An example of a pool for the plants’ sake or rather a pool developed as a setting for the fountain. It depends on whether 
your water garden is to show water or plants — or the fountain, which will determine the selection and planting treatment 
MAKING A POOL FOR THE POOL’S SAKE—THE NECESSARY PROPORTION OF PLANT AND WATER SPACE— 
THE NEGLECTED VARIETIES OF AQUATICS—BORDER PLANTING—HOW TO USE SUBMERGED PLANTS 
Grace Tabor 
Photographs by Mary H. Northend and Nathan R. Graves 
I S it to be a pool for a 
pool’s sake — or a pool 
for the plants’ sake? This 
is an important question. 
One is so likely not to 
realize how little it takes 
to clog the waters, to ob¬ 
scure them entirely, to 
make them a jungle of 
growth. 
A pool for the pool’s 
sake—for the picture it 
makes—must be planted 
with the greatest restraint. 
It makes no difference 
whether it is large or small; 
the same degree of restraint 
is necessary. Otherwise the 
picture will not be well 
composed. The water must 
be given its full due — which 
means that it must domi¬ 
nate; because, after all, wa¬ 
ter is the feature of a pool. 
The plants are incidents. 
What aquatics shall be left out? And why? 
Perhaps the answer will be immediately, “the tender ones, be¬ 
cause they are a nuisance,” or “the big ones, because the pond is 
small,” or a combination of 
these two; or any one of a 
number of other classifica¬ 
tions. So far, so good. 
But we must go further. 
Everything must be left 
out, save the plant chosen 
for the dominant note, the 
plant which complements 
this, and one or two strag¬ 
gling little minors. 
Naturally the mind’s eye 
sees water lilies when water 
plants are mentioned; and 
I fancy no one ever built 
a pool or acquired one of 
Nature’s building without 
picturing them alloat upon 
its surface. This alone is 
enough to indicate what the 
dominant note should be—- 
where there is space. Par¬ 
tial as I am to this queen of 
the aquatic world, 1 should 
advise against even a single 
plant where there is not water surface at least three and a half 
to four times as great as that which the plant will require for 
its support. Anything less than this will reduce the proportion 
A clump of iris is the best possible background for a pool that is to be viewed from one side 
only; use either Iris Germanica or Iris Japonica 
15 
