not sprawl aimlessly 

 about the plot, cutting it up into awkward 

 shapes. Grass, more than any other 

 feature, helps to secure repose. As far as 

 possible it should exist in a single stretch. 

 Apart from questions of tennis and croquet, 

 the grass is a valuable background to the 

 flowers, and a place where the feet may 

 escape the "crunch" of gravel. 



And so with the beds and borders. It 

 is little short of vandalism to fret the lawn 

 into a lace-work of fantastically fashioned 

 beds, in which geometry is invoked to 

 inspire the gardener. Nature does not 

 grow her flower groups within the rigid 

 limits of five-pointed stars, crescents, and 

 crosses. Beds in grass are sometimes admir- 

 able features, if modelled on simple 

 shapes. The more elaborate the form of 

 the bed the more time and labor will be 

 expended in preserving its geometry, and 

 the less enjoyment will be derived from 

 the flowers. The makers of stars and 

 crescents, moreover, should realize that 

 an acute angle is an awkward one, and 

 that to preserve the outlines of such beds it 

 is necessary to fill them with puny plants, 

 which, by constant pinching, are prevented 

 from developing their natural form and 

 character. The result- is that the bed 

 becomes a mere formal patch of color, 

 exciting only admiration for the gardener's 

 patience and skill with the turf trimmer. 

 Better to adopt a simple circle, square, or 

 rectangle, and to be not too particular if 

 the flowers spread on to the grass. The 

 outlines they then create blend softly with 

 the turf, and are far more sightly than the 

 hard edges fresh from the trimming tool. 



I have already made it clear that the 

 garden design must grow out of the gar- 

 den itself, and this is only another way of 

 saying that the garden must harmonize 

 with its site and surroundings. The house 

 may provide the thdme, and then the gar- 

 den must be designed to harmonize with 

 its outlines and character. A house per- 

 mitted to stand up bleak and naked from 

 an expanse of gravel or turf will always 

 wear an aspect of aloofness. Fill in the 

 angles where the house rises above the 

 ground, either by the use of shrubs, or by 

 placing borders against the house wall. 



