HOUSE AND GARDEN 
June, 
1912 
bordered walk, rose garden and “dell” follows 
manifestly formal lines; the dell is secluded, 
almost unsuspected indeed, lying low on the 
hillside as it does, yet the unity of the compo¬ 
sition formed by house and garden together is 
not interrupted. The rose garden is likewise 
secluded, in a less degree to be sure, yet very 
definitely; and the lines of the entire place 
work into formality as they appro,ach the house, 
without being symmetrically disposed except 
at certain places. 
Following the informal character of the 
dwelling in this instance, the design of the gar¬ 
den is worked out somewfiat informally. There 
are stepping stones through the rose garden in¬ 
stead of a gravel or brick walk, and the rose 
trellises are of birch saplings laid across and 
bound to upright cedar posts. With a statelier 
house, such treatment would of course be un¬ 
suitable, yet the basic lines of the garden design 
would not of necessity be altered in the least. It 
is likely, however, that some further elaboration 
immediately before the house would be needed, 
to bring the structural ele¬ 
ment out into the garden. 
Balustrades, leveled ter¬ 
races and terrace steps in¬ 
stead of the long, gradual 
and continuous slope are 
means to this end, and, 
with lily pools on the ter¬ 
races perhaps, they would 
transform the entire 
scheme from one of sim¬ 
ple hominess into one of 
imposing stateliness. 
An example of formal¬ 
ity and perfect symmetry 
is shown in the first plan, 
and here the'composition 
is so good and the splic¬ 
ing and proportion so per¬ 
fect that even the plan of 
the place on paper has' a 
decorative quality. It is 
the essence of refined 
beauty of line and mass, 
simple and majestic. 
Here, by the way, is 
something to be noted: the lines of 
this garden are parallel to the line 
of vision, while the lines of the 
garden in figure II are horizontal 
to the line of vision. This is because 
the view through the clearing of oak 
forest is a view that stretches away 
along the length of a valley, while 
the view in figure II is wide and com¬ 
prehensive, across horizontal lines of 
low hill-tops stretched .against further 
hill-tops that fade into the distance. 
The extreme development of for¬ 
mality in garden design, which is 
doubtless the occasion of much of the 
prejudice against formal gardens, is 
found in the fancy beds which do not 
belong to an admirable period of the 
art. Yet even certain extremes of this sort 
of thing have demonstrated a beauty of form 
which is as satisfying in its way as flowers in 
profusion are in theirs. Not that there are 
many examples, to be sure; and not that a fit¬ 
ting together of forms geometrically is suffi¬ 
cient. Gardens of geometrioal flower beds alone 
are hideous. But the beauty of the boxwood 
beds at Mt. Vernon, the home of Washington, 
is indisputable; and the classic design of the 
similar boxwood convolutions in the gardens 
before the Villa Picolomini at Frascati, near 
Rome, is so exquisite and in such harmony in 
the composition that these are conclusive evi¬ 
dence of what might be done more often, given 
greater refinement in the designer. In such as 
these the boxwood is the feature, however; it 
is used for- the execution of the design, which 
thus becomes a pattern in relief. Without this 
—executed simply in flowers or foliage plants 
at a level with the walks—it would fail com¬ 
pletely in its effect. 
Such gardens are “green gardens” primarily, 
and not flower gardens. 
They may be ornamented 
with flowers of course, 
though sparingly, but their 
purpose is not the raising 
nor the display of flowers. 
Perhaps it is because we 
have not learned to disso¬ 
ciate gardens from flow¬ 
ers that we repudiate 
them. That such dissocia¬ 
tion should sometimes be 
made, there is no doubt. 
There is a severe dignity 
among the rich greens of 
boxwood and of bay that 
is ver-i'- sweet and. very 
suggestive of peace and 
repose; and no one could 
be trivial, I am sure, who 
lived in the atmosphere of 
such a garden well de¬ 
signed. The constant im¬ 
pression received from 
their quiet, chaste order¬ 
liness, aft'ects the mind of 
the observer very definitely, I hold; 
and to bear me out in this I have found 
that it is invariably the undisciplined 
character, the lawless mentality, and 
the most material temperament that is 
the most intolerant of this form of 
garden. This may be only coinci¬ 
dence, but I do not think so. 
Even the smallest plot of ground 
may be developed into an interesting 
“garden” under formal treatment, and 
at very small cost. Indeed, such treat¬ 
ment is usually the only thing that will 
rescue a very small dooryard from 
utter commonplaceness. Given, for 
example, the ordinary suburban unit 
of two lots, 20 or 25 by 100 — that is a 
[Continued on page 49) 
Plan I has a decorative value be¬ 
cause of its symmetrical design 
Many English formal gardens achieve distinction by being set below a walled 
terrace from which they may be overlooked 
The garden in Plan II runs in lines horizontal to the 
house, as it commands a wide expanse of view 
