The Garden Magazine, July, 1921 
325 
of scarlet Geraniums — dare one add a cast- 
iron lion or deer? Such gardens differ from 
those of England and France by lacking both 
imagination and restraint. 
Doubtless the impulse was strong in our 
fathers to reproduce here the lovely meadows 
and private parks which surrounded their 
English homes. But this tradition has too 
often declined into the soulless monotony of 
lawns that were conceived as a makeshift or 
in laziness, and are maintained by unprofit- 
able labor. In France and England, gener- 
ous moisture and cooler summers encourage 
the growth of lush grasses, and invite to life 
in the sunshine. Here, the torrid days of 
July and August discourage turf and make 
the cool, dense shrubberies of the French 
garden more to be desired. 
Except in large parks, a lawn rarely figures 
in the Italian designs, closely clipped grass 
being merely an accessory of formal plant- 
ings. With much the same idea, a French 
gardener would say: “A large lawn belongs 
to the grand manner of palace or chateau; 
in a small homestead turf should be used 
only to add contrasting decoration to culti- 
vated spaces, like the frame of a picture.” 
Parks both public and private, would be in- 
cluded in this definition of the “grand man- 
GARDEN OF M. MONET AT GIVERNY 
The Rose-tree seems to love French soil; the flour- 
ishing specimens here shown are variety mutabilis 
ner.” The small areas surrounding many American homes 
cannot aspire to this class. 
There is, finally, a practice in the gardens of Italy, France, and 
England which, although recognized in this country, should 
be developed to an unlimited degree. 1 1 is the gracious custom of 
regarding one’s garden as an extension of the dwelling, a suite of 
outdoor rooms in which to lounge, dine, play, or entertain 
one’s friends. This is a precious heritage from the Italians. 
THE DELPHINIUM IN FRANCE 
How the familiar may gain in beauty by isolated plant- 
ing is a trick of the French gardener well worthy of 
imitation. (Garden of M. Georges Truffaut at Versailles) 
Pontiff seeks cool seclusion in a pleached alley of the Vatican 
Gardens; Cardinal holds stately levee at Tivoli, that Rome 
may see some wondrous Greek torso upturned in the ruins of 
Hadrian’s villa; Petrarch smilingly submits to princely quiz on 
the principles of poetry; Boccaccio whispers honeyed secrets to 
his Fiammetta amongst the shrubberies and would have us 
believe that in surroundings such as these were told the hundred 
tales of the Decameron. What more appropriate than that Fe 
Grand Fouis should hold court in the “Tapis Vert” of his new 
Chateau of Versailles, or welcome de Montespan’s enchantments 
in the Orangerie, or suggest parallels between himself and Apollo 
in forest grotto, or consent to hear the latest masque of Moliere 
in sylvan theatre? And to the glory of tradition and of humble 
things be it said that France offered no memories more heart- 
warming than those of mothers and children of the poor, gossip- 
ing or playing on Sunday afternoons in the gravelled courts of 
their rural homes or the cool alleys of the ci-devant royal gar- 
dens of the Tuileries and the Fuxembourg. 
The message of the French gardens to Americans is neither 
ambiguous nor complex. Our beginnings in this art disclose a 
careless extravagance of space linked with casual, haphazard 
plantings; a tendency to relegate the ground around the home 
to turf and ornaments that are merely the whim of a moment, 
or to the machine-made designs of the nearest nurseryman. 
After lingering in Old World gardens one would awaken his 
compatriots, especially those of lesser means and restricted 
areas, to a more intimate and imaginative conception of these 
domains. The home-maker should carry into the. garden the 
same taste and mature judgment that he puts into the furnishing 
of a living room, a dining room or a chamber. Whether fore- 
court, terrace, or only a small, intensively cultivated enclosure 
for fruits, flowers and vegetables, the home grounds thus sym- 
pathetically treated become symbolic of personality and en- 
during affection. They enlarge the home during most of the 
year to include a series of healthful, outlying bowers where 
Nature, walking in beauty, offers peace and refreshment. 
