Ways of Framing with Growing Things of Many Kinds and Colors a Little 
Bit of Green Earth Which Offers Hours of Friendly Quiet After the Busy Day ! n 
I a 
Editor’s Note: Because he first practises what he preaches Mr. Rea’s articles ring convincingly. Also it is hut rarely that a pi 
sculptor is a serious gardener as well, combining trained perception of line and form with a thorough understanding of plant materials, 
gained through seasons of actually seeding, watering, and warding. Our readers who pleasantly recall “Statuary In the Garden ” o 
(December, 1920,) and “ IV hy I Grow Delphiniums” (April, 1921) will, we are sure, be happy to hear again from the writer of these. ■. $ 
' 1 E most promising development in American gardening 
wlmv s ' nce t ^ le advent of the “Hardy Border” has been the 
idea t * le " Secluded Garden.” This idea is not, 
ilFlrG^ of course, by any means altogether new; there have 
always been scattered examples of this type of garden building. 
Until a few years back, however, the generality of us seem to 
have considered the whole subject of gardening as much as 
possible from the viewpoint of the casual passerby. Conse- 
quently we expended the greater part of our gardening labors in 
decorating our front lawns — they were yards then as 1 recall — 
solely for his delectation. 
With the hope that he might be impressed by the resulting 
apparent spaciousness of our grounds and at the same time the 
more readily decipher the intricate designs wrought out in gaudy 
bedding plants, we went so far as to do away with the very fences 
that used to line our village streets. Even the romantic associa- 
tions clustering about those old gateways with thin creaking 
latches and scolding hinges were not enough to save them from 
the despoiler’s hand. They were ruthlessly swept away, until 
in the remotest crossroads hamlet scarce a dooryard fence was 
to be found. 
As we came by slow degrees to appreciate the pictorial value 
of unbroken stretches of shaded turf against backgrounds of 
trees and shrubbery and to understand the superiority of the 
hardy perennial planting over our ephemeral carpet bedders, we 
began building borders and shrubberies with the conscious pur- 
port not only of making our homes attractive from the street 
but of enhancing the views from our windows and verandas as 
well. 
Gradually we are going a step farther and are coming to look 
upon the garden proper as but a larger, gayer summer living- 
room — a restful shrine dedicated to quietness and beauty — where 
we may effectually escape not only the street noises but all the 
thousand and one jarring, discordant sights and sounds of this 
mechanical age, when it has well-nigh come to seem as if steam, 
electricity, and gasolene are all that really matter. 
One who has not sat of a summer twilight for an hour’s quiet 
chat or contemplation in the blissful calm of such a retreat can 
hardly realize the sense of almost infinite relief afforded by just 
a bit of turf or flagged pavement; at its centre a sundial perhaps, 
a bird bath, or a tiny pool, reflecting on placid surface blue sky 
and fleecy clouds, beyond the variously arranged beds of gay 
flowers; and an enclosing wall, hedge, or the most prosaic of back- 
yard fences — provided only it be high and tight enough to shut 
out all exterior distractions. 
Our interest in this type of garden is largely due, no doubt, as 
in the case of the hardy border, to our wider and more intelligent 
interest in gardening matters in general and to our increasing 
appreciation of the aesthetic possibilities of garden building, 
even in limited areas; both largely occasioned by the constantly 
accumulating literature on the subject of landscape gardening 
and our consequently increased knowledge of the gardens of 
Italy, England, and Japan, where the garden, largely or en- 
tirely hidden from the public view, is a more or less characteristic 
feature. 
A very special joy afforded the owner of a secluded garden, 
aside from the benediction of its calm and quiet, arises from the 
opportunity it offers for working out his or her own “plot ” ideas. J 
These relate to planning and choice of material and, more par- 
ticularly, to so arranging the material as to provide for a succes- 
sion of harmonious color schemes as the season advances from the 
time of the Dutch bulbs to that of the last Daisies and Chrysan- 
themums. Not but that the same principles apply with equal 
force to all gardening features; they do most decidedly! An 
expert gardener with a feeling for composition, or an eye for 
balance of form and color, which is the same thing, will make a 
beauty spot out of a vegetable patch. But landscape and garden 
builders nowadays are pretty generally agreed that the areas 
directly bordering our streets are best planted in a simple and 
dignified manner, with shade trees, flowering shrubs, dwarf 
evergreens, or possibly an unobtrusive grouping of hardy peren- 
nials; and that our more personal and individual whims and 
fancies are best allowed full scope in the more retired portions 
of our grounds. In the secluded garden, then, we look for a 
well ordered riot of gay, bright, cheerful color. The fashion 
started in Europe a few years ago of having gardens all of a 
single color — white, pink, blue, or yellow, as the case might be — - 
a starved, beggarly fashion, say I; but that, too, is a matter for 
each gardener to settle for himself. 
Owing to the restricted areas commonly available for the 
secluded garden and their more or less conventional shape, 
usually a square or an oblong, a measure of formality both as 
to plan and .planting seems best. This applies equally to the 
choice and placing of whatever accessories may be employed. 
The simple seat of wood, stone, or cement ; the sundial, the gazing 
globe, bird-bath, statue, and fountain are equally at home here. 
