Formal Gardening 



symmetrical forms of neighboring build- 

 ings. 



But most often no taste at all has pre- 

 sided over their disposition, except a greedy 

 love for conspicuous plants as such ; and 

 then they are hideous as well as inappro- 

 priate. They are huddled little conglomera- 

 tions of trees and showy shrubs, and of bits 

 of grass splashed with chromo - like flower- 

 beds, and speckled with exotic plants vrhich 

 have recently been brought from the green- 

 house and loudly confess their homesickness 

 for tropical surroundings. Most often we 

 feel that the owner's or the gardener's one 

 desire has been to get as much variety as he 

 could within his narrow limits. As a result 

 he has entirely lost the unity which alone 

 can give relief and value to variety. His 

 garden has no coherence, no character ; it is 

 a place in which plants are grown, but not 

 a place which as a whole makes any impres- 

 sion upon the eye, except to confuse and 

 pain it. Nowhere better than at Newport 

 can we understand what a French artist 

 meant when he said that most people's idea 

 of gardening is ''the cleaning up of spon- 



175 



