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Landscape gardening
has often been likened to the painting of a picture. Your
art-work teacher has doubtless told you that a good picture
should have a point of chief interest, and the rest of the
points simply go to make more beautiful the central idea, or
to form a fine setting for it. So in landscape gardening
there must be in the gardener's mind a picture of what he
desires the whole to be when he completes his work.
From this study we shall be able to work out a little theory
of landscape gardening.
Let us go to the lawn. A good extent of open lawn space is
always beautiful. It is restful. It adds a feeling of space
to even small grounds. So we might generalize and say that
it is well to keep open lawn spaces. If one covers his lawn
space with many trees, with little flower beds here and
there, the general effect is choppy and fussy. It is a bit
like an over-dressed person. One's grounds lose all
individuality thus treated. A single tree or a small group
is not a bad arrangement on the lawn. Do not centre the tree
or trees. Let them drop a bit into the background. Make a
pleasing side feature of them. In choosing trees one must
keep in mind a number of things. You should not choose an
overpowering tree; the tree should be one of good shape,
with something interesting about its bark, leaves, flowers
or fruit. While the poplar is a rapid grower, it sheds its
leaves early and so is left standing, bare and ugly, before
the fall is old. Mind you, there are places where a row or
double row of Lombardy poplars is very effective. But I
think you'll agree with me that one lone poplar is not. The
catalpa is quite lovely by itself. Its leaves are broad, its
flowers attractive, the seed pods which cling to the tree
until away into the winter, add a bit of picture squeness.
The bright berries of the ash, the brilliant foliage of the
sugar maple, the blossoms of the tulip tree, the bark of the
white birch, and the leaves of the copper beech all these
are beauty points to consider.
Place makes a difference in the selection of a tree. Suppose
the lower portion of the grounds is a bit low and moist,
then the spot is ideal for a willow. Don't group trees
together which look awkward. A long-looking poplar does not
go with a nice rather rounded little tulip tree. A juniper,
so neat and prim, would look silly beside a spreading
chestnut. One must keep proportion and suitability in mind.
I'd never advise the planting of a group of evergreens close
to a house, and in the front yard. The effect is very gloomy
indeed. Houses thus surrounded are overcapped by such trees
and are not only gloomy to live in, but truly unhealthful.
The chief requisite inside a house is sunlight and plenty of
it.
As trees are chosen because of certain good points, so
shrubs should be. In a clump I should wish some which
bloomed early, some which bloomed late, some for the beauty
of their fall foliage, some for the colour of their bark and
others for the fruit. Some spireas and the forsythia bloom
early. The red bark of the dogwood makes a bit of colour all
winter, and the red berries of the barberry cling to the
shrub well into the winter.
Certain shrubs are good to use for hedge purposes. A hedge
is rather prettier usually than a fence. The Californian
privet is excellent for this purpose. Osage orange, Japan
barberry, buckthorn, Japan quince, and Van Houtte's spirea
are other shrubs which make good hedges.
I forgot to say that in tree and shrub selection it is
usually better to choose those of the locality one lives in.
Unusual and foreign plants do less well, and often harmonize
but poorly with their new setting.
Landscape gardening may follow along very formal lines or
along informal lines. The first would have straight paths,
straight rows in stiff beds, everything, as the name tells,
perfectly formal. The other method is, of course, the exact
opposite. There are danger points in each.
The formal arrangement is likely to look too stiff; the
informal, too fussy, too wiggly. As far as paths go, keep
this in mind, that a path should always lead somewhere. That
is its business to direct one to a definite place. Now,
straight, even paths are not unpleasing if the effect is to
be that of a formal garden. The danger in the curved path is
an abrupt curve, a whirligig effect. It is far better for
you to stick to straight paths unless you can make a really
beautiful curve. No one can tell you how to do this.
Garden paths may be of gravel, of dirt, or of grass. One
sees grass paths in some very lovely gardens. I doubt,
however, if they would serve as well in your small gardens.
Your garden areas are so limited that they should be
re-spaded each season, and the grass paths are a great
bother in this work. Of course, a gravel path makes a fine
appearance, but again you may not have gravel at your
command. It is possible for any of you to dig out the path
for two feet. Then put in six inches of stone or clinker.
Over this, pack in the dirt, rounding it slightly toward the
centre of the path. There should never be depressions
through the central part of paths, since these form
convenient places for water to stand. The under layer of
stone makes a natural drainage system.
A building often needs the help of vines or flowers or both
to tie it to the grounds in such a way as to form a
harmonious whole. Vines lend themselves well to this work.
It is better to plant a perennial vine, and so let it form a
permanent part of your landscape scheme. The Virginia
creeper, wistaria, honeysuckle, a climbing rose, the
clematis and trumpet vine are all most satisfactory.
Close your eyes and picture a house of natural color, that
mellow gray of the weathered shingles. Now add to this old
house a purple wistaria. Can you see the beauty of it? I
shall not forget soon a rather ugly corner of my childhood
home, where the dining room and kitchen met. Just there
climbing over, and falling over a trellis was a trumpet
vine. It made beautiful an awkward angle, an ugly bit of
carpenter work.
Of course, the morning-glory is an annual vine, as is the
moon-vine and wild cucumber. Now, these have their special
function. For often, it is necessary to cover an ugly thing
for just a time, until the better things and better times
come. The annual is 'the chap' for this work.
Along an old fence a hop vine is a thing of beauty. One
might try to rival the woods' landscape work. For often one
sees festooned from one rotted tree to another the
ampelopsis vine.
Flowers may well go along the side of the building, or
bordering a walk. In general, though, keep the front lawn
space open and unbroken by beds. What lovelier in early
spring than a bed of daffodils close to the house? Hyacinths
and tulips, too, form a blaze of glory. These are little or
no bother, and start the spring aright. One may make of some
bulbs an exception to the rule of unbroken front lawn.
Snowdrops and crocuses planted through the lawn are
beautiful. They do not disturb the general effect, but just
blend with the whole. One expert bulb gardener says to take
a basketful of bulbs in the fall, walk about your grounds,
and just drop bulbs out here and there. Wherever the bulbs
drop, plant them. Such small bulbs as those we plant in
lawns should be in groups of four to six. Daffodils may be
thus planted, too. You all remember the grape hyacinths that
grow all through Katharine's side yard.
The place for a flower garden is generally at the side or
rear of the house. The backyard garden is a lovely idea, is
it not? Who wishes to leave a beautiful looking front yard,
turn the corner of a house, and find a dump heap? Not I. The
flower garden may be laid out formally in neat little beds,
or it may be more of a careless, hit-or-miss sort. Both have
their good points. Great masses of bloom are attractive.
You should have in mind some notion of the blending of
color. Nature appears not to consider this at all, and
still gets wondrous effects. This is because of the
tremendous amount of her perfect background of green, and
the limitlessness of her space, while we are confined at the
best to relatively small areas. So we should endeavour not
to blind people's eyes with clashes of colors which do not
at close range blend well. In order to break up extremes of
colors you can always use masses of white flowers, or
something like mignonette, which is in effect green.
Finally, let us sum up our landscape lesson. The grounds are
a setting for the house or buildings. Open, free lawn
spaces, a tree or a proper group well placed, flowers which
do not clutter up the front yard, groups of shrubbery these
are points to be remembered. The paths should lead
somewhere, and be either straight or well curved. If one
starts with a formal garden, one should not mix the informal
with it before the work is done.
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