12 
HENDERSON’S PICTURESQUE GARDENS 
LAWNS AND THEIR EMBELLISHMENT 
There is nothing more charming among the varied scenes in nature than 
a well-designed house surrounded by a fine landscape, particularly when the 
two are harmoniously united by artistically treated grounds ; and of the essen- 
tial features of home grounds, none is so important as a beautiful lawn, — the 
rich velvety turf varying in tones of green with the play of sunlight and cloud 
shadows, forms a reposeful, eye -satisfying groundwork against which the pic- 
ture of house and its surroundings is composed not with brush and color, but 
by an arrangement of the actual subjects themselves, the smooth, well-kept 
lawn being the heart and life of all. 
" The Tropics may have their delights, but they have not the turf, and the 
world without turf is a dreary desert. The Teutonic races all love turf ; they emi- 
grate in the line of its growth.” — Charles Dudley Warner. 
In regard to the formation and care of a lawn, the limited space at our 
disposal only permits us to generalize. A lawn may be formed either by lay- 
ing turf or by sowing seed. The gain in time by sodding is mostly in antici- 
pation, an advantage so slight as to scarcely be worthy of consideration, while 
the results obtained by both methods are not to be compared. Sods, no 
matter how carefully cut and closely laid, often separate, leaving crevices about 
which the grass dies out in dry weather ; then the grasses that compose a 
pasture or roadside sod (generally the kind used for preparing lawns) are 
not at all the best sorts for forming a perfect lawn ; besides, the smooth, 
elegant surface, such a desirable feature of a lawn, cannot be secured by 
sodding. 
A perfect and enduring lawn, one of luxuriant richness with closely inter- 
woven, firm, deep and elastic turf, is only created by sowing a composition of 
the various kinds of grass seeds suited to the conditions and the climate. 
Several varieties are needed, that the lawn may be. verdure-clad during all 
seasons, and the seeds must be sown liberally (at the rate of from four to six 
bushels per acre), not only that a lawn may be produced quickly, but because 
the kinds of grasses suitable/ for perfect lawns are fine-leaved and should take 
entire possession of the ground promptly, thus checking the development of 
weeds, the seeds of which are in all soils. The coarse pasture and hummock- 
forming grasses will not produce a fine lawn. Good, rich, deeply worked soil 
either of friable texture, or else underdrained, is as necessary for the produc- 
tion of a perfect lawn as for garden crops, although most grasses, being 
accommodating plants, if they do not get the requisites for best results will 
do their best with what is supplied them. Early and frequent mowing and 
rolling, as well as the liberal application of water through a lawn sprinkler 
during dry seasons, is one of the secrets of maintaining beautiful green turf 
from snow to snow. While the lawn is the foundation of the garden land- 
scape, the arrangement of plants, trees, shrubs, flower beds and other embel- 
lishment is a matter of almost equal importance. Many splendid opportunities 
for handsome effects are entirely destroyed or only partially realized from the 
lack of appreciation of the underlying principles of lawn adornment. The 
term "lawn” to many people conveys an impression of grass dotted here and 
there with trees, shrubs and plants, and where an open space occurs, an invi- 
tation to another tree. This is a mistake. 
Among the fundamentals to be considered in planting and decorating the 
home grounds the chief feature is the style of the garden. Where build- 
ings dominate a small area, a certain formality in the garden design best 
develops the architectural ideal, such as straight walks flagged with stone, for- 
mal flower beds, even if informally planted, evergreens and hedges trimmed to 
form, etc. Also in harmony with such surroundings are terraces, balustrades, 
vases, statuary, fountain and other artificial accessories — of course, the archi- 
tectural character of the building will invite the play of judgment as to 
modification or extreme to be followed in the garden plan. Formal gardens 
tend toward monotony, therefore when grounds are sufficiently large, the most 
continuously pleasing effects are attained in conforming to the "natural” style 
in arrangement, the principle being a large area of open lawn unobstructed by 
scattered plantings of trees and shrubs, though exceptions may be made where 
the breadth of grass is unusually wide or too flat, for then an occasional fine 
specimen of shrub or tree, such as a Purple Beech or Weeping White Birch, 
in addition to the artistic flower beds, will enhance the scene in color variety; 
but, as a rule, trees and shrubs should be confined to the boundary margins 
and be massed in irregular groups, promontories, buxom swells, etc., of varying 
sizes, some of which should run out on the lawn, thus forming intervening 
bays of green turf above which the openings between the trees allow the eye 
to wander through the vista beyond the limitations of the grounds. Good 
examples in tree grouping are shown on pages 2i and 33. Shrubs and herba- 
ceous plants fringing the trunks of trees and the open boundary wall or fence 
tend to obliterate the lines of restricted area and convey an impression of 
larger grounds. A wide greensward, nobly framed with a fringing boundary 
of trees, etc., as just described, forms an ideal groundwork for brilliant color 
effects, with flowers and ornamental plants thus enhanced and enhancing the 
natural picture. 
