December, 19 21 
19 
I! 
!< 
LITTLE FRENCH GARDENS 
1 he Formality That La Notre Gave Gallic Garden Design Is Still Evident 
In These Modern Schemes For Small Places 
A LTHOUGH there are fashions in gar- 
d- dens—just as there are fashions in 
clothes and the manner of serving dinner 
—each nation would seem to have developed 
its own individual expression of these styles. 
English gardens are quite distinct from those 
made in America and the gardens of Holland 
and Germany are equally distinct from those 
in England. Each may copy salient points 
from the others, but the general atmosphere 
will not, cannot be entirely genuine and native 
even though the design be faithfully copied. 
Thus far American garden lovers have been 
more interested in flowers than in garden de¬ 
sign, and, save for a few rare instances, the 
American people have not yet produced a land- 
HENR1 CANCALE 
scape architect who would set a definite style 
that could be called American. The nearest 
we approach to it is in our naturalistic plant¬ 
ing which is, in a way, a second cousin to what 
the British call wild gardening. Naturalistic 
planting is enjoying a great vogue at present 
and it doubtless will leave a definite mark on 
American gardens. But no permanent mark 
can ever be left until lovers of gardening in 
America extend their interest to include garden 
design. 
It is one thing to be interested in the culti¬ 
vation of flowers, trees and shrubs and quite 
a different thing to study out the manner in 
which these elements can be so disposed about 
a place as to form agreeable compositions. 
Our heritage being too new, we still borrow i 
our compositions from the experience of older i 
peoples. We have taken the herbaceous bor- j 
der from England, architectural garden fea¬ 
tures from Italy, but as yet there is little evi¬ 
dence of our having drawn on the inspiration j 
of the French. 
The standard for French gardens was set 
when La Notre laid out Versaille. Gallic gar¬ 
den design has ever since manifested that in¬ 
fluence to a greater or less degree. It is formal, 
to begin with; it is a garden that needs to be 
enclosed; it is, above all, a garden to walk in j 
rather than one in which to live. It still has 
about it the atmosphere of fine folk in fine cos¬ 
tumes, which is simply another way of saying 
This plan for a suburban property, designed by J. C.N. Forestier, room windows. Thence, along the broad pavement up the steps 
provides a series of three terraces in the rear. The first contains to the pergola at the rear wall set in a background of massed shrub- 
oroad flower beds, which form the immediate view from the living bery. A high wall encloses the garden, giving perfect seclusion 
