LES JARDINS DE LA BOURGEOISIE 



E. C. STILES 



Landscape Architect 



Rich In Suggestion for American Gardeners Is the Underlying Concept that 

 Combines Strictest Privacy With Graceful Freedom of Line, Which May 

 Be Traced In These As In Every Garden Great or Small in France 



jNE of the greatest things which the observing man 

 brought away from France undoubtedly was a 

 knowledge and appreciation of the skilful way in 

 which the French people treat their homes and 



gardens. And with this knowledge comes the realization 



that many of their ideas are directly applicable to our own 



homes and gardens in this 



country. 



So, while we are hearing 



of what we did for France, 



it seems only fair that 



some of those who have 



returned from there speak 



up about what France did 



for us. 



In France the garden is 



really the living room of 



the house and if all the 



impressions of beauty 



which linger with us and 



of that indefinable charm 



which pervades all long- 

 established and historic 



countries were sifted down 



and analyzed, they would 



I am sure centre around 



not only the old chateaux 



and public places, but 



around the village "pares" 



and "jardins" of the 



smaller houses among 



which our troops were 



quartered. These left an 



ineffaceable image with 



those men who were 



equipped with a sense of 



appreciation for the finer 



things in life. 



Perhaps I cannot do 



better to make this clear 



than quote from my own 



notebook an entry made 



on January 28th of last 



year while in Brest await- 

 ing return to America. It 



sums up thus: 



"On the whole the im- 

 pressions gained have 



been varied and alto- 

 gether delightful, yet far 



different from what I ex- 



THIS DELIGHTFUL BALANCED INFORMALITY 

 IS TYPICAL OF FRENCH GARDEN DESIGN 



pected while still in America. I had always associated 

 France with the formal gardens — the immense terraces of 

 Le Notre and other artists of the sixteenth and seventeenth 

 centuries, with their characteristic use of sculptured statuary, 

 endless fountains and other tricks of the formal landscape 

 school. But it is with pleasant surprise that I have noted 



not only all of these fea- 

 tures on the larger estates 

 which I visited, but also 

 an immense amount of 

 clever garden work on the 

 smaller places which will 

 be directly applicable to 

 our own home grounds. I 

 am indeed surprised to 

 note that the combination 

 flower and vegetable gar- 

 den is almost universal, 

 except upon the very 

 wealthiest estates, where 

 we sometimes have small 

 separate flower gardens, 

 which are usually enclosed 

 in Box-bordered beds. 

 Parterres are indeed very 

 common, but these are all 

 small in area, simple in 

 design and enclosing pleas- 

 ant little grass plots which 

 could not well be put into 

 flower beds, and are com- 

 bined with all manner of 

 sand, gravel, stone, and 

 brick paths. The brick 

 work is curiously pat- 

 terned and colored bricks 

 are used in many individ- 

 ual and unusual places." 



THE extensive use of 

 gravelled court areas 

 is universal and very good, 

 as it brings out the design 

 cleverly and offers a dry 

 footing immediately after 

 the rain, and early in the 

 morning and late in the 

 evening when the dew is 

 heavy on the ground. It 

 also admits of clever treat- 

 ment of many of those 



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