108 



The Garden Magazine, October, 1919 



to the consistency of the 

 texture of its clipped 

 turf. This is one rea- 

 son why the coarse leaves 

 of the plantain or the 

 dandelion pushing out 

 among the fine grass 

 blades are so unpleas- 

 antly discordant; and, 

 conversely, why the 

 little round-leaved clo- 

 vers add to, rather than 

 detract from, the pleas- 

 antness of the lawn. 



JUST as colors grow 

 softer to the eye as 

 they are more distant, 

 so distance softens tex- 

 tures ; and we think of a 

 tree as distant when we 

 cannot see the shape of 

 its leaves, but have an 

 impression only of a tree 

 form with a certain 

 harder or softer texture. 

 This fact may be taken 

 advantage of by the clever 

 gardener; and a small 

 garden may be made to 

 look larger from the im- 

 portant viewpoint by 

 using the plants of coarser 

 texture in the foreground 

 and the finer and softer 

 things as distance recedes. 

 If we were looking at this 

 garden we should instinc- 

 tively feel, in the range 

 of textures between fore- 

 ground and background, 



a greater effect of space than we would if coarse plants 

 were in the background to bring it forward and thus im- 

 press us with how very near it is after all. In just this 

 same way a combination of bright colors and the coarse 

 texture in the foreground, with softened, bluish tones and 

 finer texture in the background will make a small garden 

 seem considerably larger. 



THERE is another way also in which a skilful handling of 

 textures may be made to contribute to the pleasant effect 

 of a landscape design. The appearance of newness in house 

 and garden — inevitably associated in our minds with a cer- 

 tain harshness and rawness — may be mitigated by the use 

 of soft-textured materials, approximating the softening effect 

 of age. This result has been achieved with rather unusual 

 success in the small place above, the work of Mr. Gordon 

 Allen, architect, and Mr. Henry V. Hubbard, landscape arch- 



FOLIAGE COMPOSITION IN THE GARDEN PICTURE 



Here the arrangement properly violates the principle of coarse texture in the fore- 

 ground to the end that the path vista by contrast shall seem longer 



itect. For the exterior 

 of the house hand-split 

 shingles were chosen, set 

 on irregularly and 

 stained soft gray, so that 

 the whole house showed 

 immediately the agreea- 

 ble texture suggestive of 

 age. The terrace hedge 

 is Spiraea callosa alba, 

 with Spiraea Thunbergii 

 on either side of the 

 steps leading down to 

 the garden walk; and 

 these make a pleasing 

 texture harmony with 

 the shingled walls. The 

 relatively fine texture of 

 the old trees remaining 

 from the pear orchard 

 that once occupied the 

 land, and of much of the 

 shrubbery, earn - out the 

 general effect, producing 

 — apart from their form 

 — quite a different total 

 impression than if Horse- 

 chestnuts for example, 

 or Catalpas and bristling 

 evergreens surrounded 

 the house. The scale 

 relation of the predom- 

 inating texture to the 

 size of the place, taken 

 in conjunction with the 

 scale of the low pear 

 trees in relation to the 

 new shrubbery, makes 

 the place appear larger 

 than it really is, as 

 well as older. 

 When one gets to thinking in terms of texture, it is surprising 

 how many new points of interest appear in shrubbery and 

 even in flower border; and astonishing to see how much can 

 be done in planting to make foliage composition of more 

 significance. The essential of it all lies in seeing the land- 

 scape as though it were a flat surface — a textile, in other 

 words, woven of the warp and woof of leaves and shadows 

 and blossoms, and spread before the eyes as a drop curtain. 

 For the purpose of studying the subject it is necessary to 

 bring this sense of it very clearly up before one, and to observe 

 with half closed eyes perhaps, as artists do, until things are 

 seen in the mass instead of as individuals. While a leaf or a 

 clump of leaves holds its individuality, you are not getting 

 the "texture" of a planting; but as soon as the great surface 

 made up of thousands of leaves, unifies and conveys to you 

 an impression of softness or rigidity or roughness or whatever 

 quality it may be that it thus reveals, you are. 



