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FORMAL vs. NATURAL 
A Question of Importance in Landscape Gardening 
By HUGO ER 1 CHSEN 
A T the beginning of the planting season every 
garden-maker is confronted by a question 
that is almost as old as the art of gardening 
itself. Since the middle of the eighteenth century 
the comparative advantages and drawbacks of the 
formal and natural styles of gardening have been 
thoroughly discussed, but the controversy is not 
yet ended. We owe the formal garden to the 
idealists of the old school whose well-balanced plan 
included a number of plants surrounded by a hedge 
or trellis, while not infrequently, a tree was planted 
at each corner to give point and expression to the 
design. These ancient landscape architects have 
much to answer for that is neither compatible with 
art nor common sense, and yet they have taken a 
notable part in the history of gardening, and have 
bequeathed us a rich legacy in their stately avenues, 
sparkling fountains, quaint hedges and unbroken 
lawns. The absurdities for which they were respon¬ 
sible, such as the training of trees and shrubs into 
regular and often grotesque forms and the trimming 
of evergreens into a resemblance of some animal 
or bird, have passed away, and only that which was 
masterly in their style remains as an evidence that 
their garden schemes were not wholly without merit. 
They erred in relying 
entirely upon design for 
power of expression to 
the same extent to which 
the realists among the 
landscape gardeners of 
the present day go astray 
when they assert that 
the perfection of the art 
of garden-making con¬ 
sists exclusively in the 
imitation of nature. As 
usual, the truth of the 
matter lies midway be¬ 
tween these two extremes 
and is aptly expressed by 
T. homas H. Mawson in 
“The Art and Craft of 
Garden Making” (Lon¬ 
don, 1901), as follows: 
“The stronger a man’s 
love of art is, the more 
will he appreciate 
nature, it is only when 
he tries to mimic her 
that the^artists quarrel 
with him. Nature may and should inspire us, but 
it was never meant that we should copy her weak¬ 
ness or lose the teaching of her strength and 
dignity.” 
In our own country as well as in Europe, the 
natural style is growing more popular with every 
year and gardeners strive to imitate that which 
is best and most beautiful in nature. This is 
more easily accomplished on large estates, where the 
genius of the landscape architect has full scope. 
But even here, much of the charm of the garden 
will always be due to the accidental and unex¬ 
pected. With a little assistance, on the part of 
man, nature will create new beauties that even 
produce an esthetic effect in the winter, when the 
landscape is covered with snow. I he babbling 
brook, a vista among the pines and the stately 
birches at the edge of the forest—all of these appeal 
to our artistic sense, particularly if we come upon 
them suddenly at the curve of a walk. 
A formal garden, on the other hand, is adapted 
to the confined space of the urban garden-close, 
where it is almost impossible to attain landscape 
effects and a multitude of flowers is the greatest 
desideratum. 
A VISTA IN THE WOODS 
15 
