38 
House & Garden 
THE RED GARDEN, a PLACE of INTENSE EFFECTS 
Why Not Strong Garden Colors Now and Then, if They Are Skillfully Disposed? Here Is One Scheme 
by Which Their Impression Can Be Alade Strong but Not Overwhelming 
ELIZABETH LEONARD STRANG 
Hollyhocks furnish one 
of the tall background 
effects, -with lower grow¬ 
ing things in front of 
them 
F OR years the exponents 
of color harmony have 
been decrying the use of 
strong, harsh tones and ad¬ 
vocating the substitution of 
tints—that is, colors diluted 
by white — or hues, which 
are colors diluted by black. 
All the energy of the color¬ 
ists have been expended in 
educating the public to this 
idea. And we hear so much 
about gardens of soft pink, 
pale blue and mauve, that 
we wonder if the more virile 
colors have been entirely 
eliminated. 
Restful as these gardens 
of soft coloring certainly 
are, and safer for the inex¬ 
perienced to attempt, there 
is a time and place for the 
use of color in its greatest 
intensity; but to employ it 
skillfully takes a master 
hand. 
The place for a bright 
garden depends upon the 
house and its general set¬ 
ting. In the country, where 
everything is green, the eye 
welcomes a bit of bright 
coloring as a relief from the 
monotony of the surrounding verdure. In the 
city this becomes wearisome. A summer gar¬ 
den enjoyed for only a couple of months could 
be of brighter tones than one to be lived with 
the year round. Likewise, a house of subdued 
or neutral hues demands the use of stronger 
colors in the garden than a white house which 
welcomes the lighter pastel tints for its setting. 
To make an entire garden of strong colors 
is difficult, particularly so in the use of red, 
slight deviations in whose varying tones can 
cause torture to the sensitive eye, and invite 
savage thoughts. Imagine a garden filled with 
bright red salvias—when one small bed is 
usually all that one can endure of its flame! 
But skillfully place the red flowers in strong 
patches against a background of green foliage 
with which are mingled white flowers of fine 
texture, and you have a real beauty. 
Such a garden, from its very intensity, must 
be small. The grass panel in the center of 
the design shown is intended to form a setting 
for the flowers. For, inasmuch as green is 
the complementary of red, by contrast it be¬ 
comes more vivid. The tall hedge of hemlock 
produces a like effect. 
Color and Light 
I have also noticed that a patch of red 
flowers set against a background of green shade 
seems much more intense than when out in 
the full sun. If so arranged that the sunlight 
strikes the petals of the flowers and not the 
green, the brilliance is still further intensified. 
With this idea in mind, the shady recess has 
been placed at the end of the garden, and the 
most effective flowers reserved for this spot 
where the pool of dark water may reflect their 
In late May and June, 
Oriental poppies raise 
their blood-red, papery 
blooms to a height of 3' 
or 4' 
vividness and form a climax for the outer 
panel. Also with a view to the practicalities, 
the shade-loving flowers and those of a woodsy 
character have been selected to contrast with 
those in the outer garden. 
Upon the kind of white flowers used will 
depend much of the effect of the red garden. 
Large staring patches of white would be too 
startling and crude; therefore, only those of 
small size and soft texture—or of solitary 
stateliness—have been chosen for background 
or contrast. 
As in the case of flowers, the architectural 
details, if of white, must not reveal a staring 
expanse of it. This can be avoided by stain¬ 
ing the natural wood green. 
As for the quality of the dominant color 
itself, there can of course be no mixture of 
orange, scarlet or crimson tones, such as are 
seen in the ordinary varieties of oriental pop¬ 
pies and red peonies. What is desired is a 
real, true red—a glowing ruby or blood color. 
It is an ideal more easily approximated than 
reached, for frequently the variation of a hair’s 
breadth in the shade will cause discord. 
It is unsafe to trust to the memory in plan¬ 
ning a combination of reds; and even to place 
the actual flowers side by side and make notes 
before ordering the plants 
does not always assure har¬ 
mony,, for individuals of the 
same species often vary 
greatly. The best method is 
to plan as carefully as pos¬ 
sible, with very few kinds, 
then eliminate the inhar¬ 
monious elements as they 
appear. 
Seasonal Effects 
The far end of the gar¬ 
den is surrounded with 
groups of red maples, 
planted thickly to ensure 
an immediate woodsy effect, 
and later thinned as they 
become large enough to cast 
a shade. The brilliant red 
blossoms appear in early 
spring, slightly before the 
white of the shad bush, but 
the samaras and the young 
leaves are also red enough 
to contrast effectively with it. 
Also at this time the daz¬ 
zling white blossoms of the 
bloodroot appear between 
the cracks of the field-stone 
pavement surrounding the 
pool; and are followed 
shortly afterward by the red 
and white trillium along the borders of the 
paths. The hemlock hedge is high at this end, 
and forms an appropriate background for two 
simple white benches and a curved seat. 
In the main garden, the earliest effect is of 
a broad band of arabis just back of the line 
of stepping stones that outline the turf panel. 
Farther back are quantities of early red tulips 
between the young red shoots of the peonies. 
Next in the garland are the May-flowering 
tulips and the blossoms of the peonies. In the 
outer garden, the former appear in quantities 
among the arabis, which must now be cut back 
to ensure a dense growth for the following 
year. The peonies here are of a deep red; the 
old-fashioned double ones and other interesting 
sorts, planted in a line around the panel, but 
in places breaking away from it and running 
back to a foamy white background of Spiraea 
Van Houttei against the hedge. 
The corners of the panel are accented by 
four of the shapely lower growing Spiraea 
Cantonensis, whose blossom is similar to the 
other, but larger. Flanking the taller spireas 
in the outer corners are some very dark rhodo¬ 
dendrons whose foliage repeats the evergreen 
note of the hedge. White lilacs overhang the 
hedge from the outside and furnish the neces¬ 
sary height at the entrance and comers, thus 
blending the sharp corners with the lawn. 
Around the pool at this time—the last of 
May-—is a line of the early single white peony, 
the Bride, whose satiny petals and golden 
stamens form the greatest possible contrast to 
the peonies in the outer garden. 
The roses spanning the arch at this end are 
the large single white Silver Moon, which 
resembles the peonies in the purity of its petals 
