50 
House & Garden 
A GARDEN IN THE ENGLISH SPIRIT 
Suggestive Planting Schemes and. Practical Plant Lists 
ELIZABETH LEONARD STRANG 
T 
than 
HE creation of a suc¬ 
cessful flower garden 
embraces much more 
a happy choice and 
clever arrangement of plants. 
To one thoroughly imbued 
with the creative spirit it is a 
supreme joy to evolve, bit by 
bit, harmonies of line and 
proportion, play of light and 
texture, color subtleties art¬ 
fully arranged for succession 
of bloom; to combine all the 
garden’s component parts in 
one unit, adapted exactly to 
its intended uses and fitting 
perfectly into its surround¬ 
ings. Just as a craftsman 
bestows infinite pains on an 
intricate bit of jewelled fili¬ 
gree or a carved and deco¬ 
rated chest, so the garden de¬ 
signer, guided by experience, 
visualizes on paper flashes 
from his inner eye only too 
often unintelligible to the 
average interpreter of plans, 
and expressed in terms of actuality only 
after months of intelligent and patient work. 
In this way was the accompanying small 
garden thought out. Though the house is 
English in spirit, there was no attempt to 
make the garden subjectively English in 
type, but there was a distinct effort to make 
it “belong” in spirit. Outside, one absorbs 
a general impression of dark oaken beams, 
brick walls, and warm brown stucco splashed 
with flickering shadows; within, a twilight 
coolness, richly carved stairway and paneled 
halls, glimpses in rooms beyond of creamy 
white and robin’s-egg blue, cretonnes and 
Venetian glass. Through leaded French 
windows one steps into a tiled sun room 
where the senses are refreshed by the sight 
of the garden, its limpid pool sunk in the 
turf, its beds overflowing with brilliant 
bloom in the greatest possible contrast to the 
cool seclusion indoors. 
Although but 37' from porch to boundary 
fence, because of the background of large 
trees on the adjoining lot, in effect it seems 
much larger. In all probability these trees 
will always remain, and the garden’s owner 
is not without hope of eventually buying a 
part of them. 
The exact location of the pool as the focal 
point, or center of interest, was determined 
with the utmost care by stakes on the ground 
before a line was drawn on paper. This 
being effected, it was a simple matter to de¬ 
sign the margin of grass and the main walks, 
4' wide, also of grass. Beyond the pool is 
a shaded recess where some time there will 
stand an excellent bit of garden sculpture. 
At present a large glazed jar of blue does 
The chief characteristics of the English type of garden shown in the plan 
above are its snugness and seclusion. Here only the trees, shrubs, vines 
and roses are indicated by reference numbers 
INSIDE THE GARDEN 
1. Azalea mollis: yellow and orange with 
wistaria, purple iris and lavender Dar¬ 
win tulips. 
2. Standard purple wistarias. 
3. Standard currants. 
4. Rose, Harrison’s Yellow: blooming with 
the larkspur. 
5. Rosa Hitgonis, new drooping yellow rose. 
6. Weeping standard pink cherry: seen 
against large copper beech. 
7. Taxus cuspidata var. brevifolia, dwarf 
Japanese yews: as accents. 
8. Roses, on thatched garden house: Tau- 
sendschon, large semi-double pink; 
Christine Wright, pink; Paul’s Scarlet 
Climber. 
Cclastrus scandens, bittersweet: for winter 
effect. 
9. Roses on arch, Hiawatha: vivid pink to 
match opposite arch. 
10. Roses on service yard fence: pale against 
the dark brown. Source d’Or, yellow; 
Gardenia, yellow; Snowdrift. 
AGAINST THE FENCE 
Hemlocks: kept small and dense by 
clipping. 
Taxus cuspidata, upright Japanese yew. 
Taxus baccata var. repandens, spreading 
Japanese yew. 
Leucothoe Catcsbaei, drooping andromeda: 
glossy, broad-leaved evergreen turning 
purplish red in fall, white flowers. 
Pieris floribunda, lily-of-the-valley shrub: 
large panicles of white blossoms, ever¬ 
green foliage. 
Daphne cneorum. garland flower: dwarf 
evergreen shrub with intensely fragrant 
pink flowers in May. 
Euonymus radicans var. vegetus, broad¬ 
leaved climbing euonymus: broad-leaved 
evergreen with scarlet fruit. 
Cotoncaster Simonsii, shining-leaved rose 
box: a shrub with spreading branches, 
shining evergreen leaves and red berries. 
Cydonia sinensis, dwarf pink flowering 
quince. 
Azalea Vaseyi, southern azalea: abundance 
of soft pink flowers in May. 
11 . 
12 . 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
18. 
19. 
20 . 
TO 
21 . 
22 . 
23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
FRAME THE GARDEN 
Halesia Carolina, snowdrop tree. 
Spiraea Van Houtteii: to enclose garden 
if wall cannot be built at once. 
Pink flowering almond. 
Cotoneastcr divaricata: an upright form 
with glossy foliage and red berries. 
Callicarpa purpurea: slender pendant 
branches with clusters of purple fruit, 
low in habit. 
Enkianthus campanulatus, Japanese bell¬ 
flower tree. 
Viburnum carlcsii, Korean viburnum: low 
shrub with fragrant pink flowers in May. 
Ferns, dictamnus, violets and other wild 
flowers as ground cover. 
very well. The position of the 
side walks.was determined by 
an existing rose arch on one 
side, which was accordingly 
repeated on the other. These 
two walks are at present ter¬ 
minated by seats of dark 
brown oak. The minor serv¬ 
ice walks are of moss-grown 
earth 18" wide edged by 
bricks on end, almost entire¬ 
ly concealed by overlapping 
plants. 
The garden was so planned 
as to be evolved gradually 
without undue expenditure at 
any one time. The first year, 
accordingly, the beds were ex¬ 
cavated in the existing turf, 
which was improved by a 
sprinkling of loam, weeded, 
seeded, and fertilized. 
Next, that obvious neces¬ 
sity, the service-yard fence, 
was erected. This juts into the 
garden as shown, but was 
balanced by a correspond¬ 
ing indentation on the other side, an expe¬ 
dient which detracted nothing from the effect 
within, but which appeared much better 
from the lawn. This fence is of itself good 
to look at. It has upright palings of dark 
brown wood, overlapping precisely like the 
fence around the farmyard at Hampton 
Court. The posts are capped with sheet lead 
studded with copper nails. Eventually a 
low brick wall (2' 6"), having oaken gates 
with the same lead-capped posts, will pro¬ 
tect the entire garden from two- and four- 
footed intruders. Temporarily, a drooping 
hedge of Spiraea Van Houtteii makes an 
informal boundary, on the outer side of 
which are a number of choice flowering 
shrubs and small trees. Some of these, like 
the Bechtel’s crab and a large copper beech, 
were already established when the garden 
was begun. 
The first year the majority of the peren¬ 
nials were set out, leaving the more expensive 
evergreens and azaleas until later. In this 
way things like iris and peonies became 
established, mistakes (for there are always 
some) were corrected, and a foundation laid 
for the gradual addition of the other acces¬ 
sories. 
When we obtain that bit of woods at the 
back (perhaps before) one of the terminal 
seats will be replaced by an unobtrusively 
useful thatched garden house. Inside will 
be a tall cupboard for smocks, rakes, and 
hoes; small lockers for seeds, labels, string 
and other gardening paraphernalia; a sink 
for the arranging of cut flowers, with places 
for vases and baskets; shelves for books and 
(Continued on page 134 ) 
