186 
The Garden Magazine, December, 1920 
azurea, in pale blue, and S. leucantha, purple and white, are 
needed, for their colors are not common in late summer and 
autumn. Leonotus leonurus, a shrubby perennial often grow- 
ing six feet high and demanding little water, is conspicuous for 
its whorls of deep orange flowers. 
For locations where water and part time shade can be given, 
Japanese Anemones and all the tribe of perennial Asters or 
Michaelmas Daisies should be grown. They can be planted 
with every assurance of complete bloom before the cold and rain 
of winter come to stoo them. Last of all we have the Chrysan- 
themums, without which the flower border of October and 
November would seem bare. If grown for garden effect, single 
stems and severe disbudding are inadvisable. The many at- 
tractive pompoms and singles are better still for the garden 
than the large-flowered type, for their growth is dwarf and 
bushy. They also withstand cold, foggy nights, and rain much 
better, and though best if replanted annually with single shoots, 
even old clumps will be quite attractive and will flower freely 
if cut back in early summer and given an occasional good soak- 
ing. With them the garden year closes. 
THE SPANISH INFLUENCE 
MARION BROWNFIELD 
Across an Ocean and a Continent the Subtle Charm of the Old World Patio 
has Travelled to Find Its Home Anew in the Gardens of Southern California 
HE Spanish influence on southern California gardens 
had been a beneficent one, for the essential spirit of the 
Spanish garden lies in its adaptation of native flowers, 
shrubs, and trees to the background of native architec- 
ture and countryside; and the desirability of making a picture 
out of the materials at hand is being more and more appreciated. 
The Mission with its simple architecture and cloistered gar- 
dens has played considerable part in the development of south- 
ern California homes, but more recently the revival of Old World 
styles has focussed attention upon the great possibilities of 
Spanish-Moorish-Renaissance buildings with their charming 
gardens. The severe fortress-like architecture of many of 
these buildings makes the inner court or patio a veritable 
oasis. 
The patio, indeed, is a special type of small garden very at 
tractive for its privacy. It affords a refreshing outlook for 
many rooms of the home and is capable of many variations of 
arrangement and planting. In southern California it is equally 
popular in the private home — whether of bungalow or mansion 
type — and in the apartment-house or hotel. It is ideal for any 
building site limited in garden area for it combines seclusion with 
the joy of a green breathing space, as Washington Irving’s 
(“The Alhambra,”) “little garden of Lindaraxa buried in the 
heart of the building with its roses, and citrons and shrubbery 
of emerald green” delightfully suggests. 
Some of our American patios are merely paved or tiled court- 
yards dependent for their note of life upon potted and hanging 
plants, while others have a carefully planned centre plot for 
Palms, Banana or Orange trees, a Rose garden, Ferns, and 
Begonias. Many, as in the Old World, boast a cool looking foun- 
tain. A great deal of the artistic effect of a patio naturally hinges 
upon its architectural background. Nothing is more striking 
than cream colored plaster as a setting for dark green foliage 
and gay blossoms, and the arches of surrounding corridors offer 
additional place for hanging greenery. 
Another Spanish feature is the wrought iron gate or reja, a 
screen from the outside world that makes the garden within 
most alluring. Of late, in southern California, this feature has 
been duplicated in grilled wood, painted either a maroon or the 
greenish-blue favored by the old Renaissance, artists. Though 
such details, like the bird cage and the fountain, may appear 
only incidental to a patio or garden court, they are really more 
important than they seem, suggesting as they frequently do, 
the keynote of the whole planting scheme. For example, the 
brilliant-plumaged parrot demands tropical-looking plants and 
bright-hued flowers reminiscent of his native habitat, while the 
canary fits into more delicate color surroundings. Sometimes 
roof or floor tiles, or a Moorish-style inset above the arches 
suggests a color effect to be carried out in flowers. The bright 
reds, yellows, and blues can be successfully accented by the 
bloom or foliage of selected trees, shrubs and plants. 
The older garden courts built by the Moors had graven upon 
them, somewhat in Oriental-rug fashion, romantic inscriptions 
in Arabic from the Eastern poets and philosophers. The alabas- 
ter vases of Oriental literature, effectively duplicated in concrete 
or other modern material, have been inherited by the southern 
California garden, and the reddish colored water olla, set 
in a niche in a wall, is used with distinct artistic effect. The 
bird-bath, the wall-fountain, and the wall-shrine, in frequent 
early use, still hold their place in the modern patio. A long 
stretch of austerely simple wall needs such occasional relief. 
The stone garden seat, too, helps to furnish the patio. 
The large garden, also walled in semblance of a courtyard, 
is much enjoyed in southern California. This type is often 
considerably modified by Italian and American ideas. The wider 
space area gives scope for individual ingenuity in planting. In one 
of the illustrations we find a pool, instead of the typical fountain, 
occupying the centre of the garden, while the fountain-like 
shrine makes a point of interest at the farther end. The pergola 
treatment of the wall, a distinctly American feature, offers no 
disharmony, but is on the contrary a serviceable as well as 
decorative addition. The side walls of lusty evergreen hedge 
add another pleasing variation. The generally formal aspect of 
this garden with its rows of graceful, stately Cocos plumosa 
Palms is more Spanish in inspiration than in detail. Indeed the 
typical Spanish garden is more often characterized as naively 
simple and informal; in it studied planting gives way to the 
artistic grace of natural effects. 
Less friendly than either the patio or the larger courtyard, but 
decidedly effective is the Cactus garden sometimes used with 
Moorish architecture in southern California. The fantastic forms 
of the various species of Cactus are strikingly etched against a 
plaster background, and their martial quality admirably 
suits the fortress type of architecture. They have almost the 
air of having trouped in from the desert for the special pur- 
pose of affording protection to the house about which they are 
grouped. 
The nature of Spain is “wild and stern,” says Irving, “the 
moment it escapes cultivation; the desert and the garden 
ever side by side.” Southern California’s natural landscape 
