THE GARDEN 
INDOORS AND OUT 
EDITORIAL FOREWORD 
r r 
G ARDENING as a conscious, organized movement is still — comparatively, 
at least — in its infancy; for this reason we are perhaps more keenly aware 
than ever before of the strength and scope of its influence. More, too, than 
ever before do we need in our whirring, crowded existences the refreshment of 
spirit which the garden bestows; and, aware of this need, we are in our business- 
like, modern fashion deliberately setting out to supply the demand. Hence the lightning popularity of solarium and sleeping-porch; the 
frenzied building of rock gardens, naturalesque pools, and perennial borders; the outcry for planting the city backyard. All these are 
expressions of the healthy, human delight in growing things, and as such deserve every encouragement. The terms of expression are 
negligible; whether the perennial border and the rock garden are merely fads or something more fundamental that have come to stay, 
does not matter at all; what does matter is that men and women everywhere are finding it worth while to cultivate the friendship of the 
garden. 
In all sorts of unobtrusive ways the garden colors our lives. Quietly it has stepped from outdoors in, gradually taking possession of 
our homes till now we find its bright finger-prints everywhere — in chintzes and gaily flowered wallpapers; in floor coverings, whether 
Chinese or Colonial; in window boxes cheerily ablossom upstairs and down; in the feathery ferns and trailing greenery of braziers. And, 
like all really vital conquests, this conquest of the house by the garden has been pervasive rather than aggressive in character, evolution- 
ary rather than revolutionary in method. 
The household gods have nearly always been garden gods as well — the pottery, tapestry, and rugs of centuries back testify to this. 
All sorts of floral motifs are rooted in the misty, very early days, and it is interesting to follow their development, transformation — often- 
times transfiguration — at the hands of different peoples in their passage through the ages. Some have reached us quite unchanged, 
others display immense variation, and each nation and each generation has, of course, added something to the total of such decorative 
motifs until our present choice seems almost limitless. 
In response to the interest nowadays of so many people in everything which offers beauty and wholesome living, this series — “ The 
Garden Indoors and Out” — has been prepared; and the quality of their work, already well known, makes f he tribute of these decorators 
and landscapists to the gospel of gardening indisputably convincing. 
Miss Bowman's article will be followed in July by Miss Ruth Dean’s “ In The Country Garden” and in subsequent issues by articles 
on other phases of the subject by various authors. 
II.— THE GARDEN AND THE LIVING ROOM 
AGNES BOWMAN 
Interior Decorator 
f ']/]■*% EOPLE have begun to realize that they cannot shut 
' themselves indoors and be satisfied. They have begun 
•£ to feel that they really have some connection with the 
\A Tid seasons of the year, that they need the companionship 
of growing things; and with spring comes the urge to somehow 
transport the freshness, the color, and the joy of outdoors into 
the rooms where much time is, of necessity, spent. 
If windows or doors look out into a garden one is indeed for- 
tunate. In such a case the garden itself frequently furnishes 
immediate suggestion and sometimes actually determines the 
treatment of the interior. I know of one progressive hotel at 
Santa Barbara which has its rooms decorated in combination 
with the color scheme of the garden planting; the trim around the 
windows and the F 'ench doors being painted to harmoniously 
frame the most beautiful garden vistas, and all the fabrics se- 
lected in relation to the garden colors. 
Of course, a permanent garden note may be introduced by the 
use of inside window boxes or some of the charming hanging- or 
wall-baskets nowadays readily obtainable. No more perfect 
flower holder can be imagined than some of the old Italian 
braziers made of delicately wrought metal, sometimes arranged 
for a combination of growing plants and cut flowers. And, 
incidentally, the widening use of flowers as an integral part of 
the decoration of a room is an indication of the growing apprecia- 
tion of beauty and an increasing eagerness to bring it into our 
homes. The inherent hunger wL :h, during the late war, caused 
so-called “hard” men to walk a couple of miles through deep 
mud to see a bunch of violeG m a dingy hut, inclines me to 
believe that the love of flowers is one of man’s strongest instincts, 
and that we are just outgrowing puritanical influences suffi- 
ciently to be no longer ashamed of admitting and indulging it. 
In face of this how can flowers be still regarded as unnecessary 
luxuries? Old Mahomet years ago was far nearer the truth when 
he said: “If 1 had but two loaves of bread, 1 would sell one and 
buy hyacinths, for they would feed my soul.” Flowering bulbs, p. 
too, and a bowl of darting goldfish add a vital touch to any room, a 
There are all sorts of ways by which the living room may i 
achieve distinctly gardenesque character, and its springtime 
transformation from winter to summer garb is a matter of pleas- el 
urable concern to all garden-lovers — to those city-bound a 
veritable boon. 
The atmosphere of any room can be completely changed by li 
the simple device of slip covers; the sunlit warmth of winter 
furnishing giving way to crisp and airy coolness. Flowered 
linen or chintz, cheerful and colorful, is particularly satisfactory t 
for this purpose as well as for curtains. The natural linen dust- 
cover, loose, ill-fitting and funereal, has, of course, long been : 
familiar, but the present slip cover, though it serves the same I 
practical purpose, is no more closely related to it than is the 
smartly tailored gown to the old “mother hubbard.” It is 
quite possible to choose material for these covers appropriate for : 
all year round, whenever one wants the garden or summer aspect 
of the living room continuously stressed. 
There is a wealth of designs from which to select and a great 
variety of color schemes, so that covers and curtains may be 
chosen to harmonize with any of the permanent furnishings, 
such as wall tones and rugs, and at the same time give an entirely i 
different character to the room. 
There is a particularly charming apartment where I have seen 
this worked out very successfully. The high walls and arched 
ceiling are of plaster, sand-finished, with dull oak bookcases 
reaching well upward. During the winter a large tapestry and 
some apricot velvet wall-hangings give the room warmth. In 
summer these are taken down; and the winter curtains of glowing 
casement silk are replaced by roller shades of glazed chintz, a 
Chinese design of blue-green and pale yellow bowls filled with 
vari-colored flowers against a light beige ground. Chairs and 
sofas (done for winter in green and blue goat’s hair, and deep 
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