HOUSE AND GARDEN 
July, 1913 
been worked around very often in the old gardens, the de¬ 
sire to save the tree which has been already started being 
responsible for a twist in the design. Of course, the new 
garden will seldom be fortunate enough to have old fruit 
trees growing in it; but plant some new ones in it, and let 
them influence its design and planting, quite as if they had 
stood there long enough to merit special courtesy. 
As to the flowers and how they shall be planted, remem¬ 
ber that it is only a suggestion from the old gardens that 
we are following; not their actual design and contents. So 
any flowers are suitable, provided that they are good, 
honest ones: not hot-house affairs, forced into bloom and 
bedded out. Naturally, the more of them that are hardy, 
the better the garden will be; and everything must be used 
in abundance, leaving no bare spaces. If a bare space 
appears, fill it promptly; that is a rule as old as gardens. 
Many spring bulbs should be planted, in borders as well 
as in clumps here or there where space allows one to be 
tucked in. And snowdrops under some great tree — or tree 
that is going to be great when it has had time — are, of 
course, to be used. 
I am sorry to feel that the use of boxwood for edgings 
and hedges has been given up so completely as it has, for 
there is really nothing which takes its place in any garden. 
Georgian gardens are carefully secluded. This modern house follows their 
example. The house lends seclusion on one side, the wall on the other. 
Fruit trees occupy an important place 
A picture taken from the doorstep of the house below shows a judi¬ 
cious use of box hedging alongside the herringbone brick walk 
with trimmed beds on either side 
much less the garden inspired by the Colonial type. The privet 
which is so commonly used is, of course, a very welcome substi¬ 
tute where the cost of boxwood is prohibitive; but nothing in the 
world has that “air” about it which distinguishes the aristocratic 
Buxus. Although it is expensive, its cost does not excuse the 
neglect of which it is the victim — and is not the reason for it, in 
many cases, I am sure. The prevailing idea that it is of too slow 
growth for “immediate effect” — that pernicious ambition that 
thwarts good work so constantly among us — is largely responsible 
for its rarity, except on great estates. But it is not so slow- 
growing as we seem to have conceived it to be; and the effect of 
it as an edging is immediate, the instant it is planted. Of course, 
it is not practical for a hedge between a traveled road and the 
grounds; but neither is anything else, alone and without the re¬ 
inforcement of a garden wall or a fence of some kind. Within 
the garden is its place, bordering beds or walks, leading trimly 
along the main lines, and crossing between the garden divisions. 
Too much of the dwarf form has been used here of late, how¬ 
ever, which may be another reason for its unpopularity. Choose 
the regular Buxus sempervirens, not Buxus s. suffruticosa, in buy¬ 
ing; for the latter is not as hardy, and its size and growth both 
are really absurd if anything but a very small garden is planted 
with it. 
Through the garden, wherever the design invites it, put a seat, 
an arch crossing a walk or a little arbor, with seats beneath. 
The Colonial garden must have an inhabited, used, homelike look, 
hence it must be inhabited and used, and an outdoor home. If 
there are no places to sit down, however, no one can use it ; and 
aside from the appearance, such resting places are essential in 
any garden, if it is to be what the old gardens were to their 
makers and owners. They did not direct them from afar; they 
got down and dug in them; and when they were not digging in 
them, actually, they sat on a bench and watched while someone 
else did it; or sat on a bench and enjoyed at leisure, with book or 
( Continued on page 55) 
There is less seclusion than usual here, but the planting and detail are 
characteristic, and the use of trees excellent 
