NOTES ON GARDEN DESIGN 153 



a pretentious and disappointing effect. On the other hand, 

 * furnishing ' a large garden should be done on a scale pro- 

 portionate to the size and importance of the place. For if 

 such objects are too small their appearance will be frivolous 

 and commonplace. In this connection the Pergola at Sand- 

 ringham may be instanced as a fine example of grand propor- 

 tion. Had it not been very large and important, its effect, 

 considering the length of garden to which it leads, would 

 not have been anything like so dignified and satisfactory as 

 it undoubtedly is. 



In the matter of backgrounds, also, a practice of painters 

 may well be followed by designers of gardens. When a painter 

 wishes to draw attention to a special passage of colour or 

 light ; to, as it were, focus the mind of the spectator on some 

 particular part of his picture, he places round it or near to it 

 a mass of quietly contrasting, restful and not too attractive 

 colour. So, too, the gardener should always remember that the 

 beauty of a plant, or group of plants, is immensely enhanced 

 by being seen against a suitable background. These may be 

 old red-brick or grey stone walls, a dark green clipped hedge 

 or group of evergreen trees. The importance of the whole 

 subject of backgrounds can scarcely be over-estimated. It 

 has received a very great amount of care and attention in 

 all the royal gardens described and illustrated in this book. 

 At Sandringham every advantage is taken of natural back- 

 grounds supplied by masses or groups of beautiful and varied 

 foliage. At Claremont and at Hampton Court, old brick 

 walls partly clothed with wistaria, roses and other trained 

 or climbing plants, form a splendid foil to herbaceous borders 

 and beds of lovely annuals. At Osborne Cottage, a long 

 creeper-clad corridor, connecting two houses, makes a fine 

 background to flowers in both parts of the garden it divides. 

 In Norman Tower garden, the famous ' Windsor Grey ' 

 walls provide a perfect setting for roses, liliums, delphiniums 

 and countless other flowers grown there in such wonderful 

 profusion. While at Bagshot Park, great and most successful 

 use is made of shrubs, trees and evergreen clipped hedges 



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