68 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



DESIGN IN THE SUBURBAN GARDEN. 

 By Hlgh P. G. Maule. 



It is with the greatest diffidence that I venture to put forward a few 

 thoughts on the subject of design in the suburban garden. In the first 

 place, I fear I have little or no claim to a hearing ; and secondly, the 

 subject of "gardens" has of late been treated almost ad nauseam by 

 writers of indisputable authority and ability. It is, therefore, only 

 because so many of the small gardens that one sees fail in so many 

 particulars to fulfil their function in a proper and adequate manner that 

 I propose to enter a plea for a few definite principles which should be 

 carried out in any garden, no matter how small or how modest, if it is 

 to be worthy of its name. Let me then frankly tell you that as a 

 practical gardener or horticulturist I make no pretence whatever, and 

 that it is from the architect's or designer's point of view that I venture 

 to address you ; although I will yield to no one in the love, sympathy, 

 and delight, in all and everything that pertains to growing nature, 

 whether flower, fruit, or tree ; and that I hold, and hold most strongly, 

 that no plot of ground is too small, but with love and care it can be 

 made a true garden in the best sense of the word. 



At the risk of treading on dangerous ground, I should like to call 

 attention to one point upon which I think ardent gardeners often hold 

 erroneous views. In a recently published and charming little book, 

 "Villa Gardens,"* the author considers that "the flower must be a 

 complete autocrat," and I quote this passage because it is an opinion 

 very generally held without any qualifications. It is, I think, a wrong 

 and rather superficial view. The garden is something more and deeper 

 than a mere emporium for flowers. It is, with the house, a complete 

 entity, and must be treated as such, though we need never forget that 

 the flowers and their disposition are its chiefest glory, and in spite of 

 the above quotation this feeling is very clearly held and expressed by 

 the author of " Villa Gardens." 



Before dealing with the suburban garden in particular, it will be 

 well to call attention to the intimate relation between house and garden, 

 whether large or small, and to refer briefly to those general principles 

 which were undoubtedly the foundation and keynote to all that was fine 

 in the old English garden before its days of degeneracy. That these 

 important relations are almost entirely overlooked or unknown by the 

 general public is, I think, a truism, and perhaps it is not too much to 

 say that the average householder looks only upon his garden as a space 

 that must perforce be kept tidy ; and even if he himself takes some 

 pleasure and interest in it, it is with no idea that house and garden have 

 anything in common, or that there are any definite principles upon 

 which he should set to work in order to link them together, to obtain 

 a full value in pleasure and effect from even the smallest enclosure. 

 * Villa Gardens, by W. S. Rogers. London : Grant Richards. 



