HOUSE AND GARDEN 
June, 1912 
20 
Weld is an example 
of French for¬ 
mality that is ab- 
soluiely s y m - 
,; metgpal 
A garden of formal 
lines need cost no 
more than any other 
type of garden 
the natural, pure and 
simple. And there is 
not the slightest rea¬ 
son in the world why 
we should wish to 
have a “truly natu¬ 
ral” garden, any more 
than there is reason 
for our wishing to go 
b^ck to the thicket 
and the house of 
boughs, or to the 
cave dwelling. The 
most that nature can 
give us for our gar¬ 
dens is plants do‘grow 
in them, 'and .s'ugges- 
tion and gnidatf'ce in' , 
their arnangement; and thougk.-vye-may 
“natufaJi'ze" colonies of narcissus,'ordns, or 
snowdrops, or anything which we nnay 
choose to handle in this, way^ and though 
we may follow fheihhtft’which-wi|d“growth 
gives us in“ the massing of shfubbery and 
the selection of varieties, and their relative 
positions in the mass, we still are very far 
from having what a purist would allow to 
be truly natural effects. 
It is, of course, not possible here to con¬ 
sider the claims of the two schools into 
which the arts are divided—the idealistic 
and the realistic. The question of whether 
art should reflect nature absolutely and 
stop there, or whether it should go fur¬ 
ther and refine — go further and point the 
way, as it were, to greater perfection than 
the strife of nature can possibly achieve—is one which I must 
overcome the temptation to argue. But I am constrained to 
say that I personally believe that the fine arts are necessarily in¬ 
spirational as well as reflective, that there is no virtue in merely 
reflecting, that they must constantly embody the suggestion of re¬ 
finement and growth toward a greater perfection, even while 
they reflect. And that garden making is most surelv one of the 
fine arts. 
At the head of this discourse stands that line of Pope’s which 
seems to me the expression of a more complete conception of the 
universe than has ever been made within so brief a phrase. I 
should like to direct attention again and again to the great 
A beautiful, mosaic 
effect is obtained 
by planting an¬ 
nuals of a single 
color in each of 
the box enclosures 
thought therein embodied, and especially to the meaning of the 
word “order.” What is order? Conformity to law or decorum, 
the dictionary says; further, a formal or regular disposition or 
arrangement. Order is the opposite of chaos and confusion; it 
is the best, the highest, indeed a sublime condition, in whatever it 
is expressed. And the formal garden at its best is a garden of 
perfect order. 
Very possibly, however, there is some confusion between the 
terms “formal” and “symmetrical.” The formal garden is not by 
any means necessarily the symmetrical garden, although certain 
portions of it may be, and usually are. symmetrically disposed. 
And I am the last person in the world to argue in favor of for¬ 
mality. even in this true sense, throughout all the portions of an 
estate. That would be as tiresome as the utter lack of it. But 
order—conformity to law, tranquillity 
—this should be everywhere ex¬ 
pressed. 
The whole subject resolves itself 
into a question of composition, when 
all is said and done, and it is impossi¬ 
ble to isolate ,any one feature and con¬ 
sider that it represents the »vhole. 
Formal gardens are essentially appro¬ 
priate settings for a dwelling, or in¬ 
deed for any sort of building; and the 
more stately and formal the building, 
the more stately and formal the gar¬ 
dens should be. This is simply a 
matter of harmony in composition, as 
any master of design will declare. 
And formal bits, secluded perhaps 
yet not actually 
detached from 
the buildings 
w h i c h go to 
make up a home, 
are likewise per¬ 
fectly consistent. 
The example 
given in Plan II 
is an illustration 
of what I mean 
by such bits, se¬ 
cluded yet not 
actually de- 
detached. The 
entire scheme of 
This garden combines the conventional beds of box with flowers grouped 
about a sun-dial, and is very effective 
