THE PLANNING AND PLANTING
OF LITTLE GARDENS

COUNTRY

UFE

First fubiished in 1920

c c e * c

A CHARMING LITTLE GARDEN.

Frontispiece.

The

Planning & Planting

of

Little Gardens

BY

GEORGE DILLISTONE

WITH NOTES AND CRITICISMS BY
LAWRENCE WEAVER

LONDON

PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICES OF "COUNTRY LIFE,11 LTD.,
20, TAVISTOCK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. 2., AND
BY GEORGE NEWNES, LTD., 8-n, SOUTHAMPTON STREET,
STRAND, W.C. 2. NEW YORK : CHARLES SCRTBNER'S SONS

1920

•
:?%«

^

PREFACE

THE object of this book is to assist the owners of small
garden plots to determine the best ways of laying them
out, so that the greatest possible use may be made of
the area, and the most picturesque effects obtained
therein. Much general information has also been
introduced, indicating the uses to which the garden
may be put when it is made, and also what can be
grown therein. It was considered unnecessary to
crowd the pages with a great many detailed cultural
directions or descriptions of plants, and an effort has
been made rather to indicate the objective to be aimed
at, and the course to pursue to attain it, than to produce
a compendium of gardening lore generally. Having
decided of what the garden is to consist, readers will do
well to look for books treating more intimately with the
particular garden feature or features they have decided
to adopt.

To those who desire information on rose-growing I
would commend " Rose Growing Made Easy/' by
E. T. Cook ; for information on rock gardening,
"The Rock Garden," by E. H. Jenkins. "Fruit
Growing for Beginners," by F. W. Harvey, will be
found useful to those desiring to garden for practical
ends ; and whether the garden is large or small,
whether the reader is an experienced gardener or a

Preface

beginner, they will each and all both enjoy and profit
by the writings of Miss Gertrude Jekyll, who writes
with a practical knowledge gained by experience,
and a poetic sympathy with her subjects that makes
delightful reading. Moreover, such books as her
' ' Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden ' ' will create
for the reader new ideals, new visions of delight, and
therefore new pleasures.

G. D.

VI

AUTHOR'S NOTE

SINCE the following pages were completed, in 1914,
the world has undergone great changes. Whilst the
Little Garden Planning Competition was still in pro-
gress the flame of war, devastating and world-wide,
burst forth. By the time these pages are in print, five
years will have elapsed since the idea was conceived.
The lessons learnt are, however, just as valuable to-day
as they were then. Perhaps in one sense they are
more so. With the return of Peace there is an ardent
desire to return to peaceful pursuits. Moreover, it is
assured that whatever else the cessation of hostilities
may fail to achieve one thing will certainly make pro-
gress, and that is the schemes for better housing of
the industrial population of this country. It was in
large measure for this population the competition was
inaugurated.

On April nth, 1919, His Majesty King George, in
a speech delivered before representatives of the Asso-
ciations of County Councils, Municipal Corporations,
etc., said :

' ' Can we not aim at securing to the working classes
in their houses the comfort, leisure, brightness,
and peace which we usually associate with the word
' HOME ' ? The sites of the houses must be carefully

vii

Author s Note

chosen and laid out, the houses themselves properly
planned and equipped."

If there is one thing more than another necessary to
make an Englishman's house his home, it is a garden.
It is, therefore, to be hoped that this book may prove
of service in the development of the surroundings of
many a new as well as many an old home.

January, 1920.

Vlll

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

PREFACE - v

AUTHOR'S NOTE - - vii

I. INTRODUCTION — SOME REMARKS ON THE AIMS
AND OBJECTS OF GARDEN DESIGN — OBJECTS
OF THE "LITTLE GARDEN PLANNING COMPETI-
TION " - i

II. NOTES ON THE PLANNING OF THE LITTLE GARDEN 12
(By Lawrence Weaver. Reprinted from Country
Life, October 24th, 1914.)

III. THE LESSONS OF THE COMPETITION - 17

(By George Dillistone and F. W. Harvey. Re-
printed from The Garden, October lyth, 1914.)

IV. THE WINNING DESIGNS CONSIDERED IN DETAIL —

SITE No. i : WITH Six GARDEN PLANS AND
HINTS ON MAKING A SUNDIAL PEDESTAL - 21

V. THE WINNING DESIGNS CONSIDERED IN DETAIL
(continued} — SITE No. 2 : WITH SOME REMARKS
ON HERBACEOUS BORDERS - 36

VI. THE WINNING DESIGNS CONSIDERED IN DETAIL
(continued} — SITE No. 3 : WITH SOME OBSERVA-
TIONS ON ROCK GARDENS, FLOWERING SHRUBS,
AND WILD GARDENING FOR SMALL GARDENS - 57

VII. THE WINNING DESIGNS CONSIDERED IN DETAIL
(continued) — SITE No. 4 : WITH SOME OBSERVA-
TIONS ON WATER GARDENING FOR SMALL
GARDENS 80

ix

Contents

VIII. TWO-COTTAGE GARDENS, WITH PLANTING PLANS
AND INSTRUCTION FOR GROWING WATER LILIES
IN TUBS - - 93

IX. THE MOELWYN GARDEN - - 104

X. THE SMALL ROSE GARDEN - 114

XI. CLIMBERS FOR THE LITTLE GARDEN - 122

XII. HINTS ON MAKING GARDEN STEPS AND TENNIS-
COURTS - - - - - - 127

INDEX

132

ILLUSTRATIONS

A Charming Little Garden - -

Plans of Sites i and 4

Plans of Sites 2 and 3

Site No. i. — First Prize Design

Banksian Roses surrounding a Window -

Wistaria Chinensis -

Five Schemes for Site No. i

Plan of Sundial Pedestal -

Sectional Diagram of Sundial Pedestal

Elevation of Same -

Planting Plan for Flower Borders -

A Border of Phloxes

A Paved Walk in London Garden -

A Well-Planted Wall Garden

" Dry" Retaining Wall in Section -

Site No. 2.— First Prize Design -

A Charming Garden Scene

Site No. 2.— Sketch of Second Prize Design

Site No. 2. — Design by H. Rowbotham -

Site No. 2. — Design by J. A. Weall

Site No. 2. — Design by Norah Geddes

Site No 2. — Design by Hugh Dixon -

Site No. 2.— Design by W. A. Wills

Prunus Pissardii Blirieana -

Japanese Snowball Tree -

An Effective Grouping of Lilac and Other Hardy Shrubs

Cytisus Praecox and C. Albus

Site No. 3.— First Prize Design by Miss I. Grant Brown -

Erica Carnea on a Rocky Bank

The Cheddar Pink on a Rocky Ledge -

PAGE

Frontispiece

- 7

- 9

- 22

facing 26
facing 27

- 32

- 33

- 34

- 35

- 41
facing 42
facing 43
facing 43

- 44

- 45
facing 46
facing 47

- 48

- 50

- 52

- 53

- 55
facing 56
facing 57
facing 60
facing 6 1

- 62
facing 68
facing 69

xi

Illustrations

Design for Small Rock Garden

Site No. 3. — Two Designs -

Site No. 3. — Design by Kenneth Dalgliesh

Site No. 3. — Perspective Views by Kenneth Dalgliesh

Site No. 3. — Second Prize Design by Miss Leonard

Snowdrops in Grass

The Herbaceous Lupine -

Site No. 4. — First Prize Design by John Hatton -

Site No. 4. — Second Prize Design by Isobel Harding

Site No. 4.— Third Prize Design by A. Troyte Griffith

Sketch of Circular Lily Pool

Plans and Sections of Two Lily Pools

Section showing Construction of Stream or Pond

Plans for Two Cottage Gardens -

Sketch of Water Lily Tub -

Section through Water Lily Tub -

Plan at K in " Rose Cottage " Garden

Nepeta Mussini as Pathway Edging

Flower Borders in a Little Garden

Plan of Moelwyn Garden -

Two Views in Moelwyn Garden - - -

Two Views in Moelwyn Garden -

Plan for Small Rose Garden

Roses on Posts and Chains

Bellflowers Growing between Flagstones

Clematis Montana on Old Barn -

Rose Reve d'Or over End of a Stable

Yellow Jasmine over Cottage Doorway

The Garland Rose -

Details for Garden Steps -

Levelling a Tennis Lawn -

XII

THE PLANNING AND PLANTING
OF LITTLE GARDENS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION — SOME REMARKS ON THE
AIMS AND OBJECTS OF GARDEN DESIGN-
OBJECTS OF THE "LITTLE GARDEN PLAN-
NING COMPETITION"

ascribe beauty to that which is simple ; which
has no superfluous parts ; which exactly answers its
end ; which stands related to all things ; which is the
mean of many extremes." So wrote Emerson, with
perhaps no dream of gardens in his philosophy. Never-
theless, in these words he gives expression to one of
the most important principles governing successful
garden design — Simplicity.

It might be argue3Trom this premise that the less
there is of design in a garden the more nearly it attains
the ideal. That is to say, that a rectangular plot of
ground with a house placed on it is satisfactory when
surrounded by the usual severe narrow borders and
gravel paths that conform exactly to the lines and
angles formed by the fences enclosing it.

That this is what many people, notably suburban

builders, really think is evidenced by the type of gar-

den effort (or, rather, no effort) prevailing throughout

the length and breadth of the land. And are they

B

•«•:' ^^Introduction

successful? Is there one of them that compels a
second glance except that of disgust ? Do even well-
grown plants, when they happen to exist under such
conditions, serve to redeem the absolute lack of the
imaginative faculty such gardens proclaim ? True,
they are simple enough, but it is the simplicity of the
building plot, not of the garden, the simplicity of a
barren negation and ugly inanity, but it is not beautiful.
But the garden to be successful must be beautiful, and
' Things are pretty, graceful, rich, elegant, hand-
some, but until they speak to the imagination not yet
beautiful/' and simplicity in the garden must there-
fore mean something more than mere severity of line
and neglect of all design.

It is essential, then, that the garden to be good must-
be of good design. This is equally true of the large
or small garden ; but if it is applicable to the large,
wherein many crudities of conception may be to some
extent redeemed by the existence of indestructible
natural features, how much more important is it when
considering the small garden plot. In the first case
there may be fine trees, natural slopes and undulations,
and a general air of spaciousness that partly obliterates
the sense of bad work in garden design. In the latter
the small garden plot has little beauty of its own ;
it is " cabin' d, cribb'd, confin'd," by a sense of
fences that seem always too near. Its outline, con-
forming to the commercial instincts of the land agent
who has cut up the estate into building plots, is usually
the direct opposite of all that makes for beauty. To
the gardener such outlines exist only to be hidden, and
hidden in such a way that the very material used for

2

The True Beauty of~the Garden

the purpose shall in itself create that atmosphere of
beauty that " swims on the light of forms."

There are also some people who seem to think that
to leave things as they are is to leave them natural,
and even carry this idea to the length of allowing
weeds to grow in paths, encouraging an air of general
neglect throughout the garden. To leave things as they
are in the woods and fields, on the hills, and by the
riversides, may be to leave them natural, and seeing
that Nature makes a perpetual effort to attain the
beautiful, such neglect there may be justifiable. In the
small garden it is merely absurd. The garden is an
artificial creation for a specific purpose. It is the
room of the house that is out of doors. As man's
handiwork it should bear the indelible stamp of man's
art and craft. ' If a man can build — can take such
advantage of Nature that all her powers serve him —
this is still the legitimate domain of beauty."

But because the garden to be beautiful must be the
deliberate outcome of studied design it must not end
with design, nor must it depend on it alone for its
attractions. The outcome of effort, it must appear to
be as effortless as may be. No one in visiting a gar-
den for the first time should be conscious that the
design is good, but merely that it is a good garden.
The garden does not exist for its design, but because
of, sometimes in spite of, it. The garden is a place
wherein to paint those pictures we love with the forms
and colours that Nature provides, and these are living,
growing things that must be allowed to live and grow
freely and happily if they are to fulfil their objects.
They are the true beauty of the garden, the design

3

Introduction

exists as the dead frame to their living pictures. Nor
should the frame be so rich and obtrusive that it
becomes an obsession at the cost of the picture. This,
then, is the true simplicity and therefore beauty of the
garden, that the design "has no superfluous parts,
and exactly answers its end." There is a "com-
pelling reason in the uses of the plant, for every novelty
of colour and form, and our art saves material by more
skilful arrangement."

VARIETY IN TASTES AND DESIRES

So much, then, for the necessity of well-considered
design in gardens generally, and in the small garden
in particular. But in a world where no two people
think exactly alike on all subjects there is bound to be
a great variety of tastes in gardening. Indeed, I am
not sure that gardening does not offer a greater variety
of conceptions of what is desirable than any other
analogous subject. You may build houses to set pat-
terns and suit many people, but your gardens will never
be alike, even though you may use the same design,
for, though all enthusiastic gardeners emulate what
they consider to be best in their neighbour's garden,
they also endeavour to excel in this and other
directions. Moreover, it is very rare that even a simple
design can be applied with equal success to two sites.
Even if it could, one desires roses, and roses therefore
become the keynote of the garden scheme. Another
prefers Sweet Peas, or spring flowering bulbs, or
flowering shrubs, and gardens for them. Yet another
chooses to devote considerable space to vegetables or
fruit ; whilst of two neighbours, the one delights in

4

The Happiest of Recreations

growing out of doors those plants that are not hardy
in winter, and consequently has to arrange for their
protection by building glass houses or other heated
structures ; the other scorns the plants that require
coddling, and prefers those that will rejoice in the
open air all the year round. All these factors, and
many others, have to be considered in the preparation
of a garden plan, whether of small or large extent, and
here, again, it is far more necessary to* carefully weigh
the pros and cons in the smaller garden than in the
larger, as in the latter, area may conceivably be of no
consequence, whilst in the former it is of the utmost
importance.

OBJECTS OF THE GARDEN PLANNING COMPETITION

When the idea of the competition was first sug-
gested there were two jDhjscts that were considered
worthy of attainment thereby. Thejirst was that it
was well to encourage the possessors of small garden
plots to look for something beyond a stereotyped and
unimaginative garden scheme if they were to obtain
the fullest enjoyment therefrom. The promoters were
eager to turn the attention of the competitors in the
direction of aspirations after something beyond the
backyard treatment of the average town or suburban
garden. As the opening remarks of the announce-
ment of the competition stated, it was realized that—

' For every great garden planned on spacious lines
and expensively planted, there are a thousand little
gardens which deserve no less thought and invention
if they are to give their owners all the pleasure to be
won from the happiest of recreations — gardening. Not

5

Introduction

so many years ago the little garden, whether in town
or suburb, or even deep in the country, was a thought-
less affair ; a few beds of geraniums and roses, a border
of annuals and perennials in small and dull variety, and
perhaps a shrubbery, all laid out without reference to
the house or to each other. Since then the cultivation
of flowers and shrubs, fruit and vegetables, has
developed at a great speed. And it has done this side
by side with a growing attention to the sister art of
garden design, which includes not only the laying out
of ground on simple and artistic lines, but also the use
of flowers in harmonious groupings.

1 ' All this has been well understood and practised in
the greater gardens, where an increasing reliance is set
on those more formal qualities which made the beauty
of the Old English garden. It remains to show that
the little garden is no less capable of beautiful treat-
ment. The miniature can be as great a work of art as
the full-length portrait/'

The second object was that by so getting together
the ideas and thoughts of many people, and carefully
analyzing and, if necessary, criticizing them, much
helpful information might be given to people possess-
ing similar sites, and it is for the purpose of presenting
this in the most convenient form that the present
volume is compiled.

Four typical sites were chosen, and their plans, now
reproduced on a small scale, were submitted to intend-
ing competitors.

No. i shows a level site with a narrow frontage of
40 feet and a total depth of 120 feet. This is an
average small suburban plot, and its lay-out and plant-
ing has an importance not ordinarily recognized.

No. 2 shows the type of site which results when an

6

Ground Plan of Site 4

a v o a

.0 OZI

Introduction

enthusiastic gardener, living next door to a man who
cares for none of these things, buys or rents part of his
neighbour's garden. The L- shaped plot thus secured
gives opportunity for variation in design which is im-
possible on a narrow rectangular plot. The site is
level.

No. 3 shows a site such as is often found in the more
distant suburbs of large towns, and even in the heart of
the country, where there is a wide frontage and much
less depth in proportion. This shape creates a new
set of problems for the designer. The site slopes
3 feet downwards from east to west.

No. 4 shows a corner site formed by two converging
roads, and its irregularity gives opportunity for unusual
treatment. This site has a slope of 5 feet downwards
from north to south.

Certain conditions were imposed on competitors, but
need not be entered into here, except that for the
guidance of readers it may be mentioned that the fol-
lowing restrictions as to cost were imposed and care-
fully considered during the judging. For site No. i it
was estimated that the expenditure for the laying out
of the ground should not exceed a maximum of £20 ;
for No. 2, £40 ; No. 3, £60 ; No. 4, £100. * This was
considered to be about the probable amounts that the
owners of such sites would be able to afford thereon.
These amounts were not to include any allowance for
plants, trees, shrubs, or sowing lawns. It was assumed
that in all cases the owners of such gardens would

* The competition took place in 1914, and the estimates
then formed will need to be modified to bring them into
relation with the increased values of to-day.

8

Ground Plan of Site 2

L"

«

1 2
£ 3

9

Introduction

employ their own energies, and by carrying out much
of the necessary work themselves save the cost of a
labourer, but their time was not included in the cost.

Perhaps it will be well to emphasize this point, that
the competition was designed essentially for the benefit
of those who garden for themselves. No effort was
made to encourage the development of costly, though
perchance beautiful, ideas that involved great initial
expense and a permanent maintenance cost higher
than was warranted by the size of site, class of house,
and its probable occupants. Nevertheless, this is not
to say that many of those features of design and orna-
ment that give character and aesthetic charm to large
gardens were to be excluded. Indeed, it will be found
on looking through the following pages that there are
many pretty ideas suggested, that although they would
be quite successful on a small scale, could easily be
elaborated and developed to suit gardens of much
greater extent. There is this in gardening, that the
greater may always learn from the lesser ; and though
the cottage garden may be contemptible in size when
compared with that surrounding the neighbouring
mansion, it is so often a more affectionately, and there-
fore carefully and intimately, developed handiwork,
that the greater garden can take many lessons there-
from.

There is this also in gardening, that dogmatic prin-
ciples have no place. Gardening is an individualistic
pursuit, and a free art. It gives the fullest expression
to the aesthetic aspirations of its owner, sometimes in a
far more intimate association with that owner's ideals
than is possible in artistic endeavour generally.

10

The Judges and their Task

Thus each garden conception becomes an original
invention, and as such has something to teach. More-
over, it is not always possible to gather from the most
skilfully prepared drawings exactly the garden picture
the designer has in mind. He or she foresees the
simplest, crudest lines furnished with the growth of a
beautiful vegetation that those lines are intended to
display or enhance.

In concluding these introductory notes, therefore, I
should like to say that whatever of criticism may be
passed on the various designs, it is submitted in the
interrogatory sense, and only intended to suggest,
' Would not so-and-so have been better here ?" rather
than to insist that my own opinions are infallibly
correct.

On the whole, the competition may be said to have
been eminently successful. The judges had the
arduous task of adjudicating between nearly 400 draw-
ings.* The opinions formed thereon at the time are
briefly expressed in the two following chapters.

* The adjudication was undertaken by : —
Mr. P. Morley Horder, F.R.I.B.A.
Mr. S. T. Wright, Superintendent R.H.S. Gardens at

Wisley.

The late Mr. F. W. Harvey, Editor of The Garden.
Mr. Lawrence Weaver, C.B.E., F.S.A., Hon. A.R.I.B.A.
Mr. George Dillistone, Landscape and Garden Architect.

II

CHAPTER II

NOTES ON THE PLANNING OF THE LITTLE
GARDEN *

THE designer of the great garden has always this much
in his favour. The activities of time and the destroyer
have been great, but many examples remain of what
was done in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Despite change of fashion and the ravages made by
the Landscape School, there remain scores of noble
gardens, such as St. Catherine's Court, Montacute,
Westbury-on-Severn and Levens Hall, which show fit
surroundings for a great house, and illustrate the
growth of garden design. With the little garden it is
otherwise. Very few perfect old gardens laid out in
small space have survived. It is true there is the
exquisite hillside treatment at Owlpen Manor, but the
site is unusual, and the wonderful effect is achieved
mainly by yew hedges, perhaps two centuries old.
Gay little cottage gardens in English villages make
their appeal by serried ranks of brilliant hollyhocks and
simple borders of bright herbaceous plants, with per-
haps a peacock in yew standing sentinel by the road-
side gate, rather than by success in conscious design.
Like the little house which it serves, the little garden
of to-day presents a new problem, for both are the pro-

* By Lawrence Weaver. Reprinted from Country Life,
October 24th, 1914.
12

Six Outstanding Points

luct of a new social order. It is impossible to lay
down neat rules for the planning and planting of a
limited garden space, but there are six outstanding
points which need to be borne steadily in mind. In
planning it is important (i) to ensure that every part
of the garden shall bear a definite relation to the house
which it serves ; (2) that the design shall be essentially
simple — i.e., that the space shall not be frittered away
by multiplied features ; and (3) that the lines of these
parts shall be so laid down that the whole shall achieve
a definite shapeliness. The three points in planting
are subordinate to the fact that the owner of a little
garden can rarely devote either much money or con-
siderable labour to its tending. He, nevertheless,
should seek to secure (i) a sufficient rotation of flowers
to ensure gaiety in the garden during spring and sum-
mer and early autumn ; (2) as rich a pleasure in colour
and scent as may be contrived with small expenditure ;
and (3) some practical return for his labour in vege-
tables and fruit. The very ease with which a garden
may be altered for the better may prove a snare. What
is easy to do is often left undone. The owner of a
little plot, knowing well that his first mistakes can be
blotted out in a year or two, rarely considers at the
outset that the allied problems of planning and plant-
ing must be considered as a whole. Blunders thus
made are apt never to get corrected. Many of them
would be avoided if it were generally appreciated that
the whole garden scheme should be considered from
the first in its relation to the house. However small
the available space may be, it must be provided with
certain elements — grass plots, flower-beds, paths, and

Notes on Planning

(not least) a hinterland where the untidiness inevitable
in gardening may be screened from view of the house.
These features, however simple in themselves, need to
be rightly placed and co-ordinated to make an intel-
ligible whole. With a view to focusing the ideas of
those who are concerned with the little garden, our
contemporary, The Garden, has lately organized a
competition, and its results were published in The
Garden of October iyth. Garden designers, both
professional and amateur, were invited to prepare plan-
ning and planting schemes for four typical sites, rang-
ing from a narrow suburban plot, 40 feet wide, to a
triangular site of about half an acre. In each case the
plan of the house was shown so that the designer might
take into account such governing facts as access from
garden doors and views from windows. Some of the
prize-winners' designs are now reproduced in order to
show how the general rules laid down above may be
worked out in practice.

Perhaps the most difficult problem was the narrow
suburban plot. Mr. A. Troyte Griffith won the first
prize for this because he did not attempt too much.
The notable feature of the design is the way in which
the kitchen window is screened from the little lawn by
the splayed hedge. Nevertheless, the servant's
pleasure has not been ignored, for she has an oblique
view on to the herbaceous border backed by shrubs on
the north side of the garden. From the garden door
of the living-room the owner looks across the grass to
the curved seat framed in a yew hedge, and behind this
is a little space for the untidinesses of a garden.

Shapeliness and order have likewise governed Mr.

Pictures from Living-Rooms

G. LI. Morris's scheme for a small L-shaped garden,
such as is sometimes found in a suburb when an
enthusiastic gardener secures the lower half of his
neighbour's plot. He has secured a notable diversity
of views. From the drawing-room garden door there
is a definite picture across the rose garden and sunk
lawn to the herb garden. From the drawing-room the
near pergola invites a walk along the paved path to
another pergola finishing in an arbour. The fruit and
vegetable garden in the short arm of the L is cut off
by a hedge, in the curved bays of which there are
archways from herb garden to orchard and from sunk
lawn to kitchen beds. Other charming little features
are the narrow flower garden to the south of the house,
and the long flower border appropriately stretching
from the tradesmen's entrance to the kitchen garden.

The almost square garden of about a third of an
acre was designed by Mr. K. Dalgliesh and shows the
tennis-lawn rightly placed north and south. Here
again a picture is seen from each of the living-rooms,
in spite of the fact that the lawn takes up so much
space that other features have to be compressed.

The triangular site of about half an acre set at the
junction of two roads gave ample opportunity for
ingenious contrivance. The plan on page 22 by
Mr. A. Troyte Griffith shows a reasonable use
of that overdone feature, the pergola, a good aid
to garden design if sensibly placed, but this is not
often. Here it leads from the corner of the terrace to
a garden house, and usefully divides the tennis-lawn
from the flower garden. Miss Isobel Harding 's design
(p. 32) is a little disappointing, for the very reason that

15

Notes on Planning

it provides no "wall of partition," and by so much
her garden would be lacking in those little turns of
surprise which are the more valuable when the total
available space is small. The rest of the area is,
however, well and practically employed.

16

CHAPTER III

THE LESSONS OF THE COMPETITION*

THE problems set by the competition were by no
means easy. They were, in effect, to compress within
severely restricted areas an epitome of the art, prin-
ciples, and practice of garden creation. The plots
selected for treatment were barren of anything that
could assist in directing the mind toward any particu-
lar development, and it is with great pleasure that the
judges testify to the ingenuity and inventiveness dis-
played by many of the competitors in creating, out of
such slight material, so much diversity of design, and
potentially picturesque effects. It is inevitable, after
spending much time in consideration of the large num-
ber of plans submitted, and employing a process of
elimination of the worst in order to choose the best,
that the tendency of the judges' comments is to become
critical as regards all. We therefore devote our
remarks chiefly to the lessons to be learnt from those
points in which the various schemes fail, rather than
from those in which they succeed.

One fact emerges from a consideration of such a
number and variety of ideas as to what constitutes the
best method of arranging a small garden — namely,
that there were two classes of competitors, who

* By George Dillistone and F. W. Harvey. Reprinted
from The Garden, October lyth, 1914, p. 510.

c 17

The Lessons of the Competition

approached the matter from quite different standpoints.
/ One class concentrated their efforts on an arrangement
of paths, fences, and a division of the area into spaces,
each allotted for a specific purpose. Generally speak-
ing, they failed to realize fully the fact that a garden
is essentially a place wherein to grow things, and grow
them in such a way that they shall fulfil Miss Jekyll's
ideal, to "form beautiful pictures in our gardens."
The danger in thus approaching the creation of a gar-
den is that it attaches an infinite importance to the
frame and ignores the picture. The tendency is to
produce a garden which is a mere pattern, all design
and no life, a stonemason's tombstone rather than a
Pygmalion's Galatea.
j The other class looked on the problem from the
opposite standpoint — namely, that, given certain pro-
vision for growth and adequate planting schemes, little
else mattered. These did not sufficiently realize that
they had produced but a poor setting for their effects.
In the result, whereas many plants may be well grown,
they will never be seen to the best advantage, and in a
small garden, in particular, a general sense of untidi-
ness will always be in evidence.

The duty of the judges, therefore, resolved itself
largely into selecting those designs that most nearly
attained to the ideal when judged from the standpoints
the competitors had themselves taken. It will be seen
from the published results that the balance was rather
in favour of the first class. Due attention was, how-
ever, paid to the second, so that adequate provision
was made in the selected plans for successful cultiva-
tion. It was felt that the making of the garden is in

18

Miss JekylFs Ideal

some respects more important than the planting, espe-
cially as the means of the owner were assumed to be
limited. Obviously, if mistakes are made anywhere,
a garden can be replanted with much greater ease
and less expense than it can be remade. Judged on
points, the planting schemes were inferior all round to
the work produced in designing. This is regrettable
but not surprising. It is far more difficult to produce
satisfactory planting plans than a design based on cer-
tain principles which, once grasped, reduce the task
to an arrangement of lines and curves, the effects of
which are tested in the development of the plan on
paper.

Consider for a moment the really excellent design
produced by Mr. G. LI. Morris for Site No. 2. It is
easy to imagine some delightful effects in a garden
arranged on these lines, but it would have been inter-
esting to know exactly what he suggests should be
planted in a herb garden to which as much space is
devoted and into which as much design is introduced
as for the Rose garden in the same plan. His vision
of this little garden, with its seat placed to command
a view down through the orchard, where flowering
bulbs, such as Crocuses, Tulips, Daffodils, Snowdrops,
Scillas, etc., would doubtlessly be allowed to brighten
the earth in spring, was really that of a garden of
sweet-scented flowers and herbs, with Violets, Mignon-
ette, Lavender, Lemon Verbena, Night-scented Stock
and Tobacco plant, each in their season creating an
atmosphere redolent with garden perfumes. And then
Miss Leonard's borders (p. 32), seen from the drawing-
room and library. If she had prepared her planting

19

The Lessons of the Competition

plans for these they would have been masses of cool
grey foliage with lavender, pale blue, the palest of
yellow, cream, and pink flowers, with perhaps a little
dark purple used as a foil. They would have been
planted principally with hardy perennial plants, with
spaces left for spring bulbs, to be succeeded by annuals.
An example of what plants Miss Leonard would have
used for this purpose would have been full of interest,
especially as she would be considering the matter from
the American point of view.

One planting plan by Miss I. Grant Brown (repro-
duced on page 41) is in many ways excellent. She
shows a full appreciation of the fact that it is better to
group plants in relation to each other than to use them
in serried lines or rigid blocks. Her colour arrange-
ment is generally well thought out. Undoubtedly in
the actual planting of these borders some provision
would be made for prolonging the flowering period by
introducing a few spring flowering bulbs and summer
and autumn flowering annuals. The edging of
Veronica prostrata is very neat when not in flower and
brilliant when the flowering period arrives ; an added
interest would, however, follow a little more varied
edging. There are innumerable dwarf plants that can
be used for this purpose that have a longer flowering
period.

20

CHAPTER IV

THE WINNING DESIGNS CONSIDERED IN
DETAIL

SITE No. i : WITH Six GARDEN PLANS AND HINTS
ON MAKING A SUNDIAL PEDESTAL

THIS is a rectangular plot, 40 feet wide by 120 feet
long, of which the house occupies about one-fourth of
the area. In many respects this was the most difficult
problem of the four. To the gardener there exists
nothing to stimulate the imagination in such surround-
ings and conditions, and the winning competitors were
therefore the more to be congratulated on the fact that
they produced designs distinctly dissimilar in concep-
tion, and all ensuring more or less variety in the general
arrangement.

I will first consider the front gardens. On page 22
is a reproduction of the first-prize design for this site.
The front garden arrangement in this plan is perhaps its
worst point. It could scarcely be other than severe in
general outline, but little or no attempt has been made
to relieve its square monotony, unless the planting of
the Prunus is suggested for this purpose. The hedge
is a necessity, and nothing can be more desirable than
the simple green enclosure a hedge gives to such a
situation. Whether Laurustinus is the best material
to use for such a purpose is a question worth asking.

21

40- G • — *

ENTRANCE GATE
SITE NO. I. — FIRST-PRIZE DESIGN BY A. TROYTE GRIFFITH.

Shrubs for Hedges

The real beauty of the Laurustinus consists in its
flowers, which, although white, are very freely borne,
and in association with the reddish tint of the unopened
buds have a very pleasing effect. The worst of a
hedge is that it has to be kept trimmed, and in the con-
tracted area we are considering this is more than ever
essential. The result of trimming Laurustinus is to
prevent it forming its flower buds, and this destroys its
real value as a shrub. If the hedge has to be green
there are other shrubs more suitable. The English
yew, common green or Hands worth box can be used
with advantage. In seaside towns Euonymus japonicus
can be used with excellent effect, and has both its gold
and green varieties. It is not wise to use it far inland,
or in the north, however, as it suffers during severe
winters.

There is another fault that is common in such gar-

> dens as this, and is exhibited in the plan. The small
square beds on either side of the path approaching the

{ front door are good in theory but bad in practice.
They are too small (2 feet square) for anything that
would add beauty to the garden to succeed in them.
A simple line of border on either side of the path would
be much better. The grass plats and surrounding
border could be quite attractive. Grass is highly
desirable in such places. There are, however, some-
times difficulties in the way of getting it to grow quite
successfully. Had this been the north end of the
house instead of the west it would have been so here.
In that case the whole front might be paved or, if
the house is of brick, laid down with bricks on edge,
relieved by a few shrubs in tubs standing about. Such

23

The Winning Designs

treatment is, however, to be deprecated so long as
there is any possibility of getting grass to grow.

I have already mentioned that this front remains
four-square as the builders left it, and I think this is
an instance in which some gently curving design might
successfully be introduced, and so obliterate to some
extent the existing outline.

The approach to the front door must of necessity be
direct, and it is important that direct access be pro-
vided to the back of the house. There is another dis-
advantage in the simple rectangular borders in this
plan — viz., that there is no area provided for a pretty
grouping of plants or shrubs such as would be desir-
able to form somewhat more of a screen between the
house and the road. By broadening out the borders
in the corners this becomes possible, and there is plenty
of room for a flowering shrub, such as Almond, Prunus,
or flowering Cherry, with other shrubs principally of an
evergreen and flowering nature, such as the Berberis,
Cytisus, and others. In front of these little groupings
of shrubs a few spring flowering bulbs, such as Scillas,
Snowdrops, Crocuses, etc., can be planted, and will
brighten the outlook in early spring, whilst patches of
Mignonette, Night-scented Stock, and a few summer
flowering plants might be introduced so that the borders
are never quite without their attractions, even though
their principal object is to serve as a screen from the
road.

Now look at what other competitors suggest for the
front garden. Take, first, the second-prize design on
page 32. In this case Mr. Orphoot boldly shifted the
entrance-gate several feet to the right, presumably

24

Misapplied Symmetry

with the idea of getting the path approach on the axis
line of the house. The wisdom of this is doubtful.
Things are not always what they seem in a plan, and
although the object of getting the two sides symmetri-
cal is attained on paper it would not be so in reality.
There would always seem to be something incongruous
in approaching down a straight path directly on to the
corner of the dining-room, and then having to swerve
to the left to get to the door. Even this hardly gives
him the symmetry he aims at, and he has to divide
the area up into three quadrangular plots by planting
hedges. The wisdom of this is also doubtful, as the
space is not sufficiently large to afford it. Nor do I
; think the seat so near the road is quite a happy idea.
A garden-seat would not be well placed in such a posi-
tion owing to its publicity. The separate approach
from the road to the kitchen in this plan is quite a good
idea, although most occupants of such a house would
hesitate before surrendering so much good gardening
area to the making of a path, and really the extra
seclusion gained would hardly be worth it. The paved
walk shown in this plan as an alternative to gravel is
an excellent suggestion. That of the borders of Roses
on either side of the path, too, is good. I think, how-
ever, that dwarfs would be better than standards for
such a short distance. The effect of the standards

k would be to give a distinct sense of restriction of area.

\ It is unwise to cut up these small plots too much. In
{ many respects the front garden design by Miss Eliza-
beth Leonard (C) was the best submitted. The group-
ing of the shrubs in the corners and on either side, the
fine bold mass of tall flowering plants just where it

25

The Winning Designs

would meet the eye when emerging from the house,
the generally somewhat free arrangement of the lines,
and the distinctly good method of making the approach
to the kitchen pass through flowers round the corner
of the house, make this arrangement altogether an
advance on any other ideas presented. I think, how-
ever, some further planting might have been introduced
opposite the dining-room window. This window is
only 20 feet from the road, and although some people
might wish to be able to sit at dinner and see what is
passing, most would prefer the seclusion given by some
slight vegetation in such a position. Mr. Paton in his
design (D) ignores the position of the entrance gate as
given in the plan of site altogether, placing it in the
north-west corner, an arrangement that scarcely looks
happy even on a plan. The " long bed " would pre-
sent a fine opportunity for a colour display as seen
from the dining-room, but this would, I think, be
achieved more successfully by making the border in
front of the shrubs instead of so near the house.
Neither Mr. B. M. Cory (E) nor Miss Isobel Harding
(F) paid much serious attention to the front garden,
contenting themselves with the most elementary treat-
ment. Both, however, failed in this, that the area is
seen at a glance to be too much cut up into quadrangles
of various sizes.

In one important feature every single competitor
failed. No one considered it necessary to suggest
anything in the nature of a climber for the house. The
covered porch of such a house as was shown in the
plan would make an admirable situation over which
to train a Wistaria, Clematis, Jasmine, or Rose. The

26

BANKSIAN ROSES SURROUNDING A WINDOW.

To face page 26,

WISTARIA CHINENSIS GROWING OVER A GRANARY.

To face page 27.

<j%uiet and Restful Effects

true gardener takes advantage of every; inch of space,
and a wall face can be just as beautiful as a garden.
In such a place it would form part of the garden.

Now, with regard to the approaches to, and the
back gardens themselves ; undoubtedly the first-prize
design (A) is the most successful treatment. Thuja
Lobbi as a hedge is only justifiable when one wants
quick growth, and if the adjoining cottage is as near
the fence on its own side as the one in plan is, the
' ' Wall Fruit ' ' would stand a very poor chance of suc-
cess as it would be in the shade nearly all day. If,
however, the house stands alone, and so is open to the
sun on the south side, the walls could be put to many
worse uses than growing Pears, Plums, or in favoured
districts even Peaches or Apricots. In this case
standard trained trees would be the best to plant,
so that the fruiting branches are well up to the
sunlight above the fence or hedge. One of the
most pleasing features of this design is the splayed
arrangement of the hedges dividing the front from the
back, and shutting off the kitchen window in such a
way that, although the kitchen is quite shut off from
the garden, there is left open a view through the
kitchen window on to the flower border that forms the
most important feature in the garden itself. The
effect of this garden would be quiet and restful. The
flower borders facing south, and backed by an irregu-
lar grouping of shrubs, that would serve pleasantly to
obliterate the line of fence, and also to form a back-
ground for the colour in the border, is capable of being
made a distinctly good picture. Some simple and
tasteful colour grouping, with a view to as continuous a

27

The Winning Designs

succession of flowers as possible, is the correct treat-
ment here. It is, however, scarcely the border for
large bold masses of one thing. The weakness of
such plantings in contracted areas lies in the fact that
they are liable to ruin the whole effect of the garden
when the flowering period is over by leaving large and
ugly gaps. The best arrangement would be to form
the groundwork of the planting scheme with hardy
perennials, filling in certain spaces each year with
spring flowering bulbs, and replacing these with
annuals when the flowering period is over. The view
from the drawing-room window, across the lawn to the
seat in the curved recess in the hedge at the eastern
end, would be very pleasant. The Apple trees, lifting
their heads above the hedge, would be pretty in blos-
som and the fruit useful in autumn. It would be a
good idea to plant a few Darwin Tulips of a heliotrope
tint, such as Rev. H. Ewbank, in the flower border
at the end of the garden. The eye would take in the
pink of the Apple blossom and the colour of the Tulips
at the same time, and, seen from the drawing-room,
the effect would be very pleasing.

The Rose and annual border backed by a trellis
covered with climbing roses is a pretty and serviceable
arrangement. It would have to be remembered, how-
ever, that the border faces north, and that the climb-
ing Roses must not be allowed to get too high, or the
whole border would be in permanent shade. There is
a point in this plan worthy of consideration to the indi-
vidual adopting it. Are the two gravel paths, one
down each side, necessary ? The one on the south
site ends in the hedge, and I think nothing of desirable

28

Permanent Garden Seats

"balance" would be lost by carrying on the grass
right up to the edge of the Rose border. Two paths in
such small gardens are rarely desirable, and grass
makes a much better edge to the borders. Moreover,
it should be noticed that if the gravel path is introduced
here, something in the nature of an edging to the
border will be required to keep both border and path
tidy. This is achieved in the flower border on the
opposite side by introducing a grass verge, for which
there is no room on this side.

In some respects the plan (B) by Mr. Orphoot
resembles the one just discussed. The Apple trees
shown therein would be too near, and would grow in
time so large as to be detrimental to the presence of
light and air in the house. I think it is hardly neces-
sary to place two permanent seats in the positions
shown. In such small gardens it is doubtful if per-
manent seats are an advantage. A permanent seat
in a secluded nook or commanding a fine view is always
a happy arrangement, but here, where one would have
little to look at except another seat, and where they
are so near to the house, two would certainly be super-
fluous. The herbaceous borders could be lengthened
towards the house, and the Apple trees placed at the
opposite end. The arrangement of Rose beds round a
sundial fitting into a recess in the hedge could be made
to form a charming little picture. Hybrid Tea Roses,
or at least those with the longest possible flowering
period, should be used. One feature of the design
should certainly be omitted. The bed of tree Paeonies
opposite the drawing-room window would be very dull
eleven months in the year. If a bed is desired here at

29

The Winning Designs

all — and, personally, I should prefer the grass — it
should be planted with something that affords a longer
period of enjoyment, and might be with advantage
devoted entirely to fragrant flowers.

There are many attractive features in the design by
Miss Leonard (C). A continuous path in place of the
stepping-stones would be the best. Stepping-stones
in grass or positions that are inclined to be moist are
useful, and can be made ornamental. By the side of
a house in the principal approach from front to back
they would be awkward and unnecessary. This walk,
however, with its Vine-covered fence on one side, the
creeper-clad house on the other, and a wealth of pros-
trate grey-leaved, many-hued creeping-plants, and
summer and autumn flowering Asters, could be quite
delightful. The whole arrangement of the back gar-
den is carefully thought out. The drying-ground is,
however, an introduction of which the wisdom, pos-
sibly also the use, is doubtful. Too small for a drying-
ground, it just spoils the garden by contracting its
width. Miss Leonard's planting ideas (upon which
more is said in Chapter III.) are well worthy of
attention.

Mr. Paton, in design D, introduces some ideas
worthy of a larger site. The small sunk garden could,
under more favourable circumstances, be made quite
attractive, with its retaining walls filled with small-
habited trailing and creeping plants, such as Cam-
panula garganica, the stonecrops, and others, and its
simple stone steps ; but the effect in such a restricted
area would be that of overcrowding. Leaving this
feature out of the design, or replacing it with something

30

I

Useless Paths

simpler, the remainder offers little to comment on.
The path arrangement, though it appears to be quite
liberal enough, has certainly the advantage of being
continuous right round the house.

Miss Cory's design (E) is a garden for one effect,
that obtained from the drawing-room, and as such it is
very good except that it would be necessary to con-
trive that the view from the drawing-room window did
not look directly on to the end of the line of standard
Roses. A little reconsideration of the areas would soon
put this right.

Miss Isobel Harding 's design (F) is an example of
using paths to create design. This is a procedure that
I think is often carried to an extreme. The paths
should be what are necessary, but never used purely
as ornament. I hardly think the little paths at right
angles to the centre in this plan serve any good pur-
pose, and the garden would be better without them.
A frame is placed in this and most of the other designs
upon which I have commented. If these are intro-
duced it should be remembered that they are useless in
the shade, a point that several competitors have over-
looked.

A word or two about ornaments used in these small
gardens. They should never be obtrusively florid in
design. They should look part of the garden, be as
simple as possible, and not have the appearance of
being as expensive as all the rest of the garden put
together. Remember they are used as ornaments to
the garden, and the note they strike should be sub-
sidiary to the general scheme. If they can be made
to serve the useful purpose of growing flowers

31

T __ 0 021 -r- • -'- — — J

<B>

o o o o o o
o o ojjo o o

^^*.^- -3

< PQ

Sundial Pedestal

therein, as, for instance, a simple stone vase, so much
the better. Several competitors suggest sundials in
various positions. In such gardens the happiest idea
is to make one's own ornaments as far as possible. It
was for just such a garden as this that I made some
rough sketches showing how a sundial pedestal could

PLAN OF SUNDIAL PEDESTAL AND BED FOR OLD-
WORLD FLOWERS.

be made that would be quite suitable, because, like the
garden, it would be home-made. The sketches were
subsequently used in The Garden, and are reproduced
here with the few words written to accompany them.
' ' There was a time when the sundial was introduced
D 33

The Winning Designs

into the garden for the purpose of measuring the time.
To-day it has become merely a garden ornament, a
centre from which diverging paths radiate, or the cen-
tral axis of a formal design. It introduces into the
garden a more or less romantic note of association with
the past, and appeals to the same sense of appreciation
as old buildings, old furniture, and everything else that
has come to us from bygone days. The sight of one
calls up memories of the sweet old-world flowers of
Chaucer and Shakespeare : the Sweet-brier, Pinks,

Oi-O

SECTIONAL DIAGRAM OF SUNDIAL PEDESTAL.

£rilliflowers, Lavender, Rosemary, Columbine, and
' Rosfcs damask and red ' of Bacon.

'/The design for a sundial pedestal in the accom-
panying illustration is not meant for the garden of
noble proportions or for the embellishment of palatial
surroundings, but is simply a quaint and pretty idea
that can be introduced into the tiniest cottage garden
at little expense, and with certain success. It is meant
for those who love their gardens so much that they
like to do things themselves, and as such is purely a

34

Pedestals for Lead Figures

' gardener's ' sundial rather than a pretentious work of
masonry (' sculpture ' is, I believe, the word generally
used). Just a few old bricks and thin roofing tiles, a
short piece of iron pipe, two or three pieces of paving,
and a little cement darkened by the addition of a little
lampblack are all that is necessary ; the joints should
be quite dark. Round the centre plant a mixture of
old-world plants, such as a pink monthly Rose, two or
three plants of Lavender, some Catmint, Thyme, and

DIAGRAM SHOWING ELEVATION OF SUNDIAL PEDESTAL.

(Scale of each illustration : Halj an inch = one foot.)

any old-fashioned odds and ends there is room for. If
the sundial forms the terminal of a path between two
borders, brick, on edge, paths are comfortable and dry,
and when the joints are green with moss, grass, a
dwarf Sedum, or creeping Thyme, is very attractive.
The same idea can be successfully adopted to create
pedestals for small lead figures, and can easily be
worked into circular, hexagonal or octagonal shapes."

35

CHAPTER V

THE WINNING DESIGNS CONSIDERED IN
DETAIL (Continued)

SITE No. 2 : WITH SOME REMARKS ON
HERBACEOUS BORDERS

THE size and shape of this site offered much greater
scope for garden design than did Site No. i. It is
curious, however, that there was little attempt to do
more than maintain throughout the quadrangular
form that the shape of the plot already provided.
There was ample room here for some more liberal treat-
ment than just following the lines of the fences. It
would have been pleasant to have seen the formality
that was imperative near the house merging into some-
thing more nearly approaching Bacon's conception
of being ' ' framed to a natural wildness ' ' as the lines
receded from the house. The first-prize design to
some degree appreciates the desirability of this by the
introduction of an orchard that would look in reality
far less rigid and formal than it does in the plan. It is
easy to imagine this recess in the garden as cool,
shady, and delightful.

In the spring, when, amongst the browns and greens
of the tree trunks, the Snowdrop, Scilla, Crocus, and
Daffodil would wake to life, and a golden carpet of
Winter Aconite would spread itself over the ground ; or

36

The Beauty of fruit-Trees

a little later, in May, when the lightest wind would
send a shower of pink apple-blossom floating down
amongst the Lavenders and Lilacs, purples and golds
of the May-flowering Tulips ; or, later still, when a
few of the shade-loving Lilies would lift themselves up
towards the gleams of light shimmering through the
branches ; and again, still later, when the autumn tints
of the foliage of Cherry, Pear, and Plum would strike
another if a sadder note and so fulfil the chord of the
year — it could be always beautiful, this little orchard.
Nor need it be all bare earth in winter, for the spring
bulbs I have mentioned will push their way through
the grass ; and I should have grass in such a spot,
grass that I could allow to grow a little wild and
untidy if I wanted to, so that even though my home
were a town villa there should be just one corner where
I could sit and feel

" Not in the busy world, nor quite beyond it."

It is a mistake to think that because fruit-trees are
useful they cannot be beautiful. How many of us, if
the Apple or Peach were introduced as new flowering
shrubs, would not use them gratefully in our garden
schemes though they bore never a fruit.

I have already, in Chapter III., pointed out some
of the possible charms of this garden design, but
there are many others worthy of comment, and some
few of good-natured criticism. Looking from the
drawing-room window, it is easy to imagine the fine
perspective effect that would be produced by the long,
straight, paved walk, flanked on the sunny side by a
generous herbaceous border. This border in itself

37

The Winning Designs

would constitute a feature worthy of any garden and
if planted on the exquisite lines so often suggested by
Miss Jekyll, and of which she says : " To devise these
living pictures with simple well-known flowers seems
to me the best thing to do in gardening. Whether
it is the putting together of two or three kinds of
plants, or even of one kind only, in some happy set-
ting, or whether it is the ordering of a much larger
number of plants, as in a flower border of middle and
late summer, the intention is always the same.
Whether the arrangement is simple and modest,
whether it is obvious or whether it is subtle, whether
it is bold and gorgeous, the aim is always to use the
plants to the best of one's means and intelligence, so
as to form pictures of living beauty."

Everything that makes for success or failure in such
a border lies in its arrangement. It should coi tain
no serried ranks of flowers marshalled as though in
battle array. The groupings should be informal,
light, and free. Colour arrangement should be studied
to the extent of getting definite and pleasing combina-
tions and eliminating harsh and violent associations.
Such a border would of necessity have to be designed
for the longest possible flowering period, and whilst
the best effects would be obtained by using hardy
perennial plants freely, some spaces should be left for
spring bulbs and summer or autumn flowering annuals.

There are two ways in which such a border might be
arranged. The first is what is called the Graduated
Colour Scheme. It consists of arranging a border
exactly on the lines Nature treats all her effects. A
majestic mountain, broad at the base, and clothed in

38

The Graduated Colour Border

vivid green and other colours, tapers to its apex, which
is lost to sight in grey and white. In the most beau-
tiful landscape the richest and most vivid colour is
always in the foreground, and fades in, tone in the
middle distance, and the eye loses itself in the distance
in indefinite purple and grey, and it is, in effect, this
idea that is aimed at in the ' ' graduated colour border.
To achieve it, one carefully groups at one end of the
border all the most powerful and vivid colours, such as
rich crimson or brilliant orange. Starting with this
as a base, graduate the colours somewhere in the fol-
lowing order : crimson, scarlet, orange scarlet, orange
yellow, deep yellow, pale yellow, creamy yellow. Now
it becomes necessary to pick up another colour, and
the best for associating with pale yellow is pale blue ;
thence we pass through bright blue, deep blue, purple
blue, lilac, grey, and white. A liberal supply of light
grassy foliage should be used throughout the border,
and plenty of white, to give a sense of continuity, and
it serves also to act as a foil for the colours. I have
mentioned only one range of graduation ; there are
really several, and if the idea is carefully and cor-
rectly carried out the effect is charming. The diffi-
culties in the way of its success are not to be ignored,
however, and unless one has an intimate knowledge
of the plants it should not be attempted. Moreover,
it cannot be completed in one year's effort, but each
season a careful study of the border will reveal faults
to be rectified when the autumn comes round.

There is, however, a second colour scheme that I
strongly advise, and it is the system of Colour Group-
ing. By this I mean the arranging in distinct groups

39

The Winning Designs

throughout the border such colours as cannot fail to
make a pleasing combination. I will give a few ideas
I have tried with great success. Thalictrum minus,
T. appendiculatum, and, indeed, other varieties of this
useful plant, are of the palest yellow, light and
feathery in appearance, and flower at the same time
as the Delphiniums Belladonna, Persimmon, and other
pale blues. Take this as a keynote for a group, and
you will get an effect that will please everyone who sees
it. In a very long border repeat this at intervals
throughout its length, and vary it sometimes with, say,
a touch of orange in the form of Lilium croceum. Now
you have the skeleton of the border formed (and it is
very easy to find sufficient pale blues and yellows) ;
consider next what colours will be best in association
with these groups. Pink at once suggests itself, and
may be combined with several shades. Pink and
white is delicate and beautiful. Pink and pale (very
pale) yellow are delicious, but the acme of elegance is
achieved in an arrangement of pink and lavender, with
grey foliage interspersed. Now you can join up to
your pink and lavender combinations with some deep
purple and white, then introduce some orange and
gold, then deep blue and cream, or white, and finally
mass your scarlets and crimsons with plenty of green
interspersed. These effects can be repeated ad lib.,
but it is a very long border indeed that requires the
duplication more than once or twice. A word of
advice to those who adopt this idea, or indeed, any
other colour scheme arrangement. Don't attempt it
without a liberal choice of material. Don't attempt
it without the utmost care and consideration being
40

m

4-1

The Winning Designs

given to the colour question. Don't think that your
ideas in the autumn or spring will prove entirely suc-
cessful when the flowering period arrives ; it will take
several years of careful revision to get a correct
arrangement. Don't expect too much the first year.

Now you may argue that any effects so difficult to
obtain, and with the many adverse circumstances aris-
ing in the creation of them, are scarcely worth the
trouble involved. Is anything that is worth anything
obtained in this world without trouble ? I assure you
that having once achieved something in the way of
success in the direction I have endeavoured to point
out, you will lose all appreciation of the heterogeneous
medleys we have become accustomed to under the
designation of " herbaceous borders."

There are other points in the arranging of such a
border to be remembered, and one is its contours.
There should be no rigid lines or rows of any one sub-
ject therein, but throughout the effect must be undu-
lating and broken — to use a simple illustration, it would
be an arrangement of hills and valleys. The colour
is always brought right down to the edge of the border,
and the arrangement of plants is such that frequently
back position colours are seen through light masses
of flower or foliage in the foreground. It is a mistake
to so arrange all the plants that they slope rigidly
down from back to front. Try and get a little of the
bouquet effects into your borders. One other point
and I have done, it is the edge, or front row, planting.
Now this is, in my opinion, the most neglected portion
of the average border, and far too frequently I come
across rich masses of colour in the background whilst

A PAVED WALK IN A SMALL LONDON GARDEN.

A WELL PLANTED WALL GARDEN.

To face page 43.

^Straining after Effect"

the front is composed chiefly of bare patches, leggy
specimens, and dead leaves at the base of the taller
subjects. This is not only unnecessary, it is positively
sinful. There are hundreds of varieties of plants that
can be used for the purpose, the dwarf varieties of
Campanulas, Dianthus, Aubretias, Veronicas, and
many others. Let them grow out from the border on
to the path and so form an irregular line, that should
never be allowed to grow out so far, however, as to
impede free progress down the path.

There is another happy feature in this design that is
worthy of emphasis — viz., that, starting with a site that
is quite level, Mr. Morris (p. 45) creates a variety not
otherwise obtainable by excavating to a depth of
2 feet, and thus creating a sunk lawn. In itself this
is an idea admirable in many ways, especially when
the site is large enough. In such a case, despite the
fact that such a variation of levels is purely artificial
(not always the happiest method of treating a garden) ,
where the lines are simple and well managed the result
would be in no sense that of " straining after effect."
It must be confessed, however, that the effect in this
site would have been better had the garden been 10 feet
wider. Only 2 feet are allowed for a border on the
south side. This is not enough to get away from the
line of the fence. The lawn itself could not be much
less than the 26 feet allowed for it, although it might
be reduced to 24 feet without creating a sense of
contraction. Twenty-four feet would just bring the
centre of the lawn on to that of the dining-room win-
dow, thus 2 feet could be gained for the border. There
is another way in v/hich more could be gained — viz.,

43

The Winning Designs

by eliminating the grass slopes in favour of a little wal
garden, built of stones laid simply in soil, and planted
with suitable trailing and creeping plants. The advan-
tages of this would be that the width occupied by the
slope would become part of the border on the south
side, and could be left as a narrow border on top of
the wall on the north side. I illustrate by a sectional
drawing this alteration.

Not the least of the attractions that would be intro-

SECTION THROUGH " DRY " RETAINING WALL.

duced into the garden scheme by thus sinking the lawn
would be the increased dignity and interest that would
be added to the design by the construction of some
simple steps. Simple stone steps, with careful and
tasteful planting, are amongst the most attractive
features in a garden, always providing they are not
used in such a way that it looks as if they were intro-
duced merely for the sake of having steps.

There are three features in this design that I think

44

V 1— •- 4 *-•— - 1 4 +

^~ i * ! _ ! II

The Winning Designs

should not be adopted without careful thought. The
first is the junction of the pergola to the house. The
idea of focusing the view from the drawing-room win-
dow is in itself good, but to construct a pergola to
cover that window would, I think, be obtaining a desir-
able effect at too great a cost in light and air. There
are many methods of treating this ' ' foreground ' ' in
such a picture that would prove less oppressive in the
general effect, and would answer every purpose ; but
I shall have an opportunity in a later chapter of refer-
ring to this again.

The second feature of doubtful wisdom is the
arrangement of stepping-stones across the lawn. I
hardly think they would add anything of beauty to the
garden. In damp weather there are other dry paths
by which the garden could be crossed, so they are
unnecessary. To introduce them merely for the sake
of having stepping-stones is to depart from that defini-
tion of beauty of Emerson's that I have already quoted,
" which has no superfluous parts, which exactly
answers its end."

My third objection is to the position of the seat near
the road, although in this case there is better means of
seclusion from the road arranged for than in the case
of the one I criticized in Chapter IV. The front gar-
den here is decidedly simple. Most readers will, I
think, prefer something with a little more to interest
visitors approaching the door than a plot of plain grass,
bisected by a paved path, and enclosed by a line of
golden privet. I think even an exceedingly well-
designed house might look better if some little relief
were given in the way of additional vegetation here,

SITE No. 2. — PERSPECTIVE OF

SECOND-PRIZE DESIGN BY I

GRANT BROWN.

To face pa

Clipped Shrubs

and if perchance the house were not all one could
desire it should be, remember that indifferent architec-
ture can sometimes be redeemed from mere ugliness
by good and careful planting, which I believe is an
•apposite quotation from some author whose name I
have forgotten.

In concluding my remarks on this design I feel
constrained to express once more regret that this com-
petitor did not give us a little more information as to
the plants, trees, shrubs, etc., he would use therein.
To emphasize the point that so much of success or
failure depends thereon, I will make use of the words
of a well-known writer on gardens : ' ' Formality is
often essential to the plan of a garden, but never to
the arrangement of its flowers or shrubs."

The perspective drawing showing a design for the
site by Miss I. Grant Brown (G), shows a distinctly
different treatment. The thickly planted border of
shrubs sheltering the garden from the north winds is
an idea that could be adopted in many cases with great
success. Opinions will be divided as to the value of
the standard tree in the foreground, as it must be
remembered that one is looking down the garden from
the house. Moreover, the symmetrical division of the
greatest length of the garden into two equal portions
by the long path, despite the excellent perspective
effect thus obtained, is not an idea that will appeal
to everyone. In small gardens the greatest breadth
of lawn obtainable is usually desirable, and it is well
to avoid accentuating the fact that the plot is long
and narrow. The grouping of shrubs and tall flowers
on each side of the approach to the lower garden

47

The Winning Designs

offers delightful possibilities. In adopting this design i1
would be well to leave out the four clipped shrubs ii

SITE NO. 2. — DESIGN BY H. ROWBOTHAM.

the lower or eastern end. Such things are not goo<
in a new garden. Only under favourable circum-
stances are they happy in an old garden, where

Window Pictures

may look as though grown and trimmed on the spot.
It should be remembered that an evergreen trimmed to
the shape of a bird is quaint and characteristic of a
certain type of old garden but possesses no aesthetic
beauty of its own. Where the lines are so essentially
rigid it would do well to allow a little more freedom to
the vegetation. One other point in which this design
is weak is that it does not keep sufficiently in mind the
views from the window ; at least, there is no deliberate
arrangement of any garden pictures therefrom. The
garden as seen from the drawing-room would be
exactly that seen from the dining-room. It is best to
avoid this if possible to do it without overcrowding.
The garden is often seen more from the windows than
from outside the house, and each window should have
its own little picture.

In this latter respect the plan by Mr. H. Row-
botham is much more successful ; each window has its
separate picture. The principal criticism on this
design at the time it was considered by the judges was
that it was too much cut up, and would in practice have
a somewhat spotty effect. Moreover, the position of
the herb garden so restricts the possibilities of the suc-
cessful development of the front garden 'that it would
have been better left out. The planting of a hedge
round the herb garden, as shown in the plan, would,
moreover, rather spoil the architectural balance of the
house. Another failing that could be easily remedied
in practice is that there are several paths that take one
directly away from the house without giving the oppor-
tunity of going back to it by another way. A path
that ends in itself is always objectionable.

E 49

The Winning Designs

The design by Mr. J. A. Weall is quite distinct, and
possesses certain attractions of its own. Despite the

SITE NO. 2. — DESIGN BY J. A. WEALL.

fact that the site was stated to be level, he introduced
a terrace effect, but omitted to show how this was
to be obtained. It must therefore be assumed that

50

Placing the Pergola

the lawn is intended to be sunk to the depth of about
2 feet, in which case steps would have to be introduced
in places other than those shown. The effect of this
would be to create a garden lacking the essential
repose, as, obviously, if the principal entrance to the
garden was by the central steps, one would have to
go down steps to the lawn, and up a similar number of
steps to get off the lawn again.

Mr. Lawrence Weaver, commenting on this design
in The Garden, admirably summed up its failings in
the following words :

' ' He has utilized the site by making a feature of the
terrace, but does not seem to have considered the
various parts of the garden in relation to the garden
doors of the house. He has ventured upon that very
difficult problem the design of a rock garden, and it
can scarcely be said with any great success. In a
general way it is better not to attempt to combine rock-
work with formal elements like a Rose parterre, as in
this case. Rockwork is much better treated as an
independent item, and altogether screened from the
more regular features of the garden. The placing
of the Rose pergola has also proved somewhat of a
snare. It has its value in dividing the Rose garden
from the herbaceous garden, but it is placed over a
path which does not lead to anywhere in particular.
The pergola should always be regarded as a connect-
ing-link between two definite parts of the garden, and
not as a thing which is justified in its own right
wherever it may be put/'

Another simple but very effective design was the
one sent in by Miss Norah Geddes. Perhaps in

The Winning Designs

many respects this design in the hands of those who
love the cultivation of flowers in preference to the

SITE NO. 2. — DESIGN BY NORAH GEDDES.

calculated niceties of design would prove most suc-
cessful. The effect across the lawn as seen from the
windows would be quite good, and the little orchard

Flowers v. Vegetables

at the end of the garden would, in its season, be quite
as enjoyable as that in the first-prize design. The

jSgiiHr^

SITE NO. 2. — THIRD-PRIZE DESIGN BY HUGH DIXON.

front garden could have been treated much better.
The point, however, in which it fails is in the division
of the areas to be devoted to flowers and kitchen

53

The Winning Designs

garden. Few people living in such a house would be
content to give such a large portion of the ground to
flowers at the expense of early and home-grown
vegetables and salads.

The third-prize design for this site allots about
one-third of the total area to kitchen garden, and that
is probably what would happen in nine out of ten cases.
Beyond the concentration of the flower garden within
the greater length of the area at his disposal, and the
seclusion of the kitchen garden therefrom, it does not
depart far from the elementary lines provided by the
plan of the ground, and therefore the design may be
said to lack imagination. This design also received
notice in The Garden in the following words :

" In the case of Site No. 2 the third prize was won
by Mr. Hugh Dixon. The design is simple and
straightforward, and its chief defect is that the treat-
ment of the lawn bears no very direct relation to the
house. In a garden of this size, moreover, it is very
desirable that the area to be treated should be sub-
divided somewhat by walls, trellises, or hedges, so that
che eye may not take in the whole scheme at one sweep.
There is no more valuable quality in garden designing
than a touch of surprise. The visitor should be led
from one point to another with a sense of expectancy,
but that feeling would not be aroused in the garden
which Mr. Dixon has designed. Criticism may also be
directed to the position of the pergola. This feature
has achieved an immense popularity in English gar-
dens, but its purpose and character are not always well
conceived. It should ideally be used as a connecting-
link between two or more definite points in house or
54

A Misplaced Pergola

garden. It is appropriate, for example, to build a
pergola leading from a house veranda to a summer-
house. In the case of this plan, however, the pergola
occupies a detached position, dividing the two parts
of the kitchen garden and connecting an isolated arch
with a not very attractive shed. Nevertheless, the

SITE NO. 2. — DESIGN BY W. A. WILLS.

competitor has deserved his prize by reason of the
simple and unlaboured way in which he has utilized the
site."

The following comment by Mr. Lawrence Weaver
on the design by Mr. W. A. Wills is also from the
pages of The Garden :

55

The Winning Designs

' We reproduce his perspective sketch of the scheme
as it would be seen from the windows of the principal
rooms. The area is well subdivided without being too
much cut up, and the curved edge at the end of the
lawn, with its Yew arch leading to a pergola, would
make an effective little scheme, the vista being closed
by an octagonal arbour. The kitchen garden is divided
in a practical way, and it is evidently the intention to
divide it from the flower garden by a stout hedge,
though this was not shown on Mr. Wills' plan.

A VARIETY OF THE PURPLE-LEAVED PLUM, PRUNUS
PISSARDII BLIRIEANA FLORE PLENO,

To face page 56-

A WELL-FLOWERED EXAMPLE OF THE JAPANESE SNOWBALL

TREE, VIBURNUM PLICATUM.
(Does not grow too large for the little garden.)

To face page 57

CHAPTER VI

THE WINNING DESIGNS CONSIDERED IN
DETAIL (Continued)

SITE No. 3 : WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON ROCK

GARDENS, FLOWERING SHRUBS, AND WILD

GARDENING FOR SMALL GARDENS

THE site I will now discuss is the third of the series of
the competition, and is larger than any previously dealt
with in these pages. In the first-prize design Miss I.
Grant Brown starts right from the entrance-gate with
some well-considered effects. The most conspicuous
feature on the plan is the approach to the front door.
At first glance one would gather that Miss Brown
intended this for a drive, with a carriage turn at the
end thereof. The width given, a little over 10 feet,
is, however, hardly enough for this, and the question
may arise, Of what use is the broad expanse of gravel
opposite the door, as it is too small for a turn ? I
should like to point out, however, that the actual area
covered is only 20 feet by 16 feet, and that it would
not look nearly so large in practice as it does in the
plan. I like the idea of this breathing-space when one
enters or leaves the house. Perhaps nothing would
be lost, however, by restricting the length and width
somewhat, and this could be achieved by carrying on
the front line of the border on the right-hand side. As

57

The Winning Designs

arranged in plan, it would certainly be very narrow at
a point where a little extra density of screen from the
property on the other side of the fence might prove
desirable. To those who prefer a narrow pathway I
suggest that a 5 or 6 feet wide central path, with grass
on either side, would look well. That the arrangement
is simple and direct is obvious ; whether it would prove
interesting or dull depends to a very great extent on
the shrubs used on either side. These should be prin-
cipally of a flowering nature, combined with foliage
effects, and including some of the winter berrying
shrubs. Happily there is no difficulty in finding every-
thing that can be desired in this respect nowadays, and
I will mention a few that are suitable. Amongst the
earlier flowering are the Forsythias and Prunus. I
should certainly plant Prunus sinensis roseo plena,
and also the double white form, albo plena. Prunus
Blirieana flare plena, with its semi-double pale rose-
pink flowers, is delightful in spring, and the rich purple
colouring of its foliage makes it of double value, as it is
useful all the summer and autumn. Then there are
the double Cherries, of which Prunus Cerasus pseudo-
cerasus James H. Veitch is one of the best,
Watereri and Hisakura are also very beautiful.
The Cherries, too, have an additional value in the
autumn, when their foliage ripens to all sorts of glorious
tints. Other flowering shrubs that no one should
leave out of such a border are the Almonds. The
common almond, Prunus Amygdalus, will light up
a whole garden in the early spring with its soft pink
flowers, and there is a deeper coloured species,
Amygdalus davidiana, that will flower as early as

58

Autumn Tints and Berries

January in favoured districts, and is equally beautiful.
Perhaps the most attractive, however, is Prunus
Persica, the flowering peach, particularly the
variety Clara Meyer. I do not know of anything
to rival this shrub for exquisite and abundant colour
in such a border. It bursts into flower whilst yet
many of its deciduous companions surrounding it are
just unfolding their soft green leaves, and in such an
association has that ' ' too good to be real ' ' appear-
ance that is often experienced by garden lovers in these
early days of the year, when every day some new
beauty unfolds itself to our pleasure. Berberis, too,
must be included, and B. Wilsonse of them all should
never be omitted. I do not know which phase of this
exquisite shrub I like best — its yellow flowering period ;
the early days when last year's foliage has fallen and
the tiny new leaves take their place (it is almost an
evergreen), for in these early days the foliage bears
all sorts of soft and beautiful tints ; then all through
the summer the long, elegant branches arch and inter-
lace, and it is one of those shrubs that even in its
greenest period never looks ' ' heavy ' ' ; but I think I
like it best of all in the autumn and winter, when it
smothers itself with cream-coloured berries that gradu-
ally blush to softest pink, and finally attain a brilliant
hue of coral. There are many other Berberis, some
larger in growth, some evergreen, some deciduous,
large leaved varieties, and small. Of all the evergreen
forms I have yet to find one that surpasses the old
B. Darwmii in the rich glow of its orange flowers,
unless perhaps B. sienophylla may be said to do so by
virtue of its more graceful habit of growth. For an

59

The Winning Designs

autumn effect that is unequalled by any shrub I know,
and than which I desire nothing better, give me the
now common B. Thunbergii. It is beautiful in spring,
and without a rival in the autumn glow of crimson and
orange, scarlet and gold, cream, ruby, and pink. It
is one of those shrubs that irresistibly remind one of
a glorious sunset. It is not new, or scarce, or expen-
sive, or even difficult to grow anywhere, but it is good.

Then, if I were planting such a border for myself,
I should want some Cotoneasters for their winter berry,
Cistus for their summer flower, and Cornus that I could
cut down to the ground each spring that I might enjoy
the glow of their crimson bark all the following winter.
I should want Ceanothus Gloire de Versailles for its
lavender-blue, Marie Simon for its pink, and Indigo
for its intensely deep blue flowers. Some Brooms,
too, I would put in — Cytisus praecox certainly, and
perhaps if I had room C. nigricans Carlieri, because it
flowers in the late summer and autumn. The front
edges should be carpeted with Ericas that would serve
effectually to separate the gravel from the borders.
The pink winter flowering heather, Erica carnea,
should be one of them, and several of the Erica vul-
garis forms, particularly cuprea and aurea, which are
beautiful all the year round. I should also want some
of the dwarf " Mock Orange," or Syringas — Fantasie
with its soft blush tint, and Rosace for its glorious
white rose-like flowers.

These are only a few, but there are many others if
one had room for them, and if they were properly used
the approach to the front door would never be with-
out interest ; and if my visitors remarked on the lack

60

A Flower Garden Parterre

of imagination displayed in the lines of the path I
should lay the blame on the architect, who placed the
entrance-gate at the nearest possible point to the front
door, perhaps not a bad fault either.

On entering the gate Miss Brown has arranged an
attractive perspective towards the southern end by
introducing a path that eventually leads naturally to
the other side of the house, and is planted on one side
by a very serviceable herbaceous border, opposite
which is the kitchen garden, admirably arranged for
convenience to the kitchen. An edging of some sort
to the vegetable plot is suggested in the plan, and I
think this could be of nothing better than Lavender.
This would serve to give balance to the view, and form
altogether a pretty picture from a point just inside the
entrance-gate.

The placing of the little frame yard in such a posi-
tion that it is out of sight from every point in the
garden that matters, and the suggestion for screening
it from view by a short length of hedge, is to be com-
mended as one of those happy thoughts that appear
to be so unimportant in practice, but which often make
or mar a small garden scheme. Then the view from
the eastern dining-room window, down the path
between fruit-trees (dwarf or bush fruit-trees would be
best here) towards the herbaceous border, would be
quite pleasant. That from the southern window is
not quite so happy, and I think some more interesting
termination than a blank hedge could have been devised
here. Of course, one is restricted by circumstances,
and in this case the view was subordinated to the
development of the flower garden parterre, quite an

61

The Winning Designs

62

Fragrance and Colour

interesting and pleasant arrangement in itself, and
which is designed with commendable appreciation of
the fitness of things on an axis passing through the
covered veranda. If this were mine I should like the
beds filled with the best hybrid Tea Roses, because of
their long flowering period, edged with Violas, whilst
the surrounding borders should be of fragrant flowers,
some perennial, some annual, amongst these latter
being Mignonette, Tobacco-plant, and the Night-
scented stock (Matthiola tristis) .* Of course, amongst
the perennials the Madonna Lilies would have a place,
as would also the lemon Verbena (Aloysia citriodora),
and an edging of Pinks all round would give definition
to the lines, provide fragrance during the flowering
season, and the cool grey foliage would be a useful
foil for other plants all the year round. This com-
petitor has utilized the fall in the ground from east to
west by levelling out the western end, and thus creating
a terrace to the house, with some broad central steps
descending to the lawn, and the whole idea of this is
thoroughly well conceived. It is a question for the
reader who wishes to adopt this idea to decide whether
or no the use of paving is a little too lavish. As a
guide to those who contemplate such a feature I will
suggest that in few places would it be achieved at an
expenditure of less than £55 ; in some districts it would
be more. It must, however, be remembered that, on
the whole, this design would prove comparatively inex-
pensive in the carrying out. Below the terrace Miss

* Matthiola bicornis is the name under which this delightful
little plant is offered by the seed merchants.

63

The Winning Designs

Brown surrendered unconditionally to the existing cir-
cumstances, and I think the general impression will be
that, despite the attraction of a shady walk round
under the fruit-trees, there are many ways in which
this area could have been utilized with results more
satisfactory to the garden lover generally, and into
which the fruit-trees could have been introduced quite
successfully. Of course, even arranged as shown in
the plan, a really gorgeous effect might be obtained
during April and May by lavishly planting Darwin and
cottage Tulips amongst the fruit-trees.

It is perhaps a little curious that Mr. Kenneth
Dalgliesh (p. 73) should have developed a design in so
many respects similar to that just described. In this
case ample — indeed, excessive — width is allowed for a
drive approach to the front door ; but it is impossible
to achieve any arrangement whereby room could be
allowed for a carriage or motor-car to turn without
great trouble, and inasmuch as there is no provision
made for keeping even a pony on the premises, the
drive seems a little pretentious. Certainly this entrance
offers far less possibility for interesting planting than
Miss Brown's. Mr. Dalgliesh spends a considerable
amount of the money allowed in the conditions of the
competition in erecting a potting-shed that would be
hardly necessary to carry out the work of potting
plants, etc., in a garden in which the total area allotted
to glass structure is 15 feet by 8 feet. The screen of
fruit-trees on the road side is a good idea. I like the
little sunk rose garden, the result of fully appreciating
the slope in the ground, which all competitors did not
do, and its surroundings of trim hedges and herbaceous

Use of Ornaments

borders are quite in keeping with the position thereof.
The well-head is perhaps an extravagance that could
be left out, or have something more typically English
in its place. The use of elaborate well-heads in such
small gardens is to be deprecated, because they intro-
duce a note of opulence that the circumstances do not
warrant, and as such are a little liable to create an
effect of ostentatious display by using garden ornament
for the sake of the ornament itself rather than for its
desirability. A simply designed lead or stone vase
filled with suitable vegetation would be far happier,
and certainly more in hajcmony with its environments.
On the whole, this design must be characterized as an
architect's garden. Not that this is by any means a
fault, but just imagine it without its built effects and it
will be seen at a glance that little is left. Such a
design in the hands of a skilful gardener could un-
doubtedly be made very charming indeed. There
would appear to be rather a lavish provision for seats —
two open air, one garden house, and a veranda in
about 300 yards, although seats in a garden of even
small dimensions are always desirable. It was per-
mitted that competitors should introduce a tennis-court
in this design, and Mr. Dalgliesh has done so in the
only possible position. It is true that in doing so he
has sacrificed all opportunity of doing anything in the
nature of gardening on the eastern side of the house,
but that is a fault of the site that he could not over-
come. Most people would wish for a tennis-court in
such a garden, and in this respect tennis is sometimes
like new-laid eggs, and the choice is between a tennis-
court (or fowls) and a garden. One thing is certainly
F 65 '

The Winning Designs

achieved in this design, and that is facile connection
by dry paths, that are not too obtrusive, between all
parts.

In the design by Mr. Ernest Biggs (p. 72) we come
at once upon an appreciation of the seclusion a garden
should afford. He starts by creating a sense of pleasant
isolation from the outside world by planting a screen of
vegetation — trees, shrubs, etc. — right round the site,
and if I interpret the lines on his plan aright, he would
achieve some highly desirable effects by his arrange-
ment, for he does not lay down the gospel of straight
lines quite so ardently as is done in some cases. An
irregular outline to shrubbery planting is often desir-
able, and an isolated tree or shrub, as it were casually
breaking away from the actual border into the lawn,
is often picturesque. It also tends to eradicate the
sense of being bounded on four sides by fences that
seem always too near one. If Mr. Dalgliesh in his
design produces effects that can be described as ambi-
tiously formal, Mr. Biggs displays distinct aspirations
in the direction of what is sometimes erroneously
described as natural gardening. I cannot say the
result in this case is generally very happy, and in the
end evidently Mr. Biggs realized this too, the result
being that he has produced a plan that is too much
cut up by paths, most of which lead in the same direc-
tion without producing anywhere a really interesting
perspective. If Rhododendrons are wanted — and they
are, as a rule, I think — the rectangular bed opposite the
dining-room window is the last place I should suggest
for them. If they did well they would grow, and if
they grew, within a year or two there would be a blank

66

Value of Curved Paths

green wall of foliage pressing towards the window
that would be inexpressibly dull ten months in the
year. Of course, soil that grows Rhododendrons well
will also grow many Lilies perfectly, and by planting
such varieties as Lilium speciosum roseum and vubmm,
Lilium auratum platyphyllum, Lilium Hansoni, Lilium
Regale, the bed would be more attractive during the
late summer and early autumn, but I do not think it
could ever achieve success.

This design provides for an entrance quite distinct
from any other in that it aims at creating an approach
to the front door in such a way that the latter will be
invisible from the road. This idea has many points in
its favour, and the arrangement of shrubs on both sides
is distinctly good. These little curves in paths may
not always seem quite pleasant to everyone, but they
do succeed in giving a sense of seclusion to the garden,
even while one is standing on the doorstep, that is often
unobtainable without them. One great fault in the
design is that in no single instance does it respect the
views from the various windows, and therefore cannot
be said to have been developed with a full sense of its
relation to the house. One feature that forms part of
the design is a rock garden, and as this appears in
exactly the same position in a design by Mr. Thornton
Sharp I think the suitability of such an introduction
is worth discussing.

I have expressed myself so frequently in the columns
of The Garden, and elsewhere, on the subject of rock
gardens and their place in garden schemes that it is
possible many readers will be familiar with my opinions
thereon. If so, they will quickly come to the con-

The Winning Designs

elusion that a rectangular plot of land with an area of
about 100 square feet does not offer much that is
desirable for such a feature. Broadly speaking, there
are two distinct types of rock garden. The one,
designed to reproduce in miniature those ruggedly
picturesque effects that one sees in naturally rocky
lands in such a way that each craggy prominence shall
carry the mind to that ' ' vaster multitude of moun-
tains/* and which shall reconstruct a picturesque com-
bination of rock and plant life within the area at one's
disposal in a way that, although the art employed is
purely imitative, the results shall be so accurate in
their accomplishment that they shall give the impres-
sion of being realistic parts of some greater whole.
Nor is this desire to bring within the confines of our
own garden plot little pictures of the great natural
facts to be deprecated because it is imitative. There
is no real beauty in anything that does not mirror
Nature. ' That beauty is the normal state is shown
by the perpetual effort of Nature to attain it," wrote
Emerson. I have spoken of this work as an "art,"
well knowing that exception will be taken to the use of
the word in such an association. But it is an art, as
is every genuine effort that fulfils this condition ;
1 ' whatever is great in human art is the expression of
man's delight in God's work. ' ' Robbed of this aspira-
tion after the realistic imitation of natural effects, the
rock garden is without meaning or real beauty. It
has no other excuse fdr existence than that it shall be
to that ' ' vaster multitude of mountains ' ' what the
dainty miniature is to the larger epic painting. One
choice little bit, selected and skilfully arranged with
68

A Little Rock Garden

fidelity to natural laws, and its aim is achieved. This
can be done equally well with a dozen stones as with a
thousand tons. In fact, three stones casually dis-
posed in an odd corner of the garden, lying, perchance,
in a bed of Heather, and sheltering in their well-worn
crevices the right vegetation, the plants that would
grow there naturally, can be more eloquent in their
appeal to our true sympathy with the beautiful in
Nature than a lavish expenditure on stone and labour
usually succeeds in being, where the aim is to have a
rock garden because it is fashionable, and for that
reason only.

And this can be achieved in a garden of any size,
but it will not be by measuring off a square plot and
dumping a few loads of burr bricks and ancient con-
crete thereon, amongst which many plants will linger
on a miserable existence which is merely a procrastina-
tion of death.

If the reader wishes to attempt something of the
nature I have described it will be best done in a corner
rather removed from the house, so that those more
formal lines that must of necessity remain in conjunc-
tion therewith may be gradually softened a little into
some more informal arrangement. I illustrate one
simple method whereby a delightfully realistic result
can be obtained.

It consists in hollowing out an area just on the corner
of two paths, and descending by two or three shallow
rock steps into a miniature ravine. The earth so
removed is disposed irregularly on either side, and the
stone is made to appear as though it occurred natur-
ally on the site, but that a track had been made through

The Winning Designs

"fWi ift^foSs

70

Proportion in Planting

it. By skilful planting this can be so arranged that
it will not be obtrusively visible from any other portion
of the grounds, and will, moreover, afford a happy
home for many charming little alpine plants, both for
dry and sunny or low-lying damp situations. There
are no piled up banks of stone therein, and, indeed,
the quantity of stone used should be reduced to a
minimum, but the rock that is used should possess
something that is attractive and picturesque in itself.
I do not mean by this that it should be brilliantly
coloured, or that white spar, or marble, is suitable,
but that it should be natural rock, that shows signs of
Nature's work thereon in the form of mossy growth,
crevices, and crannies that have been produced by
weather action. Then the plants must be selected with
due regard to the size of the undertaking. If it is
very small only the tiniest of alpine plants and shrubs
should be used. There must, indeed, be throughout
a sense of proportion. The plants, however, should
all be of the class that are associated with rocky land.
In commencing these remarks on the rock garden I
said there were two distinct types ; as a matter of fact
the second I am going to describe hardly answers that
description, as it is merely a certain area devoted to
the cultivation of alpine or rock plants. That is to
say, that it aims at being nothing more than a collec-
tion of alpine plants in which such stone as is used plays
quite a secondary part. In the construction of the ideal
rock garden the stone is just as important a factor as
the plants, and it is the two combined that form the
pigments wherewith to paint the picture. In this
cultivator's garden stone is hardly necessary at all

71

The Winning Designs

SITE NO. 3. — DESIGNED BY ERNEST BIGGS.

SITE NO. 3. — DESIGNED BY THORNTON SHARP.

The Winning Designs

! l

1

3

73

The Winning Designs

except for the drainage or shelter it affords. No har-
mony of association is aimed at, merely the growing of
a good plant ; whether it is worth doing or not depends
largely on the keenness of the owner of the garden.
To me, the plants robbed of their picturesque associa-
tions lose half their charm, but I can well conceive that

SITE NO. 3. — THIRD-PRIZE DESIGN BY KENNETH DALGLIESH.

many people find pleasure in contemplating Saxifmga
Boydii in a pot. I have even done so myself, until
the memory of it growing on the ledge in a rock garden
made of old grey limestone arose to chill my apprecia-
tion. Nevertheless, the cultivation of rock plants for
the sake of the plant itself is just as legitimate a garden
pursuit as growing giant Cabbages. It can be effected
74

A Good Compromise

in any part of the garden with equally good results,
provided it is not allowed to curtail the enjoyment of
the garden as a whole by intruding itself on effects
designed to give pleasure to all who frequent it.

PERSPECTIVE VIEW BY K. DALGLIESH.

The second prize for a design for site No. 3 was won
by Miss Leonard, of Massachusetts. Of this design
Mr. Lawrence Weaver wrote :

We also illustrate the second prize design sub-

75

The Winning Designs

mitted by Miss Leonard (of Cambridge, Massachu-
setts) for Site No. 3. This is well and practically
conceived, like all the plans which Miss Leonard sub-
mitted, and the judges would have been able to give
a higher award but for the unfortunate position
accorded to the practical feature of a drying-yard.
In her design this is placed adjoining a road, and with-
out anything to screen it from the public. Had it been
cut off by a substantial trellis there would have been no
objection to this position, as a Grape-vine trellis and
pergola screen it quite satisfactorily from the main
entrance. It may well be that in the United States
there is less squeamishness about the display of drying
linen, but it would not be popular in this country. The
vegetable garden and the flower garden are both prac-
tically conceived, and the lawn, dotted with apple-
trees and Red Oaks, would be a very friendly place in
which to sit. This design shows a good compromise
between the modern demand for rigid formality and the
more haphazard disposition of features which makes
the charm of so many old gardens."

In many respects Miss Leonard's plan exhibits a
clearer grasp of the real aims of garden design than
those of most other competitors, and to anyone who
does not wish for a tennis-court, and desires to get
away somewhat from the extreme rigidity of geometri-
cal developments, I strongly recommend a study of
this plan. Omitting the single feature of the drying-
yard there is really little in it upon which to offer criti-
cism. Each principal window has its studied view,
each path offers facile connection with another, so that
it is easy to reach any desired point directly. The

An Orchard Lawn

77

The Winning Designs

-

paths are not in themselves obtrusive, but are intro-
duced because they are requisite. The grouping of
the various trees and plants is devised with a sym-
pathetic interest in their harmony of association and a
consideration for future developments. I like the idea
of the entrance screening the view to the front door,
and also the little forecourt surrounded by a neat Box
hedge. I like, too, the idea of the Elm-tree, shadowed
somewhat under the branches of which the forecourt
would appear doubly inviting. Adequate seclusion is
provided everywhere, the seclusion of which one writer
has said : ' ' The garden was a place apart from the
world, where men could rest and take their ease in
quiet surroundings, the spot dedicated to wholesome
relaxation, in which the worker could for a while forget
his cares and renew his energies. Its privacy was one
of its greatest charms." And also another : " A still,
removed place hidden from the day's garish eye,
sacred to tranquillity, retirement, and repose." Per-
haps most of all I like the lawn with its informal group-
ings of trees, its Vines, Lilac, Halesia, and its slight
undulations and slopes, that bring forcibly to one's
mind the exquisite picture conjured up by Tennyson :

" A realm of pleasure, many a mound, and many a shadow-
chequered lawn, full of the city's stilly sound."

There are many other attractions in this and other
designs, but I think that this orchard lawn is the place
to which I should wander, whilst the dewdrops yet
sparkled in the grass, for the morning breath of air ;
again in the heat of noontide, when the shadows would
be infinitely pleasant ; and yet again at eventide, when

A GROUP OF THE COMMON SNOWDROP (GALANTHUS NIVALIS) GROWING
IN GRASS, WITH IVY IN THE BACKGROUND.

To face page 78.

THE HERBACEOUS LUPINE (LUPINUS POLYPHYLLUS).
This is one of our best hardy flowers.

To face page 79.

Shade and Colour

its mere freedom from geometrical pattern and its
simple unpretentiousness would diffuse a feeling of calm
and unf retted repose. Nor need such a spot be devoid
of all garden effects, but they must be of the nature of
wild gardening, and subdued to the informality of the
surroundings generally. This little recess, with care-
ful planting out of the surroundings, could have all the
effects of a grassy glade in some larger woodland, and
in the sequence of the seasons could be rendered
especially delightful as a wild garden. In the shade of
the trees Polyanthus, Primroses, Anemones (apennina
and blanda), Daffodils, Snowdrops, Scillas, Winter
Aconite would revel ; and between them, in bold mass,
they could be succeeded by Lupins, Delphiniums,
Mulliens, Foxgloves, Lily of the valley, Violets, and so
on throughout the year ; even in cold December the
Hellebores and some of the smaller berried shrubs could
make such a garden interesting and pleasant.

In concluding my remarks on the designs sent in
for No. 3 site, I should like to point out, for those who
desire it, that Mr. Thornton Sharp's (p. 72) offers the
absolute minimum of complexity in its general arrange-
ment. It would not produce much in the way of
aesthetic effect, but to the man who just wants to keep
the garden tidy, grow a few flowers, as many vege-
tables as possible, and play tennis, it is to be com-
mended. It is the least expensive to carry into effect,
and the most economical to maintain. It would not
by any means afford all the pleasures a garden should
do, but for a busy bachelor who spends little time at
home, and just wants healthy exercise when he is there,
the scheme is ideal.

79

CHAPTER VII

THE WINNING DESIGNS CONSIDERED IN
DETAIL (Continued)

SITE No. 4 : WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON
WATER GARDENING FOR SMALL GARDENS

So much ground has already been covered by con-
sidering other designs, and the comments thereon are
equally applicable to those sent in for this site, that it
is hardly necessary to analyze the latter quite so
closely. There are, however, in them one or two
features that call for special commendation, and a few
for criticism. The first-prize design for this site, that
by Mr. John Hatton, is in many respects very good
indeed. The entrance drive fails in that it is too small
to achieve its purpose, although a small pony-cart
might be turned in the forecourt without much diffi-
culty. The orchard is well placed, and could be made
to afford much pleasure in the way I have already
described in Chapter VI. The vegetable garden
should be quite successful, as should also the little
Rose garden. With regard to this latter, however, I
think it would be more successful if it were less a paved,
and more a Rose garden. An excessive predomination
of paved area in the Rose garden, or indeed in any
other, is always objectionable, as it creates a hardness
of effect that completely annuls the beauty of roses.
Pave by all means as much as is necessary, but at the
80

Un desira ble Triangles

same time devise some means of introducing enough
grass to soften the effects of the stone. In this design
it could have been done quite successfully by paving
the path between the Rose-beds and the herbaceous
borders, and along the northern end, leaving the
remainder in grass. The tennis-lawn is well placed,
and there could have been no better position
allotted for the rock garden than in the angle
at the entreme southern end. The views from
the windows are generally carefully studied, although
I might point out that providing window pic-
tures does not always mean creating a view down a
straight path. The hardy plant border, with flower-
ing shrubs at intervals, offers a fine perspective from
either end. The circle terminating the pergola might
have been better arranged, and I hardly think it was
necessary to make a sort of cross of this path. The
little dead ends of path sticking into the border would
make odd and ugly little angles that, however success-
fully they might be planted, would remain — ugly. The
pergola here is as well placed as a pergola can be in
such a garden. The design fails, however, in the
division of the triangular plot into its component parts,
beds, borders, etc., in that it divides one large triangle
into a number of smaller ones. Of all the shapes that
can be given to flower beds, borders, or any other
planting area the triangle is the worst. Its acute
angles are never tidy, and the tapering points are never
properly filled with plants." Either the plants that are
placed therein ramble in an untidy fashion over the
paths, because the beds are too narrow at that par-
ticular point to contain them, or to avoid this the points
G 81

The Winning Designs

are left quite bare, and remain a permanent source of
irritation to all who see them, and particularly the
gardener.

R 0 AD

SITE NO 4. — SECOND-PRIZE DESIGN BY ISOBEL HARDING.

The second and third prize designs for this site
received full notice in The Garden from Mr. Lawrence
Weaver, who wrote of them :

82

A Summer-House

" Miss Isobel Harding secured the second prize for
Site No. 4 with a well-thought-out scheme, which suc-
cessfully avoided the difficulties of the triangular space

SITE NO. 4. — THIRD-PRIZE DESIGN BY A. TROYTE GRIFFITH.

south of the main front. From the garden door to the
drawing-room there would be a pretty prospect across
the sunk garden to the thatched summer-house. From

83

The Thinning Designs

the dining-room a pretty outlook is given into the little
Yew-hedged garden with a semi-circular end. The
standard Apple-trees to the north of this little spot form
a good screen between the pleasure garden and the
kitchen garden, and also shut off the business corner
of the garden devoted to greenhouse and potting-shed.
The Mountain Ash trees between the main entrance
from the road and the trades entrance would also form
a satisfactory screen, and the servants' little garden is
pleasantly disposed to give an outlook from the kitchen
window. The entrance court is neatly managed, with
a Rose garden to the north-west of it and a sundial and
seat on the axial line of the entrance door of the house.
The south corner is also well contrived, and the chief
defect of the scheme is the provision of the long ser-
vice path along the south-east boundary which borders
on a road. This would give to the passer-by an
unattractive impression of the whole garden, and would
be uninteresting from within.

" The third prize for Site No. 4 was awarded to Mr.
A. Troyte Griffith. The little hedged entrance court
is distinctly successful, with its trees and spring garden
on the west side. The tennis lawn is placed north and
south, and the south angle of the site is well employed
as a little pool garden where water plants could seek
hospitality. The best feature o£^es^cheme^is the
very charming view which can be ge^HFrom the paved
space on the west side of the house looking through
Yew hedges southwards under the pergola to the
octagonal garden-house. The terrace on the south
side of the house with its semi-circular treatment is a
good feature, but Mr. Griffith has rather tripped over

Lily Pools

the treatment of the triangular space between this ter-
race and the pergola. The diamond beds would look
rather tiresome, but this is the most serious defect in
the plan. A separate little Rose garden with a back-
ing of fruit-trees is seen from the dining-room. The
kitchen garden in the north-east corner would be better
for some more definite screen. The servants' little
garden opposite the kitchen window, with its grass plot
and herb border screened from the road and trades
entrance by a Laurel hedge, is happily arranged. A
defect of the design is that Mr. Griffith does not show
at what lines he proposes to vary the levels, an inevit-
able arrangement in a site described as sloping 5 feet
from north to south. "

One feature that appears in both Mr. Hatton's and
Mr. Troyte Griffith's design is a pool. Considering
that it was stated that there was supposed to be a
slope in the land from north to south of 5 feet, which
inevitably involved a certain amount cf excavation, I
think it somewhat remarkable that no one introduced
a Lily pool of more formal type. I can imagine no
more desirable adjunct to such gardens than a formal
pool, simple in outline, and devoted to the culture of a
few of the delightful Nymphaes and other water plants
that are offered on every side to-day. No great cul-
tural experience is necessary. Few are the difficulties
that have to be overcome. Everywhere and anywhere
in the garden where there is sunlight is the right place
for such a feature ; some, of course, are better than
others. A pool 3 feet across is large enough, and
30 feet not too large. A simple circular pool in the
centre of a lawn with nothing of stone or other

85

The Winning Designs

coping round it, and the grass growing right to the
edge of the water can be made to give charming
effects ; or, treated a little more architecturally, it can
form the centre to the Rose garden or the terminal to a
walk between herbaceous borders. If other means
fail, Water-Lilies can be quite successfully grown, as
illustrated on page 98, although this method is
more suitable for the tiny cottage garden. Water in
the garden in any form is always an added delight, and
there is now such a variety of plants suitable to grow

^>*^»v'-^"™^ "if?:..-.;::.;"

therein at the command of a few shillings, that no one
need be without them on the score of expense. The
initial outlay of preparing a home for aquatic plants is
perhaps a little greater than in some other gardening
pursuits, as water has to be retained, and is better laid
on to the pool, so that the turning of a tap will keep
the water pure and sweet. I give an illustration of
how a lily pool of any dimensions can be constructed,
the water turned on and the pool emptied with the least
possible trouble. Amongst the plants that could be
grown in such a pool are, of course, the Water-Lilies,
86

Making a Lily Pool

87

The Winning Designs

and as such pools will probably be rather shallow
(2 feet 6 inches deep is enough) I will give the names
of a few suitable sorts. Nymphea Laydekeri fulgens
is one of the best of the small growing crimsons, almost
a blood crimson too ; N. atropurpurea, too, is a fine
crimson purple. N. Wm. Falconer and N. Froebeli
are also both very telling crimson varieties. Amongst
the pinks are James Brydon, rose ; W. B. Shaw, rose
pink ; Luciana, a quite brilliant rose ; and Laydekeri
rosea, a pretty pink that deepens in colour with age.
Of yellows, one should have one or more of the
following, N. odorata sulphurea, a pale yellow, its
larger-flowered deeper-coloured companion, O. sul-
phurea grandiflora, which as it grows older becomes
shaded with salmon, or Marliacea chromatella, prim-
rose yellow. White varieties are plentiful, but for the
small garden N. odorata is one of the best. It is pure
white with yellow stamens, and has a delightful vanilla
fragrance. In such pools, too, I should also plant
at least one water Hawthorn because of its delicious
odour every morning from early spring to late autumn.
A few water Reeds and Rushes at the edges of such
pools serve to relieve the monotony of outline. Typha
stenophylla is one of the best, and Acorus japonicus
fol. var. will grow on the edge, or just in the water
in a pot ; and there are many plants that can be grown
in pots standing in the water, like the flowering Rush,
Butomus umbellatus, or the Porcupine Rush, Scirpiis
Tabernsemontani zebnnus.

Of course, with everyone who fully appreciates the
beauty of water gardens, the mind turns easily to the

88

Stream and Pond Gardens

natural plantings of streamside, lake, and pond, and if
the possessor of the small garden is fortunate enough
to have a little stream running through, or at the end
of the site, much pleasure can be derived therefrom.
Such cases are, however, rare, and the inclination is
always to endeavour to make such artificial pools as
the area will accommodate to look as natural as pos-
sible. This can be done either in association with the
rock garden, or as a simple pond in the portion of the
grounds that are treated more freely as wild gardens.
The average production is, however, rarely a very
happy-looking concern, because insufficient care is
taken to obliterate the necessary constructional work.
A very natural-looking pool can be made, however, if
the work is carefully carried out, and the owner does
not object to moving more soil than is usually done.
With regard to the shape little need be said, as this
will depend on the individual taste of the owner. It
should, however, be remembered that tortuous, or
erratic, lines are not necessarily natural, and that here,
as elsewhere, the keynote of success is simplicity.

The principal difficulty in making artificial pools
look natural is in hiding the cement edge, but this can
be overcome if the following instructions are carefully
adhered to, and it is indeed unnecessary that the
minutest particle of cement be seen. Excavate the
pool in such a way that the earth all round will slope
down to the water level. This is imperative for many
reasons, not the least being that such a pool in Nature
would usually be found at the lowest level of the ground.
The depth of the actual excavation of the pool should

The Winning Designs

not be much less than 2^ feet — 3 feet is best. It
should be remembered that the principal charm of such
a pool is the marginal planting of moisture-loving vege-
tation. This can only be achieved by arranging a
margin that is permanently moist, and the pool must
therefore be excavated sufficiently wide to allow for
this margin. If, for instance, a water area 15 feet
wide is desired the excavation will need to be 20 feet ;
this will allow 6 inches on each side for concrete, and
a 2-feet space all round for moist borders. Having

SECTION SHOWING CONSTRUCTION OF STREAM OR POND.

made the excavation, the whole should be concreted
as shown in the sectional drawing through such a
pond.

First the outer walls and bottom, then the inner
walls, 6 to 9 inches lower in small pools, lower still in
the case of large ones. The outer concrete must be
impervious to moisture, the inner need be only lightly
constructed, as it has only to hold up the soil in the
moist margins. It can be built in rough stone if
desired, but brick or cement answers the purpose quite
as well. Chambers should be built on the bottom for
Water Lilies and other true aquatics. The water must
be kept at such a level that it is always above the inner

90

I

Planting a Stream Garden

wall, and a few inches below the outer. By this means
the whole margin of the pool will always be in the same
moist condition as that of a natural pool, and it will be
seen from the section I give that the earth slopes down
naturally from the surrounding garden right to the
water's edge, and that whereas it is the outer wall that
actually retains the water, it is quite covered with soil
and vegetation, and that the inner wall, being below
the water level, and also covered with soil and plants,
is never seen.

Nothing in the way of water gardening is impossible
in such a pond. There will be shallow water along the
edge for such plants as love to grow with their roots
submerged a few inches. Such are the Arrow Heads
(Sagittaria), Water Musk, of which there are several
beautiful varieties, in addition to the yellow Mimulus
luteus, Mimulus luteus maculosis, and other species
and varieties, M. cupreus brilliant being amongst the
best. The water forget-me-not, Myosotis palustris
semper flor ens , and several varieties thereof, will revel
in such conditions. Then there are the smaller grow-
ing Reeds and Rushes, Scirpus, Typhas, Carex,
Cyperus, the moisture-loving Irises, such as Cupreus,
Fcetodissima, and higher up the banks Astilbes,
Spirzeas, Eulalias, and many similar plants. It will
be found, too, that by the arrangement I have described
the earth behind the outer wall will also be kept more
or less damp by capillary attraction, and the planting
can therefore be carried several feet back from the
water's edge with the right vegetation for a pond
margin.

The Winning Designs

One more word of advice to complete the picture.
The grass should be allowed to grow right down to
the water's edge at some points, and a pretty idea can
be borrowed from the Japanese ' ' Viewing-stone " by
placing a broad flat stone near the water's edge where
the earth would be too wet to stand, so that the water
garden can be seen from the inside as well .

92

CHAPTER VIII

TWO -COTTAGE GARDENS, WITH PLANTING

I PLANS AND INSTRUCTION FOR GROWING
WATER-LILIES IN TUBS
HERE is a still smaller garden than those dealt with
in the previous chapter — viz., that usually accompany-
ing semi-detached cottages. In response to several
inquiries the Editor of The Garden some time since
asked me to suggest designs for planning and planting
them. Two typical and existing sites were taken and
distinct designs furnished for each. These gardens,
it should be understood, are only 25 feet wide, so that
every inch of space is valuable. The plans, and the
notes thereon that appeared with them, are now repro-
duced.

HINTS FOR DESIGNING VERY SMALL GARDENS

It has been suggested to us that plans for laying out
very small gardens belonging to semi-detached cot-
tages would be useful, and we have therefore asked
Mr. Dillistone, who, of course, is generally occupied
with much larger designs, to furnish the following :

A question often asked is, " What can be done with
a garden about 60 feet or 70 feet long and 25 feet or
30 feet wide ?" — such gardens, in fact, as are provided
with the usual semi-detached suburban villa. Quoting
from a letter recently received, " Now this is the most

93

9 ^
I' I

Ferns and Lilies

miserable garden to tackle." It is a fact that the con-
ditions are not inspiring, and that gardening effort
usually begins and ends with digging a narrow border
round the outer bounds and maintaining a more or less
unsatisfactory plot of grass in the middle. In present-
ing to readers the accompanying plan for two such
gardens, I hope I shall succeed in showing them that
even such small plots, devoid xDf any element of interest
as they apparently are, can be made capable of pro-
viding a very great deal of interest, varied treatment,
and pretty effects.

LAVENDER COTTAGE/'— First we will consider
the design and planting of ' ' Lavender Cottage. ' ' On
the right, entering the gate, border A is more or less
essential, and is a line fixed by the building arrange-
ments, because the whole width left between the house
and fence is not required for a path. There are many
ways of planting it that will make a cool and pleasant
approach to the house. Of course, there must be a
few creepers on the fence, Jasmine or Honeysuckle, for
instance. The border will be in partial shade, being
on the north-west side of the fence, and is, therefore,
eminently suitable for planting Ferns. Lastreas,
Athyriums, and Polystichums would all do well therein,
and a pretty idea is to plant spring-flowering bulbs
among them, such as Scillas, Crocuses, and Grape
Hyacinths, especially such as will flower about the time
the young Fern fronds are beginning to unfold. The
soft, delicate greenery of the Ferns lends an effective
groundwork for the colour of spring flowers. For a
later effect, some of the shade-loving Lilies can also be
grown, and their blooms, rising above the Ferns, are

95

Two-Cottage Gardens

enchanting to the eye. The stem-rooting varieties of
Lilies enjoy such a position because of the shade
afforded to their roots.

At the end of this border a length of trellis will divide
it from the back garden, rendering the latter as
secluded as possible, and also enclose a small open
space by the kitchen door. The archway through the
trellis is so arranged that the view from the window at
the back of the house is quite clear to the garden
beyond. A few creepers can be trained on the trellis
and over the archway.

Looking through the window, the eye will travel on
through the archway down the path, on one side of
which can be arranged a border of hardy flowers and
annuals. I shall later give a suggestive list of plants
suitable for this border, indicating by the numbers
shown in the plan the positions for each. On the other
side of the path should be planted a simple border of
Lavender, preferably one of the dwarf -growing varieties,
because they are more suitable for a small garden.
Lavandula spicata nana compacta is a good variety.
Carpet the ground under the Lavender with purple
Aubrietias, among which plant spring and autumn
Crocuses. All of these will thrive without being dis-
turbed for several years, and such a border will be
bright during the greater part of the year.

The path itself can be of any material that is neat
and dry. Bricks on edge are suggested in the plan,
and as these quickly take on a rich brown-red tone, are
not offensive to the eye. In the crevices between the
bricks some of the common, close-growing Sediums
should be allowed to ramble. The centre of the path

96

am

Sweet- Scented Flowers

should be arranged to be at right angles to the house
and central with the window. The whole effect is here
designed, in fact, to form a picture from the window
of what will probably be one of the most frequently
used rooms in the house. Two (or three) weeping
trees, such as Weeping Birch or the golden Weeping
Willow (Salix vitellina aurea pendula) will act as a
screen to the beyond if it is unpleasant, or, if the dis-
tance is a pretty bit of country, the trees can be
arranged so that they will act as a frame to focus the
view on to such a scene. Between them is a suitable
place for a simple seat, and the trees can be easily
trained to form a sort of arbour.

An interesting feature in the way of a sundial, or
vase planted with flowers, placed at D, will create a
diverting and attractive break to the monotony of the
lines. The planting of the remaining positions is
clearly stated on the plan, and is suggested because it
will give a long flowering period at a minimum of ex-
penditure. Moreover, all the plants are of easy culti-
vation. In the front garden the border B should be
reserved principally for sweet-smelling flowers, such as
Mignonette, Rosemary, Night-scented Stock (Mat-
thiola), etc., and as it is a pretty idea to make the
garden live up to the name of the cottage, Lavender
should be used freely everywhere. In C, plant a few
of the smaller-growing flowering shrubs. In the

" ROSE COTTAGE " garden the scheme is entirely
different. Beds E, F, G, H, and I should all be dwarf
Polyantha or China Roses, or can be omitted altogether
and left as grass. Climbing roses should be planted to
train on the house and over the archway, with which
H 97

Two - Cottage Gardens

can be mingled clematis. Border J can be treated as
described for A, because in this case the house will
cast a shade. The planting of the principal borders

v^

PERSPECTIVE OF THE WATER LILY TUB AT K.

will, of course, be a matter of individual taste, but the
scheme for the large border at " Lavender Cottage "
can be easily adapted. At L, central with the window,

Water Lily Tubs

place a simple vase, figure, or sundial. K offers a posi-
tion in which to indulge in a modest way in one of the
most fascinating efforts of gardening. It is a tub,
about three feet across and three feet deep, partially
sunk into the ground, and in which is planted one of
the delightful pink or crimson Water Lilies. The details
for this are given in the accompanying illustra-
tions. M should be a Rose-covered arbour, made
by training Roses over a simple construction of Larch
poles. A Rose garden in miniature will terminate such

TURF

SECTION OF WATER LILY TUB AT K IN

"ROSE COTTAGE" PLAN.

a scheme effectively, and if the centre bed is planted
with Nepeta Mussini, and pink Antirrhinums, and the
Rose borders are edged with mauve Violas, the effect
will not fail to satisfy the most fastidious taste.

In neither of these two schemes should the area of
grass be less than shown in the plan, and if the central
walk is paved, a softening effect can be introduced by
planting some little Campanulas, Thymes, Sedums,
and other miniature forms in the interstices between
the stones.

99

Two - Cottage Gardens

In studying the planting of the borders one point is
worthy of particular attention. In the "Rose Cot-
tage" garden, where marked X the grouping should
be simple but distinct, bold and permanent. A sug-
gestion for such a position is Saxifraga (Megasea)

FENCE

FLOWER
BOROE.R

CIU LA LI AS OR
IRIS GlGANTC^ <5, AURCA

ROSES

PLAN AT K IN " ROSE COTTAGE GARDEN.

cordifolia on each side of the path, a Y^cca filamentosa
on either side, and surrounding it Linum perenne,
mingling with pale yellow or pink Antirrhinums ; but
there are many other ways of obtaining the desired
effect — viz., point, focus, and perspective, as seen
from the window.

100

Planting the Border

BORDER OF HARDY FLOWERS AND ANNUALS

No. on
Plan.

Name.

Colour.

No. of
Plants.

1-12 Climbing Roses, Clematis and

purple -leaved Vine alternately

trained on stakes 6 feet or 7 feet

high and festooned from point to

point, but kept pruned very thin

to give a light and pretty back-

ground to border flowers.

13

Achillea Ptarmica The Pearl ...

White

3

14

Phlox Tapis Blanc

7

t

15

Nepeta Mussini

Lavender

o

6

16

Tritoma Nelsonii

Flame

3

I?

Alstromeria aurantiaca

Orange to gold

5

18

Aubrietia Perkinsii

Purple

3

19

Helenium cupreum

Copper red ...

3

20

Hieracium aurantiacum

Orange red ...

3

21

Stachys lanata

Grey foliage ...

5

22

Helenium grandicephalum stria-

Orange and

turn

crimson

3

23

Pentstemon Southgate Gem ...

Crimson

5

24

Stock (Ten-week)

White

5

25

Campanula carpatica

Pale blue

3

26

Pseonia officinalis

Deep crimson

i

27

Heuchera Flambeau

Flame red ...

3

28

Tritoma Lachesis

Apricot red ...

3

29

Thalictrum flavum

Pale yellow ...

3

30

Aconitum ochranthum

Soft yellow ...

5

31

Pentstemon Myddelton Gem ...

Pink

5

32

Aster Amellus Riverslea

Grey blue

3

33

Iris Canary Bird

Pale yellow ...

5

34

Pink Pentstemon

6

35

Viola gracilis

Purple

6

36

Phlox Elizabeth Campbell

Salmon pink ...

3

37

Paeonia sinensis Blush Queen ...

Blush

2

38

Heuchera elegans rosea

Rose

5

39

Pink Antirrhinums

9

40

Nepeta Mussini

Lavender

6

101

Two- Cottage Gardens

Pin? Name'

Colour. Jo*.

41

Lavatera Olbia

Rose pink ...

3

42

Pentstemon tubiflorus

White

3

43

Lupinus polyphyllus roseus

Pink ... ...

2

44

Aster subcseruleus major

Grey blue

5

45

Cerastium tomentosum

Grey foliage,

white flower

5

46

Delphinium Persimmon

Azure blue ...

3

47

Statice latifolia

Lavender

3

48

Scabiosa caucasica

Lavender blue

3

49

Aubrietia Lavender

Lavender

5

50

Gypsophila repens rosea

Pale pink

5

5i

Lupinus polyphyllus

Blue

2

52

Campanula macrantha

Purple

6

53

C. muralis or pusilla

Blue

5

54

Hyacinthus candicans

White

9

55

Gladiolus Baron Joseph Hulot ...

Purple

6

56

Achillea Kellereri

Grey foliage,

white flower

3

57

Iris asiatica ...

Blue to purple

5

58

Aster Thompsonii

Lavender

3

59

Phlox Dr. Charcot

Violet

3

60

Stachys lanata ..'.

Grey foliage ...

5

61

Aconitum Spark's Variety

Violet blue ...

3

62

Chrysanthemum maximum

White

3

63

Campanula carpatica alba

„

3

64

Iberis Snowflake ...

3

65

Viola gracilis Purple Robe

Purple

6

66

Iris germanica violacea

Violet purple

6

67

Pseonia festiva maxima

White

i

68

Lilium candidum

„

6

69

Nepeta Mussini

Lavender

6

It must be understood that this border is not arranged
to what is generally termed a " colour scheme,"
except that at certain points provision is made for
pretty colour groupings, such, for instance, as 39
(pink), 40 (lavender), 45 (grey and white), 38 (rose

102

NEPETA MUSSINI AS A PATHWAY EDGING.
The foliage is grey and the flowers blue.

To face page 102.

LONDON PRIDE AS AN EDGING TO A GARDEN PATH.
Flower borders in a little garden.

To face page

Colour Schemes

pink), and 33 (creamy yellow), and throughout it is
attempted to arrange a border that shall give pleasing
colour groupings and, as far as can be procured in such
a limited area, a long period over which there shall be
as much flower as possible. With regard to the quan-
tities allowed, three plants, generally speaking, are
equivalent to an established clump two years old. If
the quantities are reduced to one-third, therefore, the
ultimate effect will be the same, but this will not result
until the second summer after planting. Many people
prefer (on the score of saving expense, etc.) to plant
more thinly, fill in the intervening spaces with annuals,
and wait for full development. By a judicious use of
common sense a great deal may be done in this way,
and in planning a garden it must always be remem-
bered that personal tastes have to be considered.

103

CHAPTER IX

THE MOELWYN GARDEN

THERE is a garden I know, a little garden, too, in the
sense that it is not so large as some that have been dis-
cussed in these pages. In some few respects it per-
haps fails in those very things that I have said are
often essential to success. Indeed, it is a violation of
certain rules and theories. There is one thing, how-
ever, in which it succeeds, and that is in being beau-
tiful, and in showing the effects of incessant pains
taken and attention to the rectification of previous mis-
takes. It was to a very great extent the development
of circumstances rather than design. Starting with
the one definite idea that a tennis-court was required,
and that it must be placed in the only position in which
there was room for it, the garden may be said to have
grown up round the tennis-court. This is very often
the case in gardens of this size, and there is another
point of similarity between this and at least one of the
sites in the Garden Planning Competition — i.e., No. 2.
The first plot of land purchased was only 35 feet wide
by 150 feet deep. On this the house was built. Later,
the two plots in Honeywood Road were added for the
purpose of extending the garden. Thus it will be seen
that a site very similar to No. 2 in the competition was
provided, and the photographs, showing what practice
has achieved, are valuable and interesting in giving a
104

A Little Garden Plan

The Moelwyn Garden

due sense of proportion to the plans that have been
discussed.

At first glance the plan on page 105 may not appear
to be in all respects attractive as a design. As a
matter of fact, it is a development of what had to be.
A path was needed from the dining-room to the tennis-
court, and also to the exit into Honey wood Road
beyond. Subtract the tennis-court from what remained
after the paths were allowed for, and it will be seen that
not a great deal is left for design. Yet a really won-
derful variety of pleasing effects have been evolved
within the area. Not overcrowded either, as will be
seen from the photographs that have been reproduced.
In many respects it may be said to be an epitome of all
the most desirable features in gardening.

Take, for instance, the view from the dining-room
window. As a July garden picture this would be
difficult to surpass, for not only is every inch of avail-
able space occupied by beauty of form and colour,
but, which cannot be fully appreciated in even the
best photograph, every shade of colour is exquisitely
placed in its relation to all others in the immediate
neighbourhood.

It is July, and therefore the Delphiniums, or perennial
Larkspurs, are in their glory, and can be seen to the left
of the picture, grouped in informal masses, that are
withal not too large, against the fence on the east side
of the garden. Between the Delphiniums, which are
persimmon and similar shades of delicate blue, and
harmonizing beautifully with their soft blue tones, are,
in the shadow cast by the tree, two masses of Lilies —
one, the taller, is the deep yellow Mart agon L. Han-

106

MOELWYN GARDEN.
View from the dining-room window.

LOOKING BACK TO THE HOUSE FROM THE ROSE GARDEN.

To face page 106.

MOELWYN GARDEN.
The bird bath and east side of garden.

THE HERBACEOUS BORDER.

To face page 107.

Lavender and Heather

sonii; the other, and dwarf er variety, being the pearly
pink-flushed L. Regale, a gem indeed for any garden,
and one, too, that is easy of culture.

To the right of the picture, and rapidly growing too
big for its position, is the blue-grey Abies Parry ana
glauca. Frankly speaking, this shrub, under ordinary
circumstances, should never have been placed there.
It is much too large for a garden of this size, and
quickly attains a great height. But assuming one is
making a garden that is to receive constant care and
attention, and that when the time comes that it has
grown too big for its position it will be sacrificed for the
good of the garden, then its use is permissible. But,
despite the striking neutral note it imports into the
colour scheme, it will generally be found wise to use a
plant of less vigorous habit of growth. In the borders
on the right are dwarf blue lavender, an ideal plant
for small gardens, as it is less rampant in growth, and
does not get so ' ' leggy ' ' as the common form. This
is really growing out of a bed of Heather, Erica carnea,
that has made a delightful pink effect in the earlier part
of the year, and is one of the few plants suitable for
such a position that can be said to be at its best in
January. Grouped around the little lead figure are the
blue Eryngium, a grey-leaved pink-flowered Sun Rose,
or Helianthemum, and a lilac perennial, Pentstemon.
In the centre of the picture is the prostrate Juniperus
tamariscifolia, which creates a break in the contour of
the planting, and with its cool grey foliage fits into the
colour scheme with exquisite harmony. To the left
are, Armeria latifolia rosea, a rose pink Thrift, some
more Lavender, Pentstemon pubescens, the double

107

The Moelwyn Garden

white peach-leaved bell-flower, Campanula persicifolia
Moerheimi, and cloudy blue Violas. Beyond, through
a rose-covered arch, the eye travels on to the lawn, and
in the distance to the herbaceous border illustrated
opposite page 107.

The reverse of this view from the dining-room is
also illustrated, in which it will be seen that the
house is to some extent divided from the garden by
a series of arches, on one of which a hybrid of the
11 Cherokee " Rose, Sinica anemone, is flowering pro-
fusely, as it would always do in such a position, facing
almost due south. A glorious mass of Vitis Coignetids
also fills this end of the garden with an autumn glow of
brilliant foliage. By referring to the plan it will be
seen that these Rose arches are placed so that,
although they divide a little paved court from the
garden, they do not in any way shade the house
sufficiently to make the dining-room dull, and that the
openings are so arranged that there is an uninterrupted
view from the house to the garden.

To those to whom the idea of a bird-path appeals—
and it does to most garden-loving people — there is a
pretty suggestion in the arrangement of one in the
illustration. Just a semicircle added to the width
of the path, with the line of the border carried nearly
round it, and a flowery recess is created in which the
bird-path is obviously well placed.

The rock garden, quite a modest affair as rock gar-
dens go, was a development of the idea that the garden
as originally arranged was too rigidly square. More-
over, a rock garden was desired, and there was really
only one place for it, the one chosen. It was created

1 08

Co/our Harmony

much as I have already explained in Chapter VII., not
by building up a huge bank for the purpose of placing
the stone, but by sinking the path and making it appear
that it dips through natural rock. The Weeping Ash,
that was originally planted as a shade tree as an adjunct
to the tennis-court, makes an admirable background,
and the earth removed from the path was thrown up
into a mound, which, now it is planted, appears to be
a perfectly natural condition of things, and is in no
sense obtrusive.

The herbaceous border which is also illustrated
is an excellent example of what can be done when
thought and care are given to the arrangement. It
will at once be appreciated that in this border there is
ample colour for any one period with the Irises, Del-
phiniums, Canterbury Bells, Madonna Lilies, Stachys
lanata, Anchusas, Verbascums, Galega Hartlandi,
Campanulas of all sorts, Gypsophila, and others ; but it
will also be seen that there are numerous other plants
that will flower when those now in bloom are over, and
many that have already given of their best, and are now
resting for a season, amongst those yet to come to
fuller perfection being the Pillar Roses at the back of
the border. These climbing Roses are lavishly used
in this garden, being arches across to separate the
Rose garden from the tennis-court, and also mingled
with the flowering shrubs surrounding the lawn.

I have said that in this garden due care has been
taken that the various colours of the flowers and shrubs
used should ever be in fine harmony. This is, indeed,
stating the case too mildly, for no painter or sculptor
ever had a finer reverence for form and colour than has

109

The Moelwyn Garden

its owner, and I have never visited it without coming
away with some new impression, and some new realiza-
tion of the meaning of ' ' gardening for beauty. ' ' One
or two little pictures — for the pictures are all in propor-
tion to the area covered by the garden — are eloquent
in their expression of the fact that no pains are spared
to garden for all seasons, and every day of the year.
A brief description of those contained within one small
area should prove instructive.

The first is in early February. The pale light of the
afternoon sun falls on the graceful, arching branches of
one of the Chinese Barberries — Wilsonae. Still cling-
ing to the branches are myriads of last year's leaves,
that in a duller, greyer light would be sombre brown,
but in this every tiny leaf takes on a rich and ever
changing tint : bronze, gold, sienna, burnt and raw, a
little orange, and a shimmer of warmth, as of the crim-
son glow cast by a flickering fire. True, it may be
only an impression, and upon close analysis it dis-
appears, but the impression is very vivid. At its feet
there spreads a broad mass of the winter flowering
heath, Erica carnea, almost mossy in its fresh bright
green, and delicately beautiful with its sheets of pink
flowers and cream-tinted buds. It has been in flower
now for six weeks, and is good for another six. Side
by side with it is a mass of autumn-flowering heather,
principally varieties of Erica vulgaris, on which last
autumn's flowers have assumed a ruddy brown tint,
and the foliage is still a dull dark bronze green. From
this rises another beautiful Berberis, Thunbergii minor,
every bud just bursting into being with that soft yellow-
green hue that gives a suggestion of awakening spring.

no

The Seasons' Round

Nestling against the outer edge of the heather is a
mass of Crocus biflorus, in their half-opened state look-
ing like big pearly eggs in a nest of feathery green. A
little sea of lavender and sapphire ripples all around,
the result of letting Crocus tommasiniamis have its
own way and wander where it will. To complete the
picture, a rugged bit of grey limestone, creviced and
crannied by a thousand years of weathering, rises from
a cushion of low-growing, summer-flowering heather,
Ericas hypnoides and cinera. That is February. In
April and May the Berberis are still equally beautiful,
but in another way. New leaves for old ; but an ever-
present sense of soft and exquisite colour harmony is
there, for the Grape Hyacinth has taken the place of
the Crocus, and the Crimean Irises now shed their blue,
cream, grey, and white loveliness around, whilst the
Mediterranean Heaths, pink and white, still retain much
of their spring beauty. The orange and yellow flowers
of the Berberis are over by this time, but have made a
brilliant interlude between these two periods. By July
the garden all around is so full of colour that these
minor effects become less obvious, but they now form a
quiet and reposeful part of the whole, and with the
opening of the first autumn Crocus or Colchicum in
August a new interest begins, and goes on through the
autumn glow of foliage and berry in the Berberis ; the
autumn-flowering Dorset Heath, Erica ciliaris, and the
Irish Heath, Menziesia polifolia, add their rich purple
to the scheme. These effects linger on until the winter
Heather again opens its flowers in December, and the
year begins once more for this miniature Heath garden,
for that is what it really is, and one without an ounce

in

The Moelwyn Garden

of peat in the composition of the soil, for it is a fallacy
to suppose Heather will not grow without peat. It is
little, too — not more than ten or twelve square yards in
all ; but it contains within its compass all the charms
that are exhibited in vaster areas, and is in its way as
satisfying.

There are other effects that I might linger over, with
both pleasure and profit did space permit ; one, of the
hybrid brier, Una, rambling over the thatched roof of
the garden house ; beautiful with its buff buds and single
white flowers in the summer, it is indeed startling in
the early days of the year, when every one of its
myriads of vivid scarlet berries is silhouetted with
clear-cut distinctness against the grey-green thatch.
Another, of Rhododendron racemosum, a delightful
little rosy-pink Chinese form, that has thriven for
several years now, and makes quite remarkable
growth — without peat, too — in the little rock garden.
Rosmarinus pro stratus, too, grows on a ledge here,
and sends down its long trailing growths that in season
are covered with pale lilac-blue flowers.

There is one good point, too, about this garden that
is worthy of mention. Nothing is admitted that will
not stand the most rigorous winter out of doors.
Crocus species, such as aureus, Balansse, Sieberi, and
susianus, push their way through the January snow,
whilst the golden Winter Aconite and the early flowering
Heaths light up the borders . Later come the Daffodils ,
Tulips, Anemones, the spring, summer, and autumn
herbaceous plants, and Lilies right down to the late
autumn, where there is ample provision made for main-
taining the attraction of the garden in the way of

112

Garden Philosophy

autumn-tinted foliage, shrubs, and berries. Such a
garden is never without its interest. In it there is
always something to do, something to enjoy doing,
and, what is more, some results to enjoy. Results,
too, that are not always attained by choosing the
newest and most expensive plants, but by selecting
those that are beautiful without considering whether
they are rare or not. The spirit that will achieve such
results is admirably summed up by Tennyson in what
is certainly not his best poetry, but is sound garden
philosophy :

** And I must work through months of toil,
And years of cultivation,
Upon my proper patch of soil
To grow my own plantation.
I'll take the showers as they fall,
I will not vex my bosom :
Enough if at the end of all
A little garden blossom."

CHAPTER X
THE SMALL ROSE GARDEN

AN English garden without Roses would be an incom-
plete and soulless thing. I do not say that every gar-
den should include in its design a Rose garden. There
are, however, many advantages in allotting some por-
tion of the grounds mainly to the culture of Roses, and
it is almost inevitable that sooner or later some part
of the garden becomes known as such. Not the least
advantage of this giving over one portion of the garden
to Roses is the fact that the results obtained thereby
are, generally speaking, far more satisfactory than by
attempting to grow them mixed up with other things.
The Rose is one of those plants that thrives best in a
state of splendid isolation. It objects to being asso-
ciated with anything else. It needs a sort of special
treatment that is not applicable to many other garden
flowers. This exclusiveness on the part of the queen
of the garden would almost seem to extend to its com-
mercial associations. There are many firms who
specialize in this or that, but I do not recall a single
instance where there are a number of firms devoting
their entire attention to the culture of the plants of one
particular genera as in the case with Roses.

It will, however, be universally conceded that the
Rose is worth this exalted position in the garden.
What else is there that gives us such variety of form

114

Glowing Reflections

and colour, such an extended period of blooming, such
adaptable habits of growth that there can be found,
sorts that will climb over a house and cover the roof
with flower, or provide a neat and glowing edging to a
border, and achieve almost everything the garden
requires in between these two extremes ? It is because
they are sufficient in themselves for most garden pur-
poses that they have appropriated a place in the Eng-
lish garden that is held by no other flower.

Whether it be in the form of pleasant shady walks
arched over as —

" A garden bowered close, with plaited alleys of the trailing
Rose,"

or the wilder free-growing masses of the same varieties
used to clothe an ugly building, tumbling in glorious
profusion of bloom over a bank too steep for grass even
to grow thereon, by the side of a road, or perchance
overhanging and casting their glowing reflections into
the water, or whether in the more conventional and
| formal arrangement of the Rose garden, it is still the
flower of the garden.

In the little garden, however, the restriction of space
renders it impossible to indulge in the riot of luxurious
growth and colour that is so attractive in Roses planted
in free and informal masses in a semi-wild condition.
As a matter of fact, it is not all varieties that are suit-
able for this method of culture, and for the little garden
the more orderly arrangement of formal beds is not only
preferable but imperative. This does not mean that
an elaborate and intricate system, of geometrical pat-
terns must be worked out in the form of beds, and filled

The Small Rose Garden

with Roses entirely. I am not at all sure that the
term " Rose garden " is not often taken too literally.
I like that idea of Tennyson's :

" A garden of Roses,
And Lilies fair on the lawn."

And if your Roses are a little impatient of other things
mingling with them, why not give them the beds to
themselves, and surround the Rose garden with borders
in which all sorts of things can be growing — Irises,
Larkspurs, Lupins, pink Carnations, and

" Crowned lilies standing near
Purple-spiked lavender."

In making such a garden there are a few points that
should be remembered. Stars, crescents, and triangles
cut in the grass are neither pleasant to look at nor
suitable for their purpose. The design for a Rose gar-
den, and especially for a small one, the whole of which
will be seen at once, should possess a sense of cohesion
in its various lines. I do not know of any more pleasant
design than the one here illustrated. The actual area
covered by this garden is only 28 yards square. Hybrid
Tea and Tea Roses are the most satisfactory for such
beds, as shown in the plan, but if a few old favourites
are desired there is no reason why some hybrid per-
petuals should not be used. The fault with the hybrid
perpetual is, however, that it is not so perpetual in
flowering as the hybrid Tea class. If one wishes to
have a colour scheme for planting — and I have seen
some very charming effects produced in this way — it
can be easily achieved. I like the idea of growing the
cream or pale yellow and pale pink varieties in one bed
116

A Satisfying Design

and edging the bed with a pale blue or lavender Viola
such as Maggie Mott or Bridal Morn.

Most people have their own particular pets amongst
the roses, but as a suggestion of sorts that are happy
in such association I will mention amongst the Teas and

P L AN FOR A S

hybrid Teas Madame Jules Gravereaux, Madame
Hoste, Mrs. Edward Mawley, Souv. de Pierre Net-
ting, Madame Abel Chatenay, Antoine Rivoire,
Madame Ravary and Madame Melanie Soupert. To
get the best effects care should be taken to select Roses

117

The Small Rose Garden

of about the same habit of growth. Then there are
the more intense and deeper colours that really demand
a bed to themselves, and the glory of their crimson glow
is enhanced by planting the deepest purple Viola in
association with them. Viola gracilis, Purple Robe,
is very suitable as it flowers long before the first Rose
appears, and goes on flowering throughout the sum-
mer. There are, however, some excellent bedding
Violas that can be used. Amongst these more brilliant
varieties of Roses may be mentioned General Mac-
Arthur, Hugh Dickson, Captain Hay ward, Leslie Hol-
land, Avoca, G. C. Waud, Edward Mawley, and
Richmond.

Then one could have a sunset bed — that is to say,
one that shall include all those indescribable but never-
theless beautiful combinations of colour that we asso-
ciate in our minds with sunset skies ; such are Sunburst,
Betty, Madame Edward Herriot, Rayon d'or, Madame
Ravery , and Mr s . A . Ward . This bed would look equally
well edged with either the lavender Violas, such as
Bridal Morn, or with a cream-tinted variety like V.
gracilis Gondolier, or Eburnea. The advantage of
using violas of the gracilis type is that they can be
planted back somewhat into the beds, as their habit of
growth is compact and neat, and they will not climb up
amongst the roses to the detriment of the latter.

These and many other beautiful combinations can be
used, and the garden effects will gain much of pleasing
character thereby.

I have already in Chapter VIII. referred to the fact
that the paths in such a garden should not be all stone
or gravel, but that a certain amount of grass should be

118

Madonna Lilies and Roses

introduced. It will be seen by referring to my plan
that the paved walks therein are laid with grass on
either side, and the effect of this is always happy. If
the grass is not less than 18 inches wide it will be pos-
sible to cut it with a lawn mower. In these small gar-
dens a 5 feet 6 inches path is wide enough, of which
2 feet 6 inches can be paved and i foot 6 inches on
either side of grass. No one of course keeps to the
paved walks in dry weather, but they are there for wet
days. In addition to the grass the introduction of
some of the creeping Alpine plants into the crevices
between the stones gives a softening effect to the whole
design.

The preparation of the Rose-beds is a matter rather
depending on the soil than anything else, but, generally
speaking, deep digging and well manuring in the first
season are essential.

In the borders surrounding such a garden there
should be three or four groups of the Madonna Lilies
lifting their white purity from masses of dwarf blue
lavender and pink monthly Roses ; some broad masses
of the blue Catmint (Nepeta Mussini) , amongst which
can be planted Crocuses for spring effects and Spanish
Irises for the summer. The orange Lily, Lilium cro-
ceum, too, should have its place, and I would include
in this border a few of the old-fashioned Roses, such as
the moss varieties, that do not mind having to com-
pete with other plants for existence. To those to
whom such ideas appeal the borders might easily be
restricted to the growing of all the older English
flowers, and the little garden enclosed by planting
along the back of the borders climbing Roses festooned

119

The Small Rose Garden

from pole to pole somewhat as shown in the illustration
facing page 118.

I have not mentioned one of the principal charms of
the Rose, its perfume ; but it is well to point out that
in making a selection due care should be taken to
include a good proportion of those that are the best in
this respect. Some of the loveliest of the Roses have
little or no scent, and although they cannot be omitted
from the garden altogether they should certainly be in
the minority.

The Rose garden and how to plant it has received so
much literary attention that to give long lists of suit-
able varieties here is superfluous, but a few words of
advice on the various classes that should be used will
not be out of place. I have already said that the most
useful are the hybrid Teas, and for bedding purposes
they undoubtedly are. Sometimes it is desired to
plant a little Rose hedge ; a simple formal design
enclosed by one is an excellent idea. In the small
garden the varieties chosen for this purpose should be
those that will require the least pruning, and yet not
overgrow the area that can be spared for it too quickly.
The China or monthly Roses are very useful in this way,
and flower for a very long time ; moreover, when there
is very little flower on them the foliage and wood is
quite attractive. Many of the dwarf Polyantha Roses
are also useful for quite low hedges, and a Sweetbrier
hedge, when the garden is large enough, is always a
beautiful addition, not only on account of its delicate
colouring in the single blooms, but also for its
fragrance, and it can be kept cut to almost any desired
height.

120

An Old-World Corner

In planting climbing Roses there is always a danger
of falling into the trap that so many amateurs succeed
in doing. Because Dorothy Perkins is a very beau-
tiful climber — and, indeed, so are all the Wichuriana
class to which it belongs — it is used a little too freely.
It should be remembered that this particular class
flowers very late, and that its actual period of full
beauty is comparatively short. It is well, therefore, to
use Roses of other classes that flower later and earlier
in fair proportions. These can be found among the
free-growing Teas, hybrid Teas, Noisettes, Ramblers,
Polyanthas, etc., and there are so many of them that
to mention a few would be to do an injustice to the
remainder. In every garden there should be reserved
somewhere a space, perhaps only an odd corner, for a
few of those freer-growing classes that are very beau-
tiful, but, on account of their rampant growth, are too
overpowering in any set scheme. Such are the
Japanese Rosa Rugosa, the Austrian Briers, and the
hybrids thereof ; the old world Moss, Provence,
Damask roses, some of which could have been found
in the gardens of England any time during the last
three hundred years or more. This old-world corner
will always be interesting, with its Cabbage Rose, a
sixteenth-century memory, White Provence, which
dates from 1777, and York and Lancaster, which, with
its white and red flowers, will carry back the memory
to the turmoil of the fifteenth century.

121

CHAPTER XI
CLIMBERS FOR THE LITTLE GARDEN

WHETHER it be in those " high-walled gardens green
and old," or in the town or suburban villa garden with
which this book more particularly deals, garden life
would lose half its charm without the climbing plants.
If the flowers are the pictures, the creeping and climb-
ing plants are the poetry of the garden. It may be
' yon ivy-mantled tower," or

" the gardener's lodge

With all its casements bedded, and its walls
And chimneys muffled in the leafy Vine."

A cottage porch embowered in Jasmine, Honey-
suckle, or Traveller's Joy, a stately pergola where
Clematis and Rose, Vine, Honeysuckle, and Wistaria
interlace their clinging branches in an affection born,
like other affections, of a desire for mutual support, or
it may be by some grey ruin where

" Overhead the wandering Ivy and the Vine,
This way and that in many a wild festoon ran riot "

— all tell the same story, that it is the climbing frailties
in the garden, holding on for support to more rugged,
though perhaps grander, strength, that give it grace
and elegance.

There is, however, no garden planting that requires
more careful consideration than the planting of

122

THE MOUNTAIN CLEMATIS (C. MONTANA) VEILING AN

OLD BARN.
It is equally beautiful on a cottage porch.

To face page

ROSE REVE D'OR GROWING OVER THE ENIMDF A
STABLE IN BERKSHIRE.

To face page 123.

Creating the Ruin it Loves

climbers. If it is on the house the aspect should be
studied with a view to giving the more delicate the
sunlight and the protection the house affords. Nor
are all climbers suitable for planting on the house. If
it be a small one, eschew Ivy and all rank-growing
climbers that injure the fabric. Ivy on a grey ruin or
a massive stone building is picturesque and safe. On
a cottage it looks clumsy, and pulls the woodwork out
of the windows, the mortar from between the bricks,
and the tiles off the roof. Left to its own devices, it
will ensure that, sooner or later, it clothes the ruin it
seems to love, for it is quite capable of creating a ruin
for itself. There is, moreover, not the slightest reason
for planting Ivy, as there are plenty of far more beau-
tiful climbers. In a sunny, warm spot, perhaps where
a chimney runs up, plant the fiery Thorn, Cratzegus
pyracantha Lalandi. Nothing can be more beautiful
than this climbing shrub, with its orange-scarlet berries
when it is doing well, as it generally does in the posi-
tion I have described. Of course, Ampelopsis Veitchii,
with its glorious autumn colouring, is known to every-
one. If it has a fault it is that it resembles the Ivy in
its capacity for destruction of buildings, but it can be
kept within bounds much easier, and takes years to
achieve the disaster Ivy will bring about in a single
season. It will grow on any side of the house, not
the least of its merits being that it is self-clinging.
Then there are the Ceanothus, some of which are ever-
green, and all beautiful, with their flowers in varying
shades of blue, from pale lavender to deep indigo.
Ceanothus dentatus is excellent as a climber. For
winter berry there are several varieties of Cotoneaster

123

Climbers for the Little Garden

that are exceedingly beautiful. The names of Clematis
and Roses alone conjure up many visions of delight.
To climb over a porch plant a pink rambling Rose, a
pale lavender Clematis that flowers about the same
time, and some winter Jasmine, and a startlingly beau-
tiful effect will be assured. Or, if you prefer some
deeper, richer note, use the purple Clematis Jackmani
superba, and a crimson rambling Rose with the Jasmine.
There are so many places in the garden, however,
where Clematis and Roses can be grown with equal suc-
cess that it is not necessary to have them on the house.
One plant that should never be omitted is Cydonia,
perhaps better known as Pyrus japonica. Perhaps
coccinea is the best, but they are all very early flower-
ing, and likewise very brilliant. Of the jasmines
there are three, all of which are useful : J. nudiflorum,
the winter-flowering yellow ; J. offidnale, the sweet-
scented white variety, which is summer-flowering ; and
J. revolutum, a summer-flowering yellow sort. One
climber I would not be without is Wistaria, either W.
sinensis, or W. multijuga, and if planted with the win-
ter-flowering yellow Jasmine three things are assured :
a glorious display of lilac or blue blossoms in May and
early June, walls clothed with luxuriant green of an
exceedingly attractive tone throughout the heat of the
summer, and a winter blaze of pure yellow. Then there
are the Honeysuckles, Passion flowers, Magnolias,
and many others, enough to plant all round the house
and cover it from top to bottom if desired. But if the
house has anything of beauty in its design I would not
cover it all. On buildings that are in themselves
attractive use creepers sparingly. The province of
124

Passion Flowers and Clematis

the gardener is not to ruin good architecture, but to
enhance what beauties it possesses.

Of climbers that will cover and hide ugly fences,
clothe unsightly banks, create shady walks and arbours,
there are enough and to spare. All those I have men-
tioned are suitable, and to them can be added the
Vitis, of which there are forms that fruit, and are beau-
tiful therefore, and others whose greatest attraction
lies in their glorious foliage and glowing autumn
tints ; Vitis Coignetiae purpurea, a purple form, turns
crimson and orange in the autumn. Polygonum
baldschuanicum is a rapid climber, and smothers itself
with white, or rather pink-tinted, flowers from early
June to late September. The Passion flowers, too,
are always attractive, and are hardy in most places,
although they sometimes suffer during very severe
winters ; but even when, as sometimes happens, they
are severely cut by frost they usually break out quite
freely again in the spring. There are two good forms,
Passiflora ccerulea, with pale blue flowers, and a white
variety, called Constance Elliott. They flower most
of the summer, and in the autumn produce large orange
fruits that are ornamental for several months longer.
Of the Clematis that are beautiful there are too many
to mention in detail, but there are one or two that it
will be well to have, amongst numerous others : Nellie
Moser, a silvery white variety, with a carmine band in
each sepal, and will go on flowering in mild weather
until Christmas. Lady North cliffe is one of the best of
the lavender-blue varieties, and flowers from July
onwards. It is particularly beautiful when planted to
ramble amongst pink Wichuriana roses, and begins to

125

Climbers for the Little Garden

flower at the same time. An old favourite of mine is
Duchess of Edinburgh, which is a very fine double
white, and amongst the single whites Anderson's Hen-
reyii is, to my mind, still the best. Of course there
are many others, lilac grey, violet purple, silvery lilac,
mauve, and many other exquisite shades that answer
Ruskin's definition of the more beautiful colours as
those that can neither be named nor adequately
described. I have not named one hundredth part of
the many beautiful climbers that can be used in the
little garden to cover ugly fences, beautify uninterest-
ing buildings, festoon across shady walks, and some
that will, like Clematis montana, climb a tree and fall
in profuse cascades of starry white flowers from its
branches ; but those I have mentioned will give an
idea of the right directions in which to seek any other
varieties that may be required.

126

YELLOW JASMINE GROWING OVER A COTTAGE
DOORWAY.

To face page 126.

CHAPTER XII

HINTS ON MAKING GARDEN STEPS AND
TENNIS-COURTS

As this book is published mainly for those who do
their own gardening, a few hints on how to construct
the sometimes requisite steps and tennis-courts will
not be out of place.

Let us take the steps first. In some of the competi-
tion plans these would be necessary, but in no case is
there a difference of levels of more than 2 feet shown.
This means four steps, each having "risers*3 of
6 inches. Garden steps should never be of greater
depth than this, nor have less than a i-foot tread — 15
or 1 8 inches is better, still. The most attractive-look-
ing and serviceable steps I know are made of flat
paving treads and random rubble risers. Random
rubble consists of all sorts of things, such as small
pieces of stone, broken bricks or tiles.

So far as design is concerned, many ideas will pre-
sent themselves to the builder, and the circumstances
will control the construction to a very great extent.

On the next page sketch plans are given of two simple
forms of steps that can be made to look exceedingly
pretty. Remember that in the small garden massive
builders' work is out of place. Such work as is done,
however, should be solid and well constructed. Nothing
is more annoying than to find a few weeks after con-

127

Hints on Steps and Tennis-Courts

struction the tread of a step loose or broken. First
excavate the position for whatever steps are required.
Then start with the lower step and build the riser in
rubble and cement to the required height. The treads

Pl, A /y

PL An

should be previously cut to fit, and as the building pro-
ceeds, small pockets may be left where the joints occur,
filled with soil so that a stonecrop or creeping thyme
may be planted in the joint. Having built the first
riser, place the tread in position. These should be
128

Garden Steps

wide enough to allow them to be carried several inches
under the next riser (see sectional drawing) . Proceed
thus until the whole is complete. When thoroughly
dry and "set" the planting can be done. It is as

M

well to remember that the steps have to be walked on,
so that it is useless putting anything of a very choice
nature just where it will be trodden on. Although I
have recommended 6-inch risers, it is best to make the

D 6 feet higher than A.
C4 „

steps 6 inches at the back and 5^ inches in the front,
thus allowing for water to run off freely.

Now with regard to tennis-lawns. Most people will
prefer to have these made by someone familiar with the
requirements, and where possible this course is recom-
K 129

Hints on Steps and Tennis-Courts

mended. For the benefit of those who by force or
choice do it themselves, the following advice will prove
serviceable :

The first thing to do is to level the ground. Broadly
speaking, 120 feet by 60 feet is the area required,
although there will be a tendency to restrict the width
somewhat in small gardens, and often they are made
50 feet wide, or even less. Let us assume we have a
plot of ground 120 feet by 60 feet to level for tennis.
What is the most economical method of doing it ? The
first thing is to find the mean level, so that the higher
portions may be excavated just sufficiently deep to
provide the earth to raise the lower end to the required
height without having to bring in or cart away any
earth. The amateur can easily determine this by the
following method : Procure a straight-edge, a spirit-
level, and a number of pegs. Start from one of the
higher corners of the plot and drive in a peg to the
ground level. Work diagonally across the plot, and
drive in another peg 10 feet from the first, using the
straight-edge as illustrated. Drive the second peg
until the bubble of the spirit-level remains central.
Then proceed to drive in a third peg 10 feet farther on,
and repeat the procedure. It will easily be seen that
when the bottom corner is reached the total fall diagon-
ally across the plot will be just as much as the top of
the last peg is above the ground — in the case of the
plot illustrated, 6 feet. Divide this height by two, and
we get a mean level of 3 feet. This means that we
shall have to excavate 3 feet at the top, and place the
earth at the bottom to raise it 3 feet. Now drive in a
peg at the bottom corner to the mean level — that is,

130

Levelling a Lawn

3 feet above the existing level at that point. Using the
straight-edge and spirit-level, place a number of pegs
in all directions, 10 feet apart level with this. All
that is now required is to commence digging at the
upper end and filling the soil to the top of the pegs at
the lower. As the soil will be placed loosely at first,
it should be trodden down, to prevent, as far as pos-
sible, settling when the turf is laid. The top soil
should be removed and kept to place on top again.
When the ground is levelled it may be necessary to
introduce drainage. This can be achieved by laying
diagonally across the ground agricultural pipes of 3
inches diameter, in trenches dug not less than 12 nor
more than 18 inches deep. A light dressing of manure
can be given to the lawn, and it can be either turfed or
sown as circumstances permit. If sown, the finished
level should be previously broken down very finely and
well raked, and sufficient time given for settling to take
place, so that any hollow places can be filled in before
sowing. If turfed, the straight-edge and spirit-level
should be constantly used whilst laying the turf to see
that the varying thicknesses of the turf do not upset
the general level.

In excavation, banks will be created. These can
be dealt with either by creating dry walls to retain the
upper level, which are an added attraction, as they
offer facilities for growing Alpine and creeping plants
therein, or the banks can be turfed. This latter
method is the less desirable as it makes a great deal
of clipping and trimming necessary, takes up more
space than the wall, and robs one of the chance of one
of the daintiest forms of floriculture, "wall gardening/*

INDEX

Abies Parryana glauca, 107
Achillea, 101, 102
Aconite, Winter, 36, 79, 112
Aconitums, 101, 102
Almonds, 24, 58
Aloysia citriodora, 63
Alstroemeria, 101
Ampelopsis Veitchii, 123
Anchusas, 109
Anemones, 79

Antirrhinums, pink, 99, 100
Armeria latifolia rosea, 107
Asters, 101, 102
Athyriums, 95
Aubrietias, 43, 96, 101, 102

Bacon mentioned, 34, 36
Berberis, 24, 59, 60, no
Biggs, Mr. Ernest, dtsign by, 66, 72
Bird baths, 108

Border of Hardy Flowers, 101-103
Box, 23, 78
Brooms, 60

Brown, Miss I. Grant, winning design
by, 20, 41, 47, 57, 61, 62

Campanulas, 30, 43, 99, 101, 102,

108, 109

Canterbury Bell?, 109
Carnations, 116
Catmint, 35, 99, 101, 102, 119
Ceanothus, 60, 123
Cerastiums, 102
Chaucer mentioned, 34
Cherry, flowering, 24
Chinese Barberries, no
Chrysanthemums, 102
Cistus, 60

Clematis, 26, 101, 122, 124-126
Climbers and Creepers, 26, 30, 44,

95, 101, 109, 112, 119-126
Colour schemes, 13, 20, 27, 36, 37-

43, 101-103, 107, 109-113, 116
Corner sites, 8
Cornus, 60

]32

Cory, Mr. B. M., prize - winning

design by, 26, 31, 32
Cost, restrictions as to, 8
Cotoneasters, 60, 123
Cratsegus pyracantha Lelandi^ 123
Cydonia, 124
Cytisus, 24, 60

Dalgliesh, Mr. K., prize - winning
design by, 15, 64, 66, 73-75

Darwin Tulips referred to, 28, 64

Delphiniums, 40, 79, 102, 106, 109,
116

Dianthus, 43

Dixon, Mr. Hugh, design by, 53, 54

" Dry " Retaining Wall, 44

Drying grounds, 30, 76

Emerson quoted, 1 , 46, 68
Entrance drives, small, 57, 64, 80
Ericas, 60, 107, no, in
Eryngium, 107
Euonymus japonicus, 23

Ferns, 95

Flowers, continuous succession of, 20,

28, 101-103

Forget-me-not, Water, 91
Forsythias, 58
Foxgloves, 79
Frames, 31, 6 1
Front gardens, 21, 46
Fruit trees, 27-29, 37, 52, 64

Galega Hartlandi, 109

Garden^ The, mentioned, 5, 14, 17,
33, 5i» 54, 55. 67, 82, 93

Geddes, Miss Norah, prize-winning
design by, 51, 52

Gladiolus, 102

Grass edging for borders, 29

Griffith, Mr. A. Troyte, prize- win-
ning design by, 14, 15, 22»

83-85
Gypsophila, 102, 108

Index

Harding, Miss Isobel, prize-winning
designs by, 15, 26, 31, 32, 82,

83

Hardy Flowers, Border of, 101-103
Harvey, the late F. W., mentioned,

u, 17
Hatton, Mr. John, prize design by,

80,85
Hedges, 14, 21, 27, 29, 54, 61, 64,

78, 84, 85, 120
Heleniums, 101
Helianthemum, 107
Hellebores, 79
Herb gardens, 15, 19, 49
Heucheras, 101
Hieracium aurantiaca, 101
Honeysuckle, 95, 122, 124
Horder, Mr. P. Morley, u

Iberis, 102

Irises, 91, 100-102, 109, in, 116, 119

Ivy, damage wrought by, 123

Jasmine, 26, 95, 122, 124
Jekyll, Miss, quoted, 18, 38
Judges, names of, n
Juniperus tamariscifolia, 107

Lastreas, 95

Laurustinus, 21, 23

Lavatera, 102

Lavender 19, 61, 96, 97, 107

" Lavender Cottage," 94, 95-98

Lawn, levelling a, 131

Lemon Verbena, 19, 63

Leonard, Miss, prize-winning design

by, 19, 24, 30, 32, 75-79
Levens Hall garden mentioned, 12
Lilies, 37, 40, 63, 67, 79, 85-91, 95,

98, 99, 101, 102, 106, 109, 112,

T- "9

Linum perenne, 100
L-shaped gardens, 8, 15
Lupins, 79, 102, 116

Magnolias, 124
Menziesia polifolia, n I
Mignonette, 19, 24, 63, 97
Moelwyn Garden, the, 104 113
Mont acute garden mentioned, 12
Morris, Mr. G. LI., prize-winning

design by, 15, 19, 43, 45
Mulliens, 79
Musk, Water, 91

Nepeta Mussini, 99, 101, 102, 119
Night -scented Stock, 19, 24, 63, 97
Nympheas, 85, 88

Orchards, 37, 52, 61, 64, 78
Ornaments, garden, 31, 33, 34, 65
Orphoot, Mr B. N. K., prize-winning

design by, 24, 29, 32
Owlpen Manor garden mentioned,

12

Paeonies, tree, beds of, 29, IOI

Passion flowers, 124, 125

Paths, useless, 31

Paton, Mr. Archie, winning design

by, 26, 30, 32
Paved walks, 23, 25, 37, 46, 63, 80,

81, 96, 119

Pentstemons, 101, IO2, 107
Pergolas, 15, 46, 51, 54, 55, 76, 8l,

122

Persimmon, 40

Phloxes, 101, 102

Polyanthus 79

Polygonum baldschuanicum, 125

Polystichums, 95

Pool gardening, 84-91, 98, 99

Primroses, 79

Prunus, 21, 24, 58, 59

Pyrus japonica,) 124

Reeds, flowering, 88, 91
Rhododendrons, 66, 112
Rock gardens, 51, 67-74, 81, 108,

112

"Rose Cottage," 94, 97, 100

Rosemary, 97

Roses, 4, 25, 26, 28, 29, 35, 51, 63,

80, 85, 97, 99, loi, 109, 114-

121, 124, 125
Rowbotham, prize-winning design by,

48, 49

Rushes, flowering, 88, 91
Ruskin mentioned, 126

Sagitiaria, 91

St. Catherine's Court garden men-
tioned, 12

Saxifraga, 74, IOO

Seaside gardens, 23

Seats, 14, 25, 29, 46, 65, 97

Sedums, 35, 96, 97

Shakespeare mentioned, 34

Sharp, M . Thornton, .prize-winning
design by, 67, 72, 79

Shrubs, flowering, 4, 23, 24, 27, 47,
58, 59, 60, 79, 81, 97, 109, 123

Sinic a anemone, 108,

Sloping sites, 8

Spring flowering bulbs, 4, 19, 24,
28, 36, 37, 64, 79> 95, 96, "I,

112

133

Index

Stachys lanata, 101, 102, 109

Statice lalifolia, 102

Stepping-stones, 30, 40, 46

Steps, 44, 127 129

Stocks, 101

Stonecrops, 30, 128

Streamside gardens, 88, 89

Sundials, 29, 33-35, 97

Sunk gardens, 15, 30, 43, 51, 64,

83

Sunset beds, 118
Sweetbrier, hedge of, 120
Sweet Peas, 4
Sweet-scented flowers, 13, 19, 24,63,

97, 124
Synngas, 60

Tennis-courts, 65, 76, 81, 84, 104,

106, 109, 127, 129
Tennyson quoted, 78, 113, 116
Thalictrtim, 40, 101
Thuja Lobbt, 27
Thyme, 35, 99, 128
Tobacco plant, 19, 63
Traveller's Joy, 122
Treillage, 28, 54, 76, 96
"Triangle" beds, 81, 116
Tritomas, 101

United States of America, reference

to, 76
Useless paths, 31, 49

Vegetable gardens, 54, 61, 80. 84
Verbascums, 109
Verbena, Lemon, 19, 63
Veronica proslrata, 20, 43
Violas, 63, 99, 101, 102, 117, 118
Violets, 19, 79
Vitis, 108, 125

Wall gardening, 27. 44, 122-126, 131

Water gardening, 84-91, 98

Weall, Mr. J. A., prize- winning
design by, 50

Weeping trees, 97, 10

Westbury- on -Severn garden men-
tioned, 12

Wills, Mr. W. A., design by, 55, 56

Window views, 14, 15, 19, 25-31, 37,
49, 52,56,61, 67, 76, 81, 85,96,
106

Wistaria, 26, 122, 124

Wright, Mr. S. T., n

Yew, 14, 23, 84
Yuccafilamentosa> 100

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