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 colour, 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 colour.
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 colours which do not at close range blend well. In
order to break up extremes of colours 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.
