I HE HARMONY OF STRAIGHT LINES 
In itself not a thing of beauty, yet the greenhouse may be so placed as to become an integral part 
of the garden picture, as when it appropriately terminates a vista in a harmony of straight lines 
WHERE CAN 1 PUT MY GREENHOUSE? 
R. CARLTON FONTAINE 
E LAST one day, driven perhaps by an early devasta- 
ting frost to sudden realization that another cheerless, 
gardenless winter is rapidly closing in, you determine 
to build the long talked of greenhouse. Immediately 
the matter moves from the conveniently adjustable conditions 
of mere dream-planning into the limitations of actuality and 
MASKED BY UNUSUAL PLANTING 
Introduced into a scheme with sweeping curves some in- 
genuity in the treatment of the foreground is necessary to 
subdue formal stiffness, as has been done successfully here 
one’s very first decision — where shall the greenhouse go? is 
beset by all sorts of hampering considerations. 
However, sometimes the difficulties of a problem add rather a 
zest to its solution, and this matter of placing the greenhouse 
is really quite simple if certain fundamentals are steadily kept 
in mind. 
In selecting a position, first of all consider the greenhouse in 
its relation to the general scheme of house and grounds. Being 
of necessity structurally undecorative, it should not be an ob- 
trusive landscape feature, nor should it be placed so close to 
the house or at such an angle that there will be an annoying 
glare from the glass. It is essentially a “growing place,” quite 
distinct from a conservatory or “sun parlor.” The latter is, 
of course, directly attached to the house, a glass-enclosed room 
where plants are brought in the full of their beauty to be en- 
joyed, a room whose temperature makes lingering agreeable but 
is too high for much beside subtropical plants to thrive, to say 
nothing of the atmospheric conditions usually maintained in 
such abutments of the dwelling — too dry for the majority of 
cultivated ornamentals. 
On the other hand the greenhouse in its character of “ grow- 
ing place” must be readily accessible to both dwelling and gen- 
eral gardens, for one or both of which its varying produce is 
intended — near enough, too, so that the coldest of winter days 
need not deter, if one feels inclined to check up the progress ol 
flowers or fruits. If possible such a structure should be worked 
in as part of the integral plan of the garden. In many cases 
it can be made a definite feature and be given a certain pictorial 
value without undue neglect of the practical aspects of placing. 
A near-by open roadway is essential for getting in the coal 
supply and for the gardener’s use in heavy weather; he cannot 
be expected to plough across muddy fields or through the or- 
•54 
