An Oriental Garden in California 
Japanese) ot green and 
yellow form a glowing 
bit of color on the gold. 
Against a clear gray 
wall sets a pink azalea 
and the brilliant color 
and rich embroidery of 
a scarf on the grand 
piano is the only note of 
strong color against this 
quiet background in one 
end of the long room. 
There is no crowding of 
rich ornaments, no 
jostling and jumbling 
of effects such as often 
mars the decoration of 
many handsome rooms. 
And the great palms 
which divide the room 
into sections stand in a 
stately way unworried 
by their surroundings. 
This is an ideal adapta¬ 
tion of Japanese effects 
to our needs and uses 
and as no essential has 
been sacrificed in the 
adoption it would be 
hard I think to offer to it an adverse criticism. The 
Oriental idea which is embodied in this home is felt 
most keenly in the fact that it presents a front of 
dark, unruffled composure to the street and does not 
hint of the riot of color, the quaintly grotesque effects 
that have been produced within its walled surround¬ 
ings. The glass in front is opaque and permits only 
a dull glow into the living-room from that side of the 
house, but at its back it opens with long windows 
and glass doors into a wide veranda going to the 
garden; here are the artificial hummocks, the mimic 
lakes, the tiny bridges 
which make of it an Ori¬ 
ental plaisance. Temple 
lanterns of bronze and 
temple gates ornament 
the narrow winding 
paths. Lotus flowers 
cover the pools and 
clumps of jonquils, hya¬ 
cinth, and white and 
purple iris are planted in 
profusion. The path 
which leads to the 
orchid house at the ex¬ 
treme end of the en¬ 
closure is contrived to 
wind about in the be¬ 
wildering way which so 
strongly contrasts the 
Japanese feeling with 
the direct, orderly and 
openly artificial 
methods of Italian gar¬ 
dening; a Japanese 
garden is distinctly 
artificial but is so cun¬ 
ningly contrived to imi¬ 
tate nature that it be¬ 
comes invested with the 
charm of enchantment the enchantment which 
the gnomes give to Wagner’s operas, or the 
dwarfs to Rip Van Winkle, and its hillocks or 
little yamas, its dwarfed trees, its bridges and tem¬ 
ples make one feel that here the “Little People” 
have been at work. 
It would seem, then, very natural that the dweller 
in the Great West accustomed as he is to landscapes 
of vast extent and effects of magnificent proportions, 
should seize upon, and surround his home with, the 
restful features characteristic of Oriental gardening. 
A CORNER OF THF HOUSE FROM THE GARDEN 
THE GARDEN IS SURROUNDED BY A BRICK WALE 
199 
