SOLVING THE INTRICATE PROBLEM 

 OF THE SMALL GARDEN 



As Typified in the Gales Garden at Great Neck, Ruth Dean, 

 Landscape Architect, Presenting a Concrete Application 

 of the Governing Principles of Practical Garden Design 



Editors' Note: — Among the various gardens displayed at this season's Architectural League of New York Exhibition this of Mrs. George N. 

 Gales at Great Neck, L. I., stands out as a conspicuously successful example of what may be achieved on the small suburban property where seclusion 

 is so much needed and so seldom had. Miss Dean's refreshing solution of the problems that beset the many who are doomed to live in restricted areas 

 points the way to a better and more satisfying type of treatment than is commonly found. 



Don't cut up space 4. 



Group service portions 5. 

 Screen service wing 6. 



ECAUSE a place is 



small that does not 



mean that there is 



no need for the ser- 

 of a landscape archi- 

 Quite the contrary is 

 as a matter of fact, 

 for the problem of applying definite rules becomes greatly 

 intensified where they may in a way be said to overlap each 

 other. On the large place, each living issue can be given free 

 play, which really renders its de- 

 sign and planting a far simpler af- 

 fair than that of the limited area. 

 Here even one mistake becomes 

 unpleasantly obtrusive because there 

 is no possibility of sauntering away 

 from it, no opportunity for distract- 

 ing the attention by points of inter- 

 est elsewhere, so it is very well worth 

 while to be sure that the initial plan 

 of your garden and grounds, how- 

 ever small, is a wise one. 



Often the house is completely built 

 before any thought of planting comes 

 to mind, and frequently, too, the 

 owner harbors prejudices which null- 

 ify all the fundamentals of good de- 

 sign, thus besetting the way of the 

 designer with untoward difficulties. 

 Exempt from such hindrances, how- 

 ever, the Gales garden has particular 

 significance for owners of little gar- 

 dens everywhere, being that all too 

 rare thing — the modest property 

 understandingly studied and land- 

 scaped and having, in consequence, 

 a convincing unity of effect in which 

 dwelling and garden peaceably share 

 the honors. 



Its plan is, in the first place, ad- 

 vantageously compact, the house be- 

 ing so placed that the property is not 

 wastefully cut up (Rule No. i), nor is 

 it crowded in appearance, because 

 no attempt is made to have the 

 driveway reach the door, as the 

 house is only forty-five feet from the 

 road. Garage, coal hole, service 

 wing, laundry yard etc. are grouped 

 together (Rule No. 2) and planted 

 out (Rule No. 3) so that guests sit- 

 ting on the piazza are not diverted 

 by an arriving grocery boy, or flap- 

 ping clothes. There is enough lawn 

 in one stretch to furnish a fore- 

 ground for the house (Rule No. 4), 



SIX RULES TO OBSERVE 



Give the house a foreground 

 Aim for privacy and unity 

 Relate all elements logically 



GENERAL LAYOUT TOR GROUNDS OF MR5. GEORGE N. GAEE5 

 AT KENSINGTON GREAT NECK LONG ISLAND, 



RUTH DEAN LANDSCAPE ARCHT. BT I. 55 T«. 51 N.r C. 5CAU 1 -10-0 



and two-thirds of the prop- 

 erty is left on the other side 

 of the house for flower gar- 

 den, vegetable garden, chil- 

 dren's playground and 

 orchard (Rule No. 5). 

 All these things are pos- 

 sible on a place one hundred and twenty-five feet by two 

 hundred and sixty feet simply because the house and grounds 

 are so planned that one part leads logically into the next (Rule 



No. 6). The main axis extends from 

 the living room porch through the 

 flower garden, orchard (if two rows 

 of fruit trees may be called an or- 

 chard) and vegetable garden to the 

 rear gate on the neighboring street. 

 Looking down this vista, which 

 might easily have been spoiled by 

 failure to adhere to rule number six, 

 the extent of the grounds is agree- 

 ably magnified, and one has the feel- 

 ing that the gate at the far end leads 

 out to a little country lane winding 

 on through fields beyond rather than 

 to one of Great Neck's most occu- 

 pied streets, as it in reality does. 



Within the property a bit of na- 

 tive woods, spared by a thoughtful 

 real estate agent, lie on one side of 

 this main path, and supply a happy 

 playground for the children of the 

 family. 



T! 



MAKING THE MOST OF A 125x260 FT. PROPERTY 



A small suburban place that combines beauty, 



economy, privacy, and diversity. The reduced 



scale above is 50 ft. to the inch 



'HE flowers are collected into 

 the flower garden proper (ex- 

 cept for the cutting beds that bor- 

 der the vegetable garden paths) and 

 are not allowed to straggle aimlessly 

 along the edge of the irregular shrub 

 borders which bound the property. 

 Nothing so cuts down the extent of 

 a place as this interruption between 

 lawn and shrub border. In addi- 

 tion to the messy, untidy appear- 

 ance such borders possess for 

 two-thirds of the time, they inter- 

 rupt the easy flow of grass into 

 shrubbery. 



The beds in the flower garden are 

 few and fairly big; again a rule 

 springs up to cover the case; repose 

 and a sense of space are to be gained 

 by elimination. Many narrow beds 

 give a cluttered appearance to the 

 garden, just as a lot of furniture 

 crowds a small room, making it 



181 



