26 



The Garden Magazine, March, 1922 



the uninteresting out-buildings of adjoining houses facing on 

 the next street. Both seem to have been cases where a necessity 

 was put to good service. If the antecedent circumstance was 

 not selected, the chance was indeed judicious. It often is, for 



"There is a divinity that shapes our ends, 

 Rough hew them as we will." 



The pergolas of the Olcott and Graham-Clapp houses have 

 more than an ornamental purpose, they serve as screens to finish 

 the background of the former, and for the latter to shut out un- 

 desirable features beyond. Pergqlas are, as a species, of Italian 

 origin. To one's Sicilian memories they recall Grape vines, 

 purple clusters overhead, shadowed by thick leafage from a 



too-burning sun, and rows of heavy pillars. Nothing seems 

 more characteristically Mediterranean than those stalwart 

 pillars. If one finds them at first sight incongruous with shin- 

 gled roofs, it is a casual association that soon passes; they are 

 cool, strong, and peaceful. From the cool of those pillars in the 

 Olcott house a brick walk runs through the flower garden, past 

 the Apple orchard, and the vista ends in a colonnade, hiding the 

 tennis court. The Graham-Clapp house stands on a rugged 

 stone terrace. Both houses are sheltered from outer view by 

 trees and hedges, and both plans imply lives looking inward to 

 the quiet of their gardens and not outward to the casual interest 

 of the street. 



This modern 

 English house at 

 Epsom offers at- 

 tractive sugges- 

 tion for an owner 

 who would at all 

 times enjoy his 

 garden. The 

 music room 

 (right), the liv- 

 ing and dining 

 rooms (centre), 

 and even the 

 service quarters 

 (left), face gar- 

 den ward: and 

 there is, too, the 

 low, sheltered 

 terrace for "tea" 



TELLING THE TIME IN FLOWERS 



JANE LESLIE KIFT 



Editors' Note: Because of an apparent recrudescence of interest (as evidenced by recent letters of inquiry) in a floral 

 fashion in vogue a century ago in English gardens, we are publishing this alleged guide to the planting of the floral dial 



|N THE effort to recreate the atmosphere of romance 

 commonly attributed to bygone days, people persis- 

 tently dig up old fashions quite forgetful of the fact that 

 they no longer fit. A mode very charming a century 

 back may to-day be very hideous, what was then a natural form 

 of expression often becomes for us mere superimposed arti- 

 ficiality. Happily, the energies of gardeners in general are 

 being increasingly diverted away from patterned beds and sim- 

 ilar floral "stunts" and are being expended on less intricate but 

 far more telling effects. 



However, for the benefit of those still be-cobwebbed by the 

 belief that anything "old-fashioned" is inevitably "good taste," 

 these recipes for the planting of a floral dial are offered. 



In the gardens at the World's Fair, Chicago, 1892, a dial 

 which told off only a few of the hours was planted as follows: 



6 a. m. Morning Glory 



7. a. m. Portulaca 



8. A- m. Single Roses 

 4. p. m. Four-o'clocks 



7. p. m. Evening Primroses 



8. p. m. Moon Flower 



Flower timepieces of a century ago were more elaborate in 

 arrangement, frequently containing varieties that by their 

 opening and closing told off every hour of the day and night. 

 Many of the older dials of the English estates were planted with 

 wild flowers and had a quaint charm that is lacking in more 

 recent examples. 



Such a clock would be a part of the general landscape rather 

 than of the formal garden. The nature of its plant materials 

 makes this imperative: they are all flowers that wander at will 

 over meadow lands and are never quite at home in the modern 

 garden. The list given below for just what it is worth is 

 taken from Brewer's " Readers' Hand Book. ' 



DIAL OF OPENING FLOWERS 



First Twelve Hours 



1. a. m. Scandinavian Sowthistle 



(closes) 



2. a. m. Yellow Goat's-beard (op- 



ens) 



3. a. m. Common Ox-tongue (op- 



ens) 



4. a. m. Hawkweed, late-flowering 



Dandelion, Wild Suc- 

 chory (open) 



5. a. m. White Water-lily, Naked- 



stalked Poppy (open) 



6. a. m. Spotted Cat's-ears (opens) 



7. a. m. White Water-lily, Garden 



Lettuce, African Mari- 

 gold (open) 



8. a. m. Scarlet Pimpernel, Prolifer- 

 ous Pink (open) 



a. m. Field Marigold (opens) 



a. m. Red Sandwort (opens) 



a. m. Star-of-Bethlehem (opens) 



Noon Ice Plant (opens) 



Second Twelve Hours 



1. p. m. Common Purslane (opens) 



2. p. m. Purple Sandwort (closes) 



3. p. m. Dandelion (closes) 



4. p. m. White Spiderwort (closes) 



5. p. m. Julap (opens) • 



6. p. m. Dark Crane's-bill (opens) 



7. p. m. Naked-stalked Poppy 



(closes) 



8. p. m. Orange Day-lily (closes) 



9. p. m. Cactus, Opuntia (opens) 



10. p. m. Purple Bindweed (opens) 



11. p.m. Night-blooming Catch-fly 



(opens) 



12. p. m. Late-flowering Dandelion 



(closes) 



9- 

 10. 

 1 1. 



