24(5 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



May, 1913 



from weeds. It is a remarkably even 

 mixture of June grass and white clover, 

 considering that it was nearly all made 

 from sods cut in the meadows. 



5. Masses vs. dotting. Nothing makes a 

 garden so weak and spotty as the ordinary 

 mixed border, with a single plant of iris, 

 or any other flower repeated every few 

 steps. The right way to plan a border is 

 to have a few, big strong masses — say one 

 for each month. For instance; Mr. White 

 has a good big mass of tulips for May, 

 another of narcissus, and for the end of 

 May a good show of columbines. In 

 June he has three main masses — roses, 

 German iris, and day lilies. In July his 

 big effect is larkspurs. In August his 

 garden is dominated by phlox. September 

 is a weak month for flowers in this northern 

 latitude, but Mr. White has two good 

 masses, China asters and Japanese anem- 

 ones. He has solved the question of suc- 

 cession or continuity of bloom. 



6. Variety. Having arranged for a few 

 big masses it is an easy matter to provide 

 variety by filling in between the big clumps. 

 Among the "fillers" in the front yard I 

 noted tiger lilies, sweet alyssum, white rock 

 cress, scarlet lightning, and moss pink — 

 all of which flourish in this rich, black, 

 clay-loam. There are perhaps 200 species 

 of flowers on this whole property — many 

 more than a beginner should attempt. 

 The best plan is to begin with a dozen 

 main masses, make a success of those, mul- 

 tiply them, and have plenty of plants to 

 exchange for rarer kinds. 



So much for the garden in the front yard. 

 The side garden would be little more than 

 a passage way, w r ere it not for a beautiful 

 vine-clad arch at either end. These arches 

 frame good pictures, looking either way. 

 The excellence of the first arch is suggested 

 by Fig. 3. though it is hard to realize that 

 this arch is 14 ft. high. Ordinary arches 

 are only 8 ft. high. The great advantage 

 of the higher arch is that it allows the vines 

 to hang down at least 4 ft. without scraping 

 off the hat of any one passing through. 



The back yard garden was new when I 

 saw it in 1910. Doubtless it has been 

 .greatly improved since then. It rose 

 steeply to a height of about 30 ft. at a 

 point about 50 ft. back of the house. A 

 great deal of work had been done to make 

 the little paths by which one clambered 

 about everywhere. Many of the plants that 

 year were temporary and inappropriate, 

 like nasturtiums and other common garden 

 flowers that will grow without rocks. 

 There were no true alpines. But I was 

 glad to see many of the famous rock-loving 

 flowers which are sure to make good masses 

 for the beginner at little expense, e. g. pinks, 

 rock cress, speedwells, stonecrops, peren- 

 nial alyssums, Jacob's ladder, and col- 

 umbines. 



They have an interesting way of judg- 

 ing gardens in Ottawa — just like cattle 

 or corn They have a scale of 80 points, 

 giving 20 points each for perfection along 

 four different lines. Under the tutelage 



QAIi_ 



General plan of 

 Mr. White's prop- 

 erty. The figures and 

 arrows indicate the 

 positions and direc- 

 tions of the views 

 shown 



of Mr. R. B. Whyte I scored Mr. G. A. 

 White's garden as follows. 



Pictorial effect and general arrange- 

 ment 19 



Enthusiasm and work 19 



Cleanness and order 17 



Floral effect 16 



Total "71 



On a scale of 100, this would mean 89 

 points. It is not fair, however, to judge 

 any garden by a single visit. The Ottawa 

 judges are so conscientious that they make 

 five visits to every garden, score it each 

 time, and take the average. 



While this cottage garden is the best 

 I have seen in America, it is not the ideal. 

 In another century or less, we ought to 

 have permanent homes and gardens for 

 every renter in the land, as they do in 

 Europe, e. g. at Bournville and Letchworth. 

 We should have fire-proof or slow-burning 

 houses, and the grounds should contain 

 ancient trees and shrubs. Meanwhile, 

 here is a new standard which can be 

 achieved by anybody under present day 

 conditions, provided he is genuinely fond of 

 gardening. It cannot be attained in a 

 single year, and many people will live 

 eighty years and die without ever rising 

 to the conception of landscape gardening 

 as here illustrated by the open lawn, vistas, 

 and screening of unsightly objects. Am 

 I too enthusiastic in my estimate of this 

 garden? Here is the opinion of a well 

 known landscape designer to whom these 

 photographs were submitted, Mr. Warren 

 H. Manning. 



"This garden is indeed the design of an 

 artist, for he has recognized and fully 

 utilized the opportunites for beauty pre- 

 sented by a small place, having an attrac- 

 tive outlook over a river from the edge of 

 its steep bank. Such a bank is too often 

 the back yard dump, but this man has so 

 arranged the foliage on its steep slope and 

 against two very bare, blank walls as to 

 make a very effective bit of home landscape 

 composition, and this with common pop- 

 lars and sumacs to form his background 

 and screen. 



"The framed-in river picture is a gem, and 

 in the arrangement of passages of turf 

 between these plantations he has gained 

 an appearance of extent on a small place 

 of which any designer should be proud." 



Fig. 5. View of the front yard from a point near the house. The bridges and wires are not yet wholly 

 hidden by the trees. Borders contain phlox, lilies, hollyhocks, spireas. etc. 



