TASTE AND TACT IN ARRANGING HOME AND OTHER 

 GROUNDS— XIX. 



A CONSIDERATION OF THE NEEI 



REQUESTS have been received from several 

 subscribers for suggestions on treating small 

 gardens or garden-plats that are to be devoted 

 ■ largely to flowering plants or shrubs. For the 

 purpose of illustration we take the diagrams Figs, i and 4, 

 which represent actual gardens. 



The first diagram is of a garden 100 feet long and 30 

 feet across at its wider end. It extends to the left of the 

 dwelling, and has been planted in the present style for 



Fig. 1.— Instance of OveR' 

 PLANTING : All Flowers 

 AND NO Grass. 



Fig. 2.— Formal Beds oh 

 Flowers in the 

 Greensward. 



two years. It being conspicuously in view from the 

 trains of a railroad over which the writer passes occa- 

 sionally, he has never failed to notice the bright little 

 garden in his trips that way in the summer, and to 

 admire the owner's passion for having as many flowers as 

 possible in the small area, Being thus somewhat familiar 



; of the smaller gardens. 



with the place, it was a real pleasure to have the owner 

 apply to the editor for whatever assistance he might be 

 disposed to offer in the way of rendering the plat more 

 beautiful and interesting. 



This garden is fairly representative of hundreds of 

 others in the following particulars : 



First, the owner is possessed of such a love for beautiful 

 flowers and plants, that she is bound to have every avail- 

 able foot of garden space devoted to them ; second, she 

 intimately acquainted with annuals and their 

 culture, and on these she depends for almost 

 ^ \ the entire display made — by no means an un- 

 attractive one. 

 S \ The first principle lacking here is the 

 broad one, that no plat of ground, what- 

 ever its size, can possibly look so well if 

 planted solidly with flowers (aside from 

 \^ walks) as when much less space is 

 given to flowers and the curtailment 

 made up by a fair breadth of green- 

 sward. In the case of Fig. i there 

 is no grass, the entire surface being 

 given up to beds of annuals with 

 narrow walks between. In nature 

 the grasses clothe the landscape, 

 except where masses of trees 

 and shrubs, or single ones, ap- 

 r \ pear, seeming to spring out of 

 the grass. Nothing can be 

 *-(_.'\ more satisfactory and refresh- 

 ing than a beautiful land- 

 scape, hence we should seek 

 the secret of its charms for 

 use in our gardens. Flow- 

 ers are like ribbons, 

 jewels and other em- 

 bellishments in personal 

 attire — most effective 

 when made to adorn 

 rather than when used 

 so excessively as to ob- 

 scure the object that 

 they should adorn. 



To apply this princi- 

 ple to the garden under 

 discussion two diagrams are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The 

 first is after a more artificial order than the latter, and 

 might suit some tastes better. It is patterned upon a 

 style of lawn embellishment often employed by French 

 gardeners and seen frequently about the city of Paris. It 

 is a judicious blending of the natural and the formal 



—Improvement of 

 I IN THE Nat- 

 ural Way. 



