154 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



May, 19 13 



Shrubbery, a massing of flowers and a garden seat arranged in 



(and I purposely make this personal), with fifty or a hun- 

 dred feet frontage and a depth of a hundred or possibly 

 two hundred, or (if you are so fortunate), with double 

 or treble those figures, you have an entirely different prob- 

 lem to solve — and incidentally one in which you will prob- 

 ably take a great deal more personal pleasure than the 

 owner of the twenty acres before mentioned. As your 

 canvas is so limited that you cannot plan to spread thereon 

 a full size landscape, you are under the necessity of doing 

 one of two things, either taking a small section full size, 

 or a more inclusive composition on a very greatly reduced 

 scale. The Japanese are the only people who have success- 

 fully attempted to follow the latter course. Their miniature 

 gardens and landscapes are marvels of beautiful art. They 

 are also marvels of an infinite patience and a technical skill 

 which in this country we have not yet begun to dream of 

 attaining. Therefore the first step in planning your garden 

 space is to decide what to leave out. You will not have 

 room for conifers, flowering shrubs, hardy borders, old 

 fashioned garden, Rose bed, and all the other possible fea- 

 tures. Therefore decide, and decide at the beginning, what 

 to omit. Next comes the equally difficult task of deciding 

 what to admit. 



The second principle in garden building is unity. Noth- 

 ing should be admitted which does not fit into its place — 

 which is not only beautiful in its self, but is also a legitimate 

 part of the whole picture. A crimson Rambler Rose, 

 for instance, may be a very desirable thing and yet there 

 are many combinations in which one should not be used. 



The third thing to aim for in your garden building is 

 finality. Let it begin somewhere and get somewhere, not be 



this manner will give even the small lot a "garden" atmosphere 



simply a collection of pretty flowers or beautiful plants — 

 a botanical patch-work quilt — that has no more "composi- 

 tion" than a piece cut from the middle of a Huckleberry 

 pie — no particular features of interest, no high lights or 

 low lights. 



Finally, let the gardening fit the home. Just as the 

 garden as a whole should be considered, and not merely the 

 individual plants in it, so house and garden together should 

 be in proportion and 'harmony. It is not getting the lay- 

 man into water above his neck to describe briefly the gen- 

 eral styles of garden-scaping — the natural, the picturesque, 

 and the architectural. The first is, as its name implies, an 

 arrangement which strives to make things look just as 

 though they grew there; the second tries to put rather more 

 emphasis on the artistic, or even the very slightly grotesque, 

 the forming of a picture, as in a Japanese garden; and 

 the architectural is the formal and somewhat stiff — straight 

 lines, matched curves, evenly balanced proportions, mathe- 

 matical precision. The last of these, however, is not adapted 

 to achieving the pleasing illusion of spaciousness, which 

 we are generally desirous of creating in planning the small 

 garden for the small place, and therefore, unless the char- 

 acter of the surroundings and the house seem to demand 

 it, this style of treatment should not generally be employed. 



PLANNING THE GARDENSCAPE 



Such general principles as the above must be kept in 

 mind by him who would make the most of the garden pos- 

 sibilities which a small place offers. "All this," you may 

 say, "sounds good on paper, but how shall I employ it in 

 arranging my front yard?" Proceed along the following 

 lines. In the first place, make up your mind to make a 



