20 



THE GREENING PICTORIAL SYSTEM OF LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



The Greening Pictorial System 

 of Landscape Gardening 



A 



ND this is a distinguishing feature of the Green- 

 ing System, viz., that it keeps the pictorial side 



constant!}' in mind. 



house and grounds 



It aims to make a picture of a 

 The cfuestion ever uppermost is, 

 what is the artistic point of view ? How woukl an 

 artist paint that scene? How distribute his high hghts 

 and shadows? What is the best color-scheme? And 

 after determining these things we proceed to accomplish 

 them with the proper selection of trees and plants 

 harmoniously arranged. For, after all, the ornamenting 

 of home grounds is like painting a picture. The ob- 

 ject is the same. The same end is sought, the same 

 means are used. By color, form, relation and jDropor- 

 tion the eye is won and all the senses join in glad con- 

 tent. The imagination is quickened, the sympathies 

 enlarged, and what ^^■as once a dream becomes at last 

 a fact. 



And following this idea the ornamenting of home 

 grounds becomes a beautiful art. Let the house be the 

 central idea and subordinate every other feature to it. 

 Place no tree or bush in such impudent prominence that 

 it is observed as an entity. Let its beauty be lost in the 

 g'lory of the whole. Mass your planting in a strong- 

 framework to give structural character to the grounds. 

 Put a vine upon the porch and tie the buildings to the 

 earth with the cunning things that freely grow. Leave 

 a warm, open sward in front — inviting- as the lap of 

 love — and you have a landscape more sweetly beautiful than e\er 

 issued from Corot's magic brush. 



Art exists by expression and for the sake of expression. It 

 is its own excuse for being. It expresses states and shades of 

 feeling and states and shades of thought. There are emotions so 

 deep, so tender and so subtle that no golden tapestry of words can 

 picture them to the sense. It is the office of art to give to every 

 nerve a tongue and let it babble forth its joy. 



The fact that a garden shduld l)c 

 THE SIZE considered as a consolidated whole, de- 



OF A GARDEN pendent for its beauty upon the perfec- 

 tion of its form, suggests the necessity 

 of determining its ideal size. The object is to have such a com- 



I'latc 8 



A MIDSUMMER SCENE 

 This is a midsummer scene on a small property that Contains a wealth of floral 

 beauty and retains enough lawn for repose. The front is a stone retaining wall that 

 comes to the very edge of the sidewalk, but by draping it with vines it becomes an 

 object of beauty. This vine is Ampelopsis Veitchii, and another vine of the same 

 family, Ampelopsis Quinquefolia, is used on all five columns of the porch. Note 

 that the shrubs at its base are all hardy Hydrangea Paniculata, and that only one 

 distinct specimen tree is used, a Koster Blue Spruce, the most attractive conifer ever 

 introduced. This simple treatment is very restful in tone. Note also that the adjoin- 

 ing property is treated in the same way. 



position of parts that their visual relation to the whole is impressed 

 upon the observer from some advantageous viewpoint. On small 

 properties the garden may safely include all the a\ ailable ground ; 

 ljut on large estates it should be five or six acres in extent. Lord 

 Bacon, in his essay " Of Garden," recommends thirty acres, but 

 this is obviously too large for the nervous temperament, especially 

 the American temperament, of the twentieth century. Our gar- 

 dens, like our poems, should be short and alive with emotion. 

 Such a discussion is, to a large extent, of academic interest and 

 must, in actual practice, be determined by the exigencies of each 

 case ; and yet there can be no question as to the general superiority 

 of an area limited to the conveyance of one sustained impression. 

 The perfection of a garden lies in its jjower to create an unbroken 

 c( mtinuit}' of ]:)leasurable emotions. 



