r-w^'i- he Livable House Its Qarden By Ruth Dean Landscape Architect Class S b^^^ Book. . 33 ^ CopigM}^? CBEaRIGHT DEPOSIT. APPROPRIATE PLANTING lOR A GARDEN DOORWAY House of Mr. James C. Breese, at Southampton, Long Island. McKim, Meade and White, Architects %^^^^^^^^^^^^-^^-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^k^^^^^M THE LIVABLE HOUSE Its Qarden hy Ruth Dean L^a fid scape Ai^chitect h c i n g V o L u M E 2 of the L i V a hie House .V c r i c s e (1 1 1 (■ d h \ -A V »i ci r 6' /J/ h // /■ r // ^ Moffat \'ard am/ Coinpatix T20 West J2nd Street, Ne\\- "^'ork M C MXV I I [^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^-^^^l^^^l^l^^^^^^^^^ Copyright, 1917, by MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY Published May, 1917 m 3^ 19^7 ©C!.A4(52863 To M. W. Introductory ^^'r%^p^j7 very real but undirected interest which we in ^ / I V rT "^, 1 ^ America have alwavs taken in the development of our ^^'^^'^ grounds has of late become more purposeful and (al- though the word is much misused) efficient. We are beginning to realize the simple fact that a lot of flower beds does not necessarilv make a garden, and we as a mass have only very lately discovered that the collection and planting of very beauti- ful specimens of all sorts of trees may detract from, rather than beautify, our grounds. Landscape architecture has, like all arts, a certain scientific side, and although its principles are perhaps not as fixed and definite as, let us say, the principles of mechani- cal engineering, it, nevertheless, has basic and fundamental laws which have been discovered through a series of experiments, and landscape work which is not in accordance with these laws will inevitably fall short of the desired result. We are far too likely to regard the house and its grounds as being two separate and unrelated problems, employing one ex- pert to design the house and another to design the grounds, and permitting these two to work without any harmonic purpose; yet it is as important to the appearance of the house that the grounds be co-ordinated with it, as it is to the place as a w^hole to have the house set naturally upon it. Landscape architecture as a pro- fession is still new, in spite of the enormous success which its first [vii] I n t r o d u great American exponent, Mr. Frederick Law Olmstead, achieved a half century ago, and the members of the profession, talented, brilliant and able as many of them are, do not find the general recognition of the necessity of their services which has only lately been accorded to the architectural profession. Some idea of the very great importance of a capable landscape architect can be ob- tained from the illustrations in this volume, and they prove that the landscape man (or woman) is as mucli a necessitv in the small garden as in the large park, just as an architect is as indispensable to the design of a cottage as he is to that of a theater. Neverthe- less people continue to exercise their own judgment in garden- ing, as they do in architecture and in decoration, with results which in this art do not as a whole approach any more nearly a high level than in the others. People with some knowledge of flowers and with native good taste can plant a garden of a country place which will look well for a while or at certain seasons, but a very expert and technical knowledge of fiowers and shrubs is needed if the place is to continue to improve with age. Much of the planting has of late been done by men from the nurseries, who look at the planting much as a carpenter does when he builds a house of good material without regard for the artistic result; they plant sound, healthy, and shapely trees without thinking of their future development. The layman, when he does his work himself, frequently forgets that the trees which he plants as a border may eventuallv entirelv cut out or smother shrubs behind them, though the latter at the time of planting are the larger. In addition many of us know little of the seasons of flowering or [viii] I n t r o d u c t o r y of the exact varieties of bulbs which will yield most profusely and for the longest time, so that we very frequently hnd a home-made garden beautiful in spring, half blooming in summer, and bar- ren in the autumn. It is to correct just such faults as these that a landscape architect is employed, and in considering the selection of the landscape architect to write this volume of the ''Livable House'' series. Miss Dean was chosen because of her very wide familiarity with the problem of planting with regard to its ulti- mate effect and her great success in work around small iiouses, as well as in larger work. Slie has achieved especial success in the treatment of the house garden, both in informal and in formal ways, and the admirable manner in which she has used native siirubs in combination has tended to give her work a more quiet and less exotic character than that of many of the other members of her profession. Added to this is the fact that her training has been under men who represented rather extreme differences of opinion in regard to landscape work, so that she has been led to perceive the valuable i]ualities of the several types of land- scape architecture and is able to apply to any particular problem the solution which best hts it. As training of this kind leads an artist to a more generous appreciation of the whole field of his or her work, a book written bv such hands will deal in a more broadminded and generous way with all schools of design, than would one written bv a person whose training had been acquired in a certain definite and limited field. Miss Dean has in addi- tion the very valuable faculty of being able to think clearly and express her thoughts simply, so that the results of her knowledge [ix] Introductory are more easily available to the reader than those of many pro- fessional people, who, knowing their business, are yet unable to describe it. Without attempting to survey even briefly the ground covered in this volume, the editor can sincerely say that his professional experience has led him to believe verv thoroughlv in the princi- ples herein set forth, and that he recommends them most earnestly to any one who is interested in the art of gardening. The Editor. [x] Contents PAGE Introductory vii I T H E G R U X D S A S A \A' H L E . . . . I Position of the house ziith respect to exposure, drainage, accessihilitx from street, and possible garden site. Forms and kinds of drives. Grading on approximately level ground and on irregular ground. Terraces, retaining zvalls and steps. IT G E X E R A L P L A X T I X G 5 ^ Foundation planting; purpose of, appropriate and inap- propriate sorts. Border planting; vsoodland and garden- esque. Planting along drives and zvalks. Screen planting. Specimen planting. yPiscellaneous flozver planting. III T H E F LOW ER G ARD E X 83 The "Planned" or, informally, formal garden; its loca- tion, design, arrangement of flozcers, etc. Naturalistic and informal gardens. Location, design, materials. I V T I M E S A X D S E A S X S I 23 Spring planting; trees, shrubs, flozvers, bulbs. Tall plant- ing. Pruning. V G A RDEX Architecture 133 Gate^, zi-alls, pergolas, garden houses, zx:all fountains, figures, seats, sun dials, etc. [xi] The Illustrations APPROPRIATE PLANTING FOR A GARDEN DOORWAY Frontispiece House of Mr. James C. Breese, (it Southampton, Long Island. McKim, Meade and White, Architects PAGE A HOUSE WHOSE LIVING ROOMS OPEN ON A FLOWER GARDEN 3 House of Mr. G. W. Curtis, at Southampton, Lotu/ Island A GARDEN WITH A FOREST FOR BOUNDARY 5 Grounds of Mr. Jonathan Godfrey, at Bridjjeport, Connecticut. F. Burrall Hoffman, Architect : \Iarian C. Coffin, Landscape Architect A WALL WHICH CONNECTS HOUSE WITH GARAGE AND SHUTS OFF THE SERV- ICE Y A R D A S W^ E L L 7 House of Mr. William H. Marland, Brookline, Massachusetts. Kilham and Hopkins, A rehitects FORMAL AND NATURALISTIC VERSIONS OF THE TURN-AROUND 8 A TURN-AROUND SIXTY FEET IN DIAMETER 9 Grounds of Mr. E. L. Winthrop, Syosset, Long Island. Delano and Aid rich, Architects A COMBINATION OF T U R N - A R O U N D AND COURT 10 Estate of J. Percy Keating, Esq., St. Martins, Pennsylvania. Lay and W^heel\vrig;ht, Landscape Architects COURTYARD-TURN 12 Grounds of Mrs. Alexander, Bernardsville, N eiv Jersey. Delano and Aldrich, Architects WALLED COURT TREATMENT OF ENTRANCE DRIVE 13 House of Mrs. Alexander, Bernardsville, Neiv Jersey. Delano and Aldrich, Architects THE COURT YARD OF AN OLD DUTCH FARM HOUSE 15 The Andrew Haring house, at Northvale, Nezv Jersey [xiii] The I I I u s t r a t i o n s PAGE PLAN OF A FORECOURT ON A SMALL PLACE 17 A PLEASING BOX-BORDERED FOOT-PATH . . 19 House of Mr. Marshall Fry, at Southampton, Long Island. Aymar Embury II, Architect AN ANGLE ENTRANCE WITH A FLAG-STONE FOOT PATH 20 House of Mr. L. T. Beale, at St. Davids, Pennsylvania. Mellor and Meigs, Architects STRICTLY FORMAL BRICK WALKS 21 Garden of Mr. Charles W. Leavitt, Landscape Architect COMFORTABLE LOOKING FLAG WALKS . . . 23 "Brookside/' estate of Mr. William Hall Walker. Ferrucio \'itale. Landscape Architect A FRIENDLY GRASS WALK 25 Estate of Air. Michael Jenkins, Roland Park, Baltimore, Maryland Sears and Wendell, Landscape Architects A LONG FLIGHT OF SHALLOW STEPS . . . 26 Estate of Mr. Samuel Heilner, at Cows, Neiv York. Ferrucio Vitale, Landscape Architect A DRIVE WHICH TAKES ADVANTAGE OF A GOOD NATURAL SETTING 27 Residence of Mr. J. Brooks Nichols, at Detroit, Michigan. Chittenden and Kotting, Architects A TERRACE OF GOOD WIDTH 29 "Brookside" estate of Mr. William Hall Walker, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Carrere and Hastings, Architects; Ferrucio Vitale, Landscape Architect A TERRACE OF GOOD WIDTH WITH STEPS TOO OVERGROWN 31 House of Mr. Charles P. Leach, at Ipswich, Massachusetts. Kilham and Hopkins, Architects AN INTERESTING SERIES OF DRY WALLS . 33 "Huntland," estate of Mr. J. B. Thomas, Middleburg, J'irginia Peabody, Wilson and Brown, Architects A TERRACE WALL AND IRON RAILING . . . 35 Detail of the garden of Mr. Charles A. Piatt, Architect, at Cornish, Ne-w Hampshire A RETAINING WALL WHICH IS MORE INTERESTING THAN A GRASS SLOPE WOULD BE 37 Forest Hills Gardens, Forest Hills, Long Island. Grosvenor Atterbury, Architect [xiv] The I I I u s t r a t tons PAGE APPROPRIATE MATERIALS FOR THE SIZE AND CHARACTER 39 "li^eld," garden of Mr. Larz Anderson, Brookline, Massachusetts Charles A. Piatt, Architect A COMBINATION OF MANY MATERIALS WHICH IS NOT UN PLEASING 41 Knickerbocker Golf Club, Tenafly, Nezv Jersey. Ruth Dean, Landscape Architect A GOOD DRY WALL WELL PLANTED .... 43 "The Knoll," estate of Mr. Alvah Crocker, at Fitchburg, Massachusetts Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects A GOOD FLIGHT OF STEPS IN A RETAIN- ING WALL 45 Forest Hills, Long Island. Grosvenor Atterbur^', Architect FOUNDATION PLANTING SHOULD TIE THE HOUSE INTO ITS SURROUNDINGS . . . 53 House of Mrs. George N. Gales, at Great Neck, Long Island. Aymar Embury II, Architect AN INTERESTING COMBINATION OF MATERIALS 55 Garden of R. B. Ward, Esq., at New Rochelle, Neiv York. Thomas W. Sears, Landscape Architect RHODODENDRONS ARE BEST COMBINED WITH OTHER KINDS OF PLANTS . . . 57 Forest Hills Gardens, Forest Hills, Long Island. Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects CEDARS USED PROPERLY NEAR A HOUSE WALL 59 House of Mr. W. E. Seeley, Bridgeport, Connecticut. Murphy and Dana, Architects AN EXCEPTION TO THE RULE OF NO FLOWERS ABOUT THE HOUSE FOUNDATION 61 Garden of Mrs. J. Clifton Edgar, at Greenwich, Connecticut. Marian C. Coffin, Landscape Architect PLANT A POND WITH THOSE TREES AND SHRUBS WHICH GROW NATURALLY N E A R W A T E R 63 "Gravetye ," estate of William Robinson, Esq., at Kingscote, Sussex, England. Courtesy of Air. Thomas W. Sears THE CORNERS OF FLOWER BEDS ARE HERE REINFORCED BY SHRUBS 65 Garden of Charles A. Piatt, Architect, at Cornish, Nezc Hampshire [xv] The 1 I I u s t r a t ions PAGE DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING PLANTING IN THE BEND OF A DRIVE 66 A CURVING PATH WELL PLANTED 67 Garden of Mr. Edward E. Sprague, at Flushing, Long Island. Marian C. Coffin. Landscape Architect A TWISTED "SPECIMEN" TREE RESPON- SIBLE FOR MUCH OF THE CHARM OF THE FOUNTAIN 69 Grosvenor Atterbury, Architect ; Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects SEVERAL SETS OF "SPECOIEN" PLANTS ARE USED AGREEABLY ON THIS TERRACE 71 House of Miss R. H03 1, at Southampton, Long Island. Hiss and Weeks, Architects ; Ferrucio Vitale, Landscape Architect SPRING BULBS NATURALIZED IN THE GRASS 72 Garden of Edward E. Sprague, Esq., at Flushing, Long Island. Marian C. Coffin, Landscape Architect A PATH WITH PLANTS WHICH EMPHASIZE ITS WOODLAND CHARACTER 73 Estate of Mr. W. B. H. Dowse, at West Newton, Massachusetts Pray, Hubbard and White, Landscape Architects THE FIRST TWO ARE ADVISABLE FORMS TO WHICH TO SHEAR A HEDGE, THE THIRD INADVISABLE 74 A STRAIGHT FLOWER-BORDERED WALK . . 75 Estate of Edward E. Sprague, Esq., at Flushing, Long Island. Marian C. Coffin, Landscape Architect A GOOD COMBINATION OF VINES AND FLOWERS AGAINST A WALL 77 Garden of Charles W. Hubbard, Esq., at Auburndale, Massachusetts Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects A SHADED ALLEY WHICH FORMS THE ENTRANCE 85 Garden of Miss Fannie Mulford, at Hempstead, Long Island. Ruth Dean, Landscape Architect AN ANTE ROOM TO THE GARDEN 87 House at Villa Nova, Pennsylvania. Duhring, Okie and Ziegler, Architects [xvi] The Illustrations PAGE AN "ALL-OVER PATTERN" GARDEN — VIEW TAKEN FROM "A" ON PLAN 89 Garden of Mr. Aymar f^mbury II, Jrchitect. at Englewood, A'rzr Jersey PLAN OFTHE GARDEN 90 Of Air. Aymar Embury II, Architect, Englewood, l\h-w Jersey A GARDEN WELL SURROUNDED 91 Garden of Air. A. H. Storer, at Ridgcfield, Connecticut. Lay and Wheelwright, Landscape Architects A GARDEN WITH A NATURAL FOREST BACKGROUND 93 Estate of Air. Charles W. Hubbard, at Weston, Alassachusetts Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects PLAN OF THE GARDEN 95 Of Air. Charles W. Hubbard, at Weston, ^Lissachasetts. (Mmsted Brothers, J^andscape Architects A BOUNDARY WHICH Li:VIITS THE GARDEN WITHOUT SHUTTING IT IN 97 Estate of Air. Charles W. Hubbard. Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects FLOWER BEDS BORDERING A CENTRAL STRETCH OF TURF 98 Estate of Air. Michael Jenkins, at Roland Park, Baltimore. Alaryland Sears and Wendell, Landscape Architects A GARDEN WITH AN OPEN CENTER . . . . OQ Grounds of Air. Jonathan Godfre\-, at Bridgeport, Connecticut Marian C. Coffin, Landscape Architect; F. Burrall Hoffman, Architect A CENTRAL GRASS PANEL OUTLINED BY BOX loi Garden of Air. Marshall Fr\, at Southampton, Lonr/ Island.- Aymar Embury II. Architect THE EDGE OF A POOL SHOULD NOT BE ENTIRELY SURROUNDED BY PLANTING 102 Garden of Air. H. H. Rogers, at Southampton, Long Island. Walker and Gilbert, Architects WATERSIDE PLANTS GROWING NEAR A FORMAL POOL 103 Garden of Airs. Harry Payne Whitney, at Westbury, Long Island Delano and Aldrich, Architects [xvii] The III u s t r a t ions WATER LILY PADS WHICH LEAVE A PLEASING WATER SURFACE OPEN FOR REFLECTIONS 105 House of Mr. Thomas H. Kerr, at White Plains, Nezr York. Albro and Lindeberg, Architects FALLS AT THE END OF THE SWIMMING POOL 106 Estate of Mr. K. D. Alexander, at Spring Station, Kentucky. Jens Jensen, Landscape Architect A TERRACE GARDEN WITH A POOL AGAINST THE WALL 107 Grounds of Air. H. H. Rogers, at Tuxedo, Neiv York. \Valker and Gillette, Architects A "STUDIED HAP-HAZARD" GARDEN . . . . 109 At Bedford Hills, Nezr York. Pray, Hubbard and White, Landscape A rehitccts A NATURALISTIC SWIMMING POOL . . . .110 On the grounds of Mr. K. D. Alexander, at Spring Station, Kentucky Jens Jensen, Landscape Architect AN UNUSUALLY GOOD PIECE OF ROCK WORK Ill Estate of Mr. K. D. Alexander, at Spring Station, Kentucky. Jens Jensen, Landscape Architect PLANS OF A COUNTRY PLACE 113 At Bedford Hills, \en' York "THE SPRING" IX A ROCK GARDEN . . . .114 At Newport, Rhode Island. Pray. Hubbard and White, Landscape A rehitccts PLANTING CHARACTERISTIC OF THE MARSHY STREAMS NEAR CHICAGO . .115 Estate of Mr. Harry Rubens, Glencoe, Illinois. Jens Jensen, Landscape Architect PLANTING WHICH IS CONVINCINGLY NATURALISTIC 117 Estate of C. S. Walton, Esq., at St. Davids, Pennsylvania. Sears and Wendell, Landscape Architects PLAN FOR THE POOL 118 Estate of H. Rubens, Glencoe, Illinois AN ARCH AS A FRAME DOUBLES THE INTEREST IN A GARDEN i34 Grounds of Mr. H. H. Rogers, at Southampton, Long Island. Walker and Gillette, Architects ; Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects [xviii] The I I I u s t a t I o n A GATEWAY WHICH MAKES AN ORDINARY PATH INTERESTING 136 Forest Hills Gardens. Forest Hills, Long Island. Wilson Eyre, Jrcliitect A PLEASING GATE AT FOREST HILLS . . .137 Grosvenor Atterbur\ , Architeet A GATE OF ORIGINAL DESIGN 138 House of Mr. Daniel E. Pomeroy, at Englewood, Neic Jersey. A\ mar Embury II, Arehiteet A PLEASING WALL WITH STUCCO FINISH AND MOLDED BRICK CAP 141 "Huntland." Estate of Mr. J. B. Thomas, at Middleburg, Jirginia Peabody, Wilson and Brown, Architects SIMPLE ROSE ARCHES OF VERY GOOD DESIGN .142 A GATEWAY AND ARBOR AT HAMILTON FARM 142 A W^ALL PERGOLA WITH VALUABLE PLANTING SPACE AT ITS BASE . . . .143 Garden of Mr. Jonathan Godfrey, at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Mariaii C. Coffin, Landscape Architect ; F. Burrall Hoffman, Architect A FAUN 144 J. C. Kraus, Stoneivorkcr A DELIGHTFUL OLD GARDEN HOUSE. . . .145 Designed by Samuel Maclntire in 17 gg on the Osborn estate at Peabody, Massachusetts A USUAL FIGURE WHICH IS VERY PLEASING 147 E. Lucchesi, Stonenorker A FINE REPRODUCTION OF A NEO- GRCECQUE PHILOSOPHER 147 J. C. Kraus, Stoneicorker A GOOD TERMINAL FIGURE FOR PATH ... 148 ANOTHER TERMINAL FIGURE FOR PATH . . 148 AGARDEN HOUSE 149 On the (/rounds of Mr. Charles W. Hubbard, Auburndale, Massachusetts Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects A FRUIT BASKET FOR A GARDEN GATE POST .150 J. C. Kraus, Stoneworker [xix] The I I I u s t r a t i o n DOORWAY IN THE GARDEN OE AIRS. ROBERT C. HILL 151 At Easthampton, Long Ishmd. Des'ujncd by Mrs. Robert C. Hill A GLIMPSE THROUGH THE GATE INTO "GREY GARDENS" 152 Easthampton, Long Island. Mrs. Robert C. Hill, Landscape Architect AN UNUSUALLY GOOD WALL OF CONCRETE 153 Garden of Mrs. Robert C. Hill, at Easthampton, Long Island A BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED DOORWAY . . .154 In the garden of Air. C. L. Ring, at Saginaw, Michigan. Charles A. Piatt, Architect A GOOD GARDEN ENTRANCE . .155 On the grounds of Mr. Jonathan Godfrey, at Bridgeport, Connecticut F. Burrall Hoffman, Architect; Alarian C. Coffin, Landscape A rchitect STONE COIGNS AND CAP F0R:\I A GOOD CONTRAST TO THE PLAIN SURFACE OF THE WALL 156 Grounds of Mr. Bronson Winthrop, at Syosset, Long Island. Delano and Aldrich, Architects A PERGOLA GATE OF INTERESTING MATERIALS AND DESIGN 157 Garden of C. S. Walton, Esq., at St. Davids, Pennsylvania. Sears and Wendell, Landscape Architects A WALL OF REFINED DESIGN 158 Garden of Mrs. E. S. Clark, Pomfret, Connecticut. Charles A. Piatt, Architect A GATE POST OF SIMPLE DIGNIFIED DESIGN . . .159 Estate of Mr. Willard Straight, at Westbury, Long Island A. F. Brinckerhoff, Landscape Architect A CLEVER TRELLIS TREATMENT OF A HIGH WALL . . . . .160 In the garden of Mr. Charles Biddle, at Andalusia, Pennsylvania Mellor and Meigs, Architects AN UNUSUALLY GOOD BIT OF "RUSTIC WORK" .161 Garden of Mrs. J. Clifton Edgar, at Greenwich, Connecticut. Marian C. Coffin, Landscape Architect A FENCE OF CHESTNUT PALINGS BETWEEN BRICKPIERS 162 Garden of Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, Westbury, Long Island Delano and Aldrich, Architects [xx] The I I I a s t r a t i o n s THE WHITE PICKET FENCE OF A DOOR-YARD GARDEN 163 House of Mrs. Harrison Sanford, at Litchfield, Conmcticut. Restored by Aymar Embury II, Architect SUCCESSFUL USE OF A FREE-STANDING WALL 164 In the grounds of Mr. Mortimer L. Schiff, at Oyster Bay, Long Island James L. Greenleaf, Landscape Architect ARBOR IN THE CENTRE OF A CURVED TRELLIS 165 Garden of Miss Fannie IMulford, at Hempstead, Long Island. Ruth Dean, Landscape Architect AN OLD DUTCH GARDEN 166 On the Paramus Road near Hohokus, Neiv Jersey GAZEBO OF THE ROY ALL HOUSE 167 At Medford, Massachusetts AN AMUSING WALL FOUNTAIN 168 At "Brookside," Estate of Mr. William Hall Walker, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Ferrucio V^itale, Landscape Architect A WALL FOUNTAIN COMBINED WITH A POOL 169 Garden of Mr. H. H. Rogers, at Tuxedo, New York. Walker and Gillette. Architects A GARDEN ENTRANCE FOR WHOSE CHARAI AGE IS RESPONSIBLE 170 House at So Federal Street, Salem, Massachusetts. Samuel Mclntyre, Architect, 17 82 A DOVE COT 171 In the Garden of Mrs. Robert C. Hill, at Easthampton, Long Island A WROUGHT IRON LANTERN AND BRACKET 172 At Forest Hills Gardens, Forest Hills, Long Island. Grosvenor Atterbury, Designer TWO BENCHES OF INTERESTING DESIGN BACKED UP BY TRELLIS 173 Ralph Adams Cram, Architect A REPRODUCTION OF AN OLD RENAIS- SANCE URN 174 At Hamilton Farm, Gladstone, Neiv Jersey. Ruth Dean, Landscape Architect ; J. C. Kraus, Stoneivorker [xxi] The Grounds as a Whole THE LIVABLE HOUSE Its Garden CHAPTER ONE The G r v y, d s as a Whole #^4"^# NGLISH people have a pleasant wav of referrins^ to •^ H "^ the entire grounds about a house as ''the garden," in- ^^ n ^ . @'^*^*^# eluding in the term not only the portions actually given over to flowers and vegetables, of which we are accustomed to think as "garden," but lawns and brooks and al- most any area which cannot be dignified by such a term as "park," "wood," "meadow," or "vineyard"; and by making the word plural and speaking of "the gardens" they are able to include these as well. It is a very pleasing use of the word; if one has only a back yard containing a few shrubs and a flower border, one likes to think of it as something more than a back yard, and to dignify it by the title of garden is to lift it at once out of the com- pany of clothes poles and garbage receptacles and turn it into an attractive and inviting spot. The term ''garden" for purposes of this book is going to adopt the attributes of its English cousins, and include everything be- tween the doorstep and the property line. [i] The Livable Ho n s e The relation of the doorstep to the property line, however, is dependent upon the location of the house, the choice of which five important factors should influence. These are — exposure to sun and breezes; second, drainage, natural and artificial; third, ac- cessibility from the street; fourth, the amount of grading neces- sitated; and fifth, a possible garden site. These factors have to be weighed with one another and sometimes the less important sacrificed for the more — but their consideration emphasizes one point greatly to be desired, that of planning the house with refer- ence to the type of land on which it is to be built, or putting it in reverse order, the choice of a piece of property which will suit the style of house one has decided to build. Formal symmetrical h(nises should not be built where they cling precariously to steep hillsides or sit uneasily on inadequate and specially created plateaux; an informal, picturesque style of archi- tecture can be fitted comfortably into the uneven surfaces of hill- sides; the classic house with its regular lines and balanced plan should find a site on a level or gently rolling sweep of ground. The important point is that house and land be considered together. But whatever the kind of house, and whether or not it suit its particular piece of property, it is only sensible to place it so that the main living rooms catch the greatest amount of sunlight and summer breezes, and avoid dour shade and winter winds. The latter consideration works out almost automatically, because sum- mer winds are usuallv south winds, and those of winter, north; so that the house which benefits by summer breezes thereby turns its back to the north. Moreover, the question of sunlight does not [2] / / ^^^ G a d ^ o -^ ^ :^ w Ph ^ o o ^ KD ^ r-i o w O ?1 Oq J5 [3] The Livable House conflict with this consideration because, generally speaking, the south and east offer the greatest amount of desirable light. It fol- lows that a house on the south or west side of a street would have to face toward the rear or side of its lot in order to capture a maximum of light and air; but this is not the heretic suggestion it would have been considered in the days when back doors were unfeignedly back doors and, as such, neglected to the point of ugliness. Nowadays a service court, walled or hedged round about, has its own charm, and is very often on the street side of the house in order to leave the living rooms free to face a fine view or a flower garden. Which moves the fifth point, — the pos- sible garden site, up to second place, and I am not sure but that it deserves an earlier consideration than my efforts to treat it im- partially first accorded it. Generally speaking, a southern or southwestern exposure is best for the flower garden — and, if the house has been wisely planned and placed, one or more of the main rooms will give on such an exposure, so as to make the garden enjoyable immediately from the house. No garden should be built where it will come in the way of a distant view, but should lie rather where it may be walled round by the house and some natural boundary, such as a wood or a hill; seen in connection with any great distance the garden grows in- significant; it must be treated as an outdoor room, with outdoor walls to give it scale and importance, and that close, intimate feeling which is part of a garden's charm. House and garden ought to be considered simultaneously, and such a position on the [4] / / .V G a r d [5] The Livable House property chosen as will accommodate not only the building itself but the garden as well, in order that the two may be treated as a unit and the garden continue the lines of the house. Preferably it should continue them away from the road or en- trance side of the house in order to catch something of the remote feeling which belongs to woods and fields, and will not co-exist with automobiles and deliyery wagons. These necessities should be provided for in such a way as to leave one side of the house free for garden, and as much of the grounds as possible unbroken by road ; which means that forethought must be brought to bear when the house is being planned and such details settled as the position of the furnace, so that the finished house will not be discovered with a coal window accessible only through the flower garden, or a garage occupying the best possible outlook from the living-room windows. Nine times out of ten on a place too small to provide room for tucking the garage and outbuildings away out of sight from the house, these buildings will group advantageously near the kitchen wing, even form a part of the same structure by the use of such connecting features as grape arbors or trellis or the much-misused pergola. An arrangement by which the service portions of a place are kept together automatically guarantees one or more sides of the house open for lawn or garden, or both, and makes for convenience as well. But with the wisdom of this plan admitted, it is often no easy thing to so place the gnjup on the ground as to make it accessible from the street with any beauty or dignity of approach, not to mention ease and convenience. [6] / G a n a, o c I?— ( rn [7] T h e L a b I House Sifted down to first principles, there are but three forms which an entrance drive may take. First, the drive which ends FOR M AL AND NATU RALISTIC VERSIONS OF THE TURN- AROUND in a turn-around; second, the horseshoe or U-shaped drive; and third, the drive which terminates in a yard or court. The first admits of more variation and amplification than the others, and is probably most often used. Formal and naturalistic versions of this kind of drive are shown side by side on this page. [8] G a d n [9] r h L I V a b I House JT- MAHTJAJ /.AAX- A COMBINATION OF TURNAROUND AND COURT Estate of J. Percy Keating, Esq., St. Martins, Pennsylvania. Lay and Wheelwright, Landscape Architects [lo] Its Garden The formal plan needs a great deal of space in order to make it effective, for the dignity of any vista depends largely upon its length, and such a scheme as this should not be attempted in connection with any but a formal house, with almost unlimited space in front of it. The freer sort of turn-around is more adapt- able and can be managed in less room, for it is possible to so plant such a drive as to disguise its limits. But it is not possible to reduce these limits to a circle of less than sixty feet outside diam- eter, unless the entire turn-around be given over to gravel; eighty feet is a more comfortable minimum. Mr. Keating's place at St. Martins illustrates a clever scheme for a drive on a small place. It is a combination of turn-around and court, — and occupies what under ordinary circumstances would be the entire front yard. The space inside the wall is 95x61; feet, and the drive is 15 feet wide. A straight service drive leads to the garage at the rear of the property, and it is worth noting in connection with this plan that the garage is off centre with the drive, so that from the street one may not look straight down the drive into the yawning doors of the garage. Curving the drive a little, so as to plant out the direct line of vision, accomplishes the same result, but requires more space than is available between property line and house, on this plan. The plan and photograph of Mrs. Alexander's place at Ber- nardsville, illustrates much the same sort of entrance arrangement on a larger scale. A turn which takes the form of an ellipse, or some variant of an ellipse, is more agreeable than the simple, obvious circle. The [II] T h L I V a b I H o u s e -HOVJE: for iV^'ALEXANDER- -BER-N-^RDJVULE-.NE^' JER5EY ~ ; -DElANO-S.ALDRiCH -ARCHITECTS - COURTYARD-TURN Grounds of Mrs. Alexander, Bernardsville, New Jersey. Delano and Aldrich, Architects [12] / G a d n [13] The Livable House latter, because of its regularity of outline, is difficult to plant in- terestingly, and is apt to be left, except for a tree or bush in the centre, totally unplanted, with the whole turn barrenly visible. But like the failure of the book, whose end is readable from the beginning, to invite us beyond the first chapter, and the picture whose beauties are all apparent in a flash to hold our attention, the turn-around which is to be seen in its entirety lacks the charm which goes along with mystery; the well-designed road, on the other hand, does not reveal at once all that lies ahead, but con- trives by a combination of form and grading and planting to lead up to the house in an inviting way. Even when the road is squeezed into the smallest possible compass, and there is no longer room left in which to imagine anything but how to get the auto- mobile around in the least damaging w^ay, a few shrubs and a tree or tw^o are desirable, just for the sake of ornament. They may not create an illusion as to what lies ahead, but they take away an otherwise barren look and increase the apparent size of the turn by concealing somewhat its limitations. The ''horseshoe" or U-shaped drive is a useful subterfuge which offers an infallible way out of the difficulty of a drive in a shallow yard. It delivers one neatly at the front door and presents no disconcerting sharp turns or awkward necessities for backing, such as the cramped turn-around is apt to abound in. Its very obvious- ness is probably the chief argument to be used against it; this, and the fact that it necessitates two entrances. Like the circular turn, it is more often than not uninterestingly regular in outline, with its end too apparent from the beginning, though this latter objec- ' ■ [14] G a d n [15] The Livable House tion can be met by skillful planting and grading. If the road surface be sunk slightly below the surrounding lawn, or, to put it another way, if the lawn be crowned toward the centre, the ex- tent of the road will be minimized, and one side made almost, if not quite, invisible from the other. This, with planting in one or both of the curves, w^ill reduce the effect of a drive which leads into a place only to lead out again. The third sort of road, that which ends in a yard or court, goes about solving the drive difficulty in a dififerent way from either of the other two. Instead of trying to minimize the extent of road necessary by a stretch of green in the centre, it sets aside a certain space for turning, surfaces it all over like the drive, and then walls it in, or fences it off, or plants it out. On a big place such a drive oftenest takes the form of a forecourt, and pre- supposes a more or less formal arrangement of buildings. On a small place a forecourt is seldom used, for the reason that it means sacrificing too much space in front of the house. But there is no reason why such a scheme could not be made very delightful, given a type of house adaptable to this treatment; a house which would take kindly to walls and fences and a paved English court. I am free to admit that I have never seen such a plan carried out in connection with the small house, but it is, I think, very well worth trying. The plan on page 17 illustrates the scheme, and embodies all sorts of ideas which do not appear on the sur- face, tall sunflowers and larkspur against a whitewashed wall, and a weathered bench under a twisted old tree, as well as the flag- stones (which might be brick) laid in a pattern. A picture of one [16] G a d n PLAN OF A FORECOURT ON A SMALL PLACE One uay of soiv'iny the drive problem [17] The Livable House of those story-book English courtyards will serve to illustrate the spirit of the thing. Regarded from a strictly utilitarian point of view, the court- yard may be removed to the side or back of the house, and there used as a combination service and garage yard and turn-around. A car can back and turn in a space about forty feet square, which may be planted out so as to be practically invisible from the house. This arrangement, with a drive which runs alongside the house, probably cuts the grounds up the least, and entails the smallest amount of drive construction. It means, however, that no car has an exit without proceeding to the yard and turning, or else adopting the somewhat inconvenient expedient of backing out. If the drive happens to be narrow, the grass borders and the owner's temper suffer correspondingly. A ten-foot road, widened to twelve or fourteen feet on the turns, is enough for one car to proceed comfortably. If the road be a long one this width is apt to look narrow, and should be broadened to twelve feet for appearance's sake. A twelve-foot road, however, is not wide enough for two cars to pass, and if this necessity is going to arise, the drive should be increased to fifteen feet. The commonest material, and probably the most satisfactory, for drive construction on private grounds is crushed stone. Where stone is very plentiful locallv, the foundation may be made of coarse stone with the finer layers on top, but in regions where stone must be shipped in, cinders may be used as a base. A crushed stone foundation sometimes obviates the necessity of subsurface [i8] / t G a d n [19] T h L i V a b I House AN ANGLE ENTRANCE WITH A FLAG STONE FOOT-PATH House of Mr. L. T. Beale, at St. Davids, Pennsylvania. Mellor and Meigs, Architects [20] G a d n STRICTLY FORMAL BRICK WALKS Garden of Mr. Charles W. Leavitt, Landscape Architect [21] The Livable House drains, but in places where there is liable to be standing water any foundation will need drains of one sort or another. A tile drain laid under one gutter will usually take care of the sub-drainage and may be utilized in carrying ofif the surface water by means of tiles run to it from the catch basins. All drains should be laid at least three feet six inches below grade in the region of New York, in order to go down below the frost line. In cases where the sub-soil is a very hard clay which retains the water, two drains, one under each gutter mav be necessary. The most important point in road construction is to have the sub- soil well drained, because thorough drainage is essential to a good foundation. A sub-soil which holds water will make the entire road soft and spongy, and no amount of top dressing will be of per- manent value. For a careful and thorough treatise on road-mak- ing, see Mr. Ira Osborn Baker's "Roads and Pavements." Gutters may be made of any one of a number of materials equally satisfactory. Brick, stone, asphalt block, concrete, are all structurally adaptable. But they all have the same unpleasant quality of defining the road, and making it stand out from the lawn. Sod gutters should be used whenever possible, or better still gutters should be dispensed with altogether in places where they are not absolutely necessary to carry olT the surface drainage. In the consideration of approaches to the house, one is apt to ignore completely the place of the footpath, which, in these days of plentiful automobiles, has happily become not entirely extinct. The idea of convenience in rainy weather, which makes all of us who have once suffered a drenching of our best clothes unwilling [22] / t s G a d n n COMFORTABLE LOOKING FLAG WALKS "Brookside," Estate of Mr. William Hall Walker Ferrucio Vitale, Landscape Architect [23] The Livable House to walk to the doorstep, is one which might well be sacrificed for the improved appearance of the grounds. A house which is nearer the road than seventy-five feet should content itself with a side drive and a walk. Four feet six inches is a minimum width for such a walk, be- cause a narrower path does not permit two people to walk abreast; nothing so cramps a place, and detracts from that spacious air of ease and dignity, which is one of its most desirable attributes, as narrow walks. Materials for paths present a much wider range than those for drives, and it is sometimes hard to choose among the attractive array of bricks and tiles of various sorts, fiags, stone, and slate, as well as the old standbyes, crushed stone and gravel. I am pur- posely omitting cement walks from this catalogue because of their extreme ugliness. They are irretrievably harsh and glaring in appearance, and so far as I have been able to discover have no quality to recommend them except their great convenience. This under some circumstances, I am loath to admit, is sufficient. Brick, tile, and gravel are best adapted to formal use, broken flags with the grass growing between are essentially informal in spirit, although the degree of formality of almost any of these materials is affected by the border treatment of the walk. For instance, no path with fiowers growing close to its border and bending over the edge can be formal, strictly speaking. A turf border between the flowers and the walk contributes to its for- mality, and a trimmed hedge or coping along the edge prac- tically insures it. [24] t s G a d n [25] T h L i V a b I H O II A LONG FLIGHT OF SHALLOW STEPS Estate of Mr. Samuel Heilner, at Cows, New^ York. Ferrucio Vitale, Landscape Architecl [26] / G a d n A DRIVE WHICH TAKES ADVANTAGE OF A GOOD NATURAL SETTING Residence of Mr. J. Brooks Nichols, at Detroit, Michigan. Chittenden and Rotting, Architects [27] The Livable House It seems hardly necessary to write admonitions against the need- lessly serpentine walk. The path which winds its way across thirty unobstructed feet of front lawn is an error we like to think of as Victorian, for almost every one has come to realize that a path, in order to curve pleasingly, must have some excuse, either natural or artificial, for curving. The average dooryard path performs its duty best and is therefore most attractive in running a straightforward course from gate to door. The inevitable ex- ceptions to this rule bring their own solutions. The two points which remain unconsidered in a choice of the house site — drainage and grading — are more or less interdepend- ent. When the question of good drainage arises the prospective house builder naturally looks about for a hill on which to place his house. And in this connection a popular fallacy has grown up about the location of the house which is as firmly adhered to, as is the idea that stripes make fat people look thin. If a piece of property ofifers a choice of sites, one of which is a hilltop, the owner invariably chooses the highest point, telling himself that high ground is healthful and that low ground is the haunt of mosquitoes, dampness, and disease; and that, moreover, the view from his hilltop is unexcelled and affords a complete panorama of the countryside. What he overlooks in such a choice is that his view probably includes all of his neighbor's houses and barns, whereas if he were just under the brow of the hill he would escape these, along with the racking winter winds of the hilltop, and at the same time have the feeling of greater space and breadth which comes with privacy. Almost always his own place will [28] G a d n [29] The Livable House offer no end of delightful little views of its own, which are far more entertaining and various than the impersonal and tiring (if seen constantly) panorama of the whole countryside. This view would be much more effective reserved as an occasional treat to be seen from a garden house reached by climbing a winding path up the hill, than it would be if constantly spread out before one. From the point of view of economy, a hilltop usually means more road construction and steeper grades than a hillside, and, if one happens to be concerned about this item, more landscape work. By the time the house has crowned the hilltop it is apt to have surmounted all of the trees, and sticks up bare and com- manding above their tops. Down a little low^r among the foliage of the trees, with the hillside as a background, it would fit much more agreeably into its surroundings and form an infinitely more pleasing picture than outlined starkly against the sky. Drainage would seem on the face of it to be taken care of by nature for the house on the hill; as a matter of fact it has prob- lems of its own, especially if the hill be steep, quite as difficult as the house on bottom land with a marsh to be drained. Rain torrents, which rush down the road carrying its surface along, must be provided for by frequent catch basins and adequate drains. Lawns are apt to be difficult to get and maintain, complicated often by the necessity of steep terraces or their costly alternative, retaining w^alls. The problem of too little water with which one is confronted on the hilltop is less easily and more expensively solved than that of too much, which dampens one's enthusiasm for a bottom land site. Agricultural tile drains are simpler, much [30] G a d n A TERRACE OF GOOD WIDTH WITH STEPS TOO OVERGROWN House of Mr. Charles P. Leach, at Ipswich, Massachusetts. Kilham and Hopkins, Architects [31] The Livable House cheaper, and more reliable, however, than pumps and wells, and raise a point worth a second consideration in the location of one's house. It is an axiom that the general slope of the land should be away from the house, an axiom which refers to the land immediately surrounding the house, however, rather than to the entire grounds. It might appear, for example, that a house placed twenty feet from the foot of a hill would be more or less inundated after a rain, by surface water running down hill. But the simple ex- pedient of grading the intervening twenty feet, with a pitch to- ward the hill would prevent such a disaster. Any house built on hard clay or rock is apt to be troubled by dampness or actual wetness from the subsurface water, unless it is provided with a foundation drain. This is exactly what its name describes — a drain laid around the foundations of the house to carry off the water which invariably collects where the soil is least dense. But the value of grading is not confined to its usefulness in rela- tion to proper drainage. It adds to the beauty of the grounds or detracts from it materially, according as it is skillfully or poorly managed. On approximately level ground the problems of grading are apt to be less troublesome, though not so interesting in results as those of a more uneven site. It is a mistake to flatten out too ruthlessly irregularities in surface, for more often than not a garden built on different levels has greater charm than one which presents an even stretch to the eye. Even a slight difference in levels may [32] G a d n c5 CO J ^ >. ^ TS < o C3 ^ >- ^ ^ Q fe :^ O bJD - -> rn ^ ^ W h-H -o ^ pri T3 ^ w s-^ CO ^ c c^ > a S 2 o *-* ^ ^ pq 1— ( H H PQ C/2 W 1 — ) -V vl a ^ H Z ■^ HH 1^ =-5 ^ ^ < r -o G 03 ,»— < 4— i r^ 3 D^ [33] The Livable House sometimes be emphasized to good advantage, and the apparent drop from one point to another exaggerated. Mr. Ferrucio Vitale has accomplished a pleasing deception of this sort in the garden of Mr. Samuel Heilner, where the actual difference in heights is only three and one-half feet. By making shallow risers and tilting the tread back so as to lose an inch or so which has to be regained on each riser he has made the flight of steps much longer than is necessary, and in so doing has created the illusion of a real hill. In many ways the casual observer may be hoodwinked by such differences in levels. A perfectly flat piece of land always ap- pears slightly concave, and needs a small crown in order to make it seem flat. Moreover, the effect of a concave surface is de- cidedly to shorten a stretch of ground, which, on the other hand, mav be equallv lengthened in appearance by a convex grading. Any artificial variation in the surface of land which is naturally flat should be small or spread over b'g surfaces, in order not to seem stiff' and unnatural. Abrupt differences in levels, when they become necessary, may be softened by planting. Naturalistic groups of native shrubs and trees planted at strategic points, such as the junction of a level stretch and the beginning of a slope or on an awkward rise, will excuse a grade which, bare of planting, would seem forced and unnatural. Such artificial changes in level are extremelv useful. For example, shrubs or trees planted with the idea of shutting out unpleasant objects will, under most circumstances, accomplish this end much sooner for having the head start offered by a hill or mound. Grading the boundary up [34] G a r d n ^ o • I— ( ^ 1—1 O U t«» h— 1 'S < ■*-? ^ ^ ^ •*^ ^ ^j o ^ aj -i-j" 1 — 1 4—1 OS Q ^ <^ < <^ ^ 5^ W O K < ^ ^ e^ ^ O w ^ Ui W 3 H^ ^^ -1— 1 --Q < W ^ o (—1 c^^ > oo C/5 o S^ rD W >; HH 0_ ^ ^ ^« ^ l-H « o ^Cc/^ ^ c/T JP^ K jO ■1— > rXi ^<1 OJ ^^ ;zi o< CD ^rc s^ C3 o 1 — 1 'Xi < "^ H ii: W 4-1 CD aj P^ u ^ < Cxh [37] The Livable House worth its weight in gold," but this scarcity of materials is some- thing which must be anticipated and the house designed to grow up out of the hillside, without the need of a wide platform to give it the look of stability. A good general rule to follow in determining the width of terraces is to make them equal to the distance from ground fine to eaves, with a minimum width of twelve feet. The picture of the Walker house illustrates an ample terrace and the effect which it gives the house of spacious dignity. An architectual treatment of a terrace such as this (or one in a simpler style), if it is well done, is apt to be rather more satisfactory than a terrace ending in a grassy slope. In other words, a retaining wall for portions of the grounds near the house or those connected with the garden is more desirable than a turf bank. A grass terrace is always somewhat indefinite as to ending and somewhat difficult to stop. For naturalistic work, where the terrace may be treated in an irregular manner and allowed to fade away into the sur- rounding lawn, it is satisfactory enough, but where it is used architecturally and made to conform to a regular outline it is both stupid and awkward to handle. Further than this, grass on a slope, if it be at all steep, is difficult to maintain and liable to burn out in midsummer. A wall, on the contrary, offers no unpleasant obstacles to main- tenance; it gains additional space for the garden and ofifer§ no end of opportunities for interesting treatment. Unlike the vajgue terminus which the grass slope forms, it provides a definite point at which to stop the terrace and an opportunity to treat its top with [38] G a d 11 A P P R O P R 1 A r E MATERIALS FOR THE SIZE AND CHARACTER "Weld," Garden of Mr. Larz Anderson, Brookline, Massa- chusetts. Charles A. Piatt, Architect [39] The Livable Ho u a balustrade or railing or planting, for some form of coping is desirable to give a finish to the terrace and prevent the "falling- off" feeling one has in the absence of such a boundary. Unfor- tunately walls are costly of construction and must often for this reason be supplanted by grass terraces. But wherever it is pos- sible, walls should be given the preference and welcomed as opportunities for adding interest to the garden. The picture of "Huntland" would be stupid indeed if the series of dry walls were to be replaced by grass banks, and a slope of turf would make but a poor background to Mr. Piatt's garden in place of the walled terrace with its pleasing iron rail. Good use is made of retaining walls in connection with the houses designed by Mr. Grosvenor Atterbury at Forest Hills, Long Island. Here each house has but a small door-yard, three or four feet above the level of the sidewalk. Instead of terracing this down to the sidewalk — the usual treatment for such yards — a wall built back, a foot or two from the edge of the walk in order to leave space for planting at its base, takes care of the difference in levels, increases by a few feet the size of the front yard, and adds immeasurablv to its attractiveness both inside and outside the wall. A choice of materials for the retaining wall would inevitably be influenced by the two factors: appropriateness, both to the style of house and the kind of garden, and availability, which is bound up with the circumstances of cost. It goes without saying that a wall of fine cut ashlar work would be out of place in a small, unpretentious garden, and that, on the other hand, rough field [40] G a d n ~r^ >-. OS o O o [41] The Livable House stone would be poorly suited to a formal garden of the size and character of "Weld." The garden is tied to the house and made a part of it, or alienated from it as much by the materials used in construction work as by any other one factor, and those of the house should at least be recalled in some way in the garden. The retaining wall of the terrace at the Knickerbocker Country Club is a continuation of the foundation wall of the house con-, structed of native sandstone, whitewashed; and the marble treads and brick risers of the steps are similar to those of the porch. In- cidently, this offers an example of a happy combination of several materials. In a country like the blue stone regions of Pennsylvania or the granite hills of New England, stone suggests itself as the natural material for walls, although even where it is so plentiful it is un- happily not always the cheapest material. A stretch of Long Is- land coast land, on the other hand, with sand or gravel ready to hand makes concrete almost imperative. Unfortunately, the sur- face of a concrete wall is difficult to treat interestingly, for it has a natural flatness of tone that is almost impossible to enliven. Leaving the surface unfinished with the marks of the molds upon it, plus a generous planting of vines and bushes, constitute the best treatment for this kind of wall. A very pleasing surface may be got by the application of a coat of stucco, but this brings the cost up very nearly, if not entirely, to that of brick. Stucco over hol- low tile, where the construction of the house is similar, is a good choice of materials. But any stucco or concrete wall needs to be combined with some other material such as brick or tile to make [42] / / s G a d n Q , W s H ^ ^ ^ '-I < ^ J Oh 3 ^ H-1 :g.^ ■ J W ^^ ^ . hJ ^ J 3^ <^ 2 § * > ■. •^ o^ Ivah hers, ^ ,.-;3-^ Pi: < o ? Q 1 -^m i ^ ^P^" ».■>.=■>• «*•, Q ^ O o .:*ii-.v 'S ,->>,^\v -' O ?3 ikt^S o ■K4 "1 ^^^"' Kl < ^ .W~.-< ^ t^ o G ^ - \V OJ \ x: H [43] The Livable H o u it interesting, and good examples of such combinations are given in the chapter on garden architecture. Stone walls laid up dry have the advantage of taking on an air of age more rapidly than other kinds, and there is no doubt about the fact that age, as far as gardens are concerned, is desirable. The crevices between stones offer hospitality to moss and rock plants, which soften the appearance of the wall and make it as much more interesting than a plain surface as is a printed page than a blank sheet. Sometimes old stone walls, which in former days marked cornfields from pasture land on the farms of our grandfathers, have been successfully moved with their mosses and lichens to contribute the dignity of age to a new garden; but the classic example of the man who purchased at a handsome price an old moss-covered barn, had each stone wrapped separately and con- veyed to the distant spot where he proposed to build his house, only to lose these painfully acquired mosses because they did not like their new home in the sun, offers a warning to those who would beat Nature at her own game. The steps which retaining walls necessitate are not always the pleasing features of the garden it is possible to make them, prin- cipally because they are apt to be too small. Sizes which look well in the house are not roomy enough outdoors, for the scale of garden work should be much larger than that of house work. A room eighteen by twenty-eight feet is considered a fairly large room, but a garden eighteen by twenty-eight feet would scarcely divide into two flower borders with a path between. Similarly [441 G a n A GOOD FLIGHT OF STEPS IN A RETAINING WALL Forest Hills, Lomj Island. Grosvenor Atterbury, Architect [45] T Ji e Livable House twelve to thirteen inches is wide enough for the treads of steps indoors, and seven inches not too high for risers; outside the treads should be broadened and the heights of risers lessened if an agreeable eflfect is to be obtained. A tread fifteen inches wide used in conjunction with a six-inch-high riser is a very comfort- able allowance; a higher riser is apt to result in a steep looking flight of steps. Treads wider than fifteen inches should, of course, be used with risers less than six inches, following a general rule that the product of the height of the riser and the width of tread in inches should be about ninety; the smaller prod- uct of seventy-two is adopted for indoor work. Breadth is also very essential to the comfortable appearance of steps. This should vary with the extent of the wall in which the steps occur and the difference in levels, or the length of the flight. No rule can be given by which such breadth may be de- termined, because it is a matter which feeling for good design alone can dictate; but it is safe to say that no steps should be made too narrow for two people to walk abreast (which would establish a minimum width of four feet), nor so large as to over- power the garden to which they lead. The wing walls, necessitated by steps which project to any extent beyond a wall, are often the means of spoiling the appear- ance of the steps. Generally speaking these walls should be kept as inconspicuous as possible, for it is easy to make them clumsy and heavy. Good architectural treatment of course may turn them into truly decorative features, but in any case the angle or pocket formed by a projecting flight of steps is awkward — and it [46] Its Garden is best to play safe and sink the steps partially, if not wholly, in- side the wall. Especially is this true of a long flight — because the appearance of length is greatly increased when the entire flight is plainly visible. [47] G 6 71 er a I Planting CHAPTER TWO General Planting ^^^s-^^NDER the head of "General Planting' come all those •45. I «(^ miscellaneous kinds of planting: which cannot be in- ^^•^^% eluded in that of the garden proper. Foundation planting, border planting, the planting along drives and walks, screen planting, specimen planting, and miscellaneous flower planting — all of these are worth discussing separately, because very often one of these kinds, or a combination of two of them, constitutes all the gardening which is done about a place. Foundation planting, or the planting about the base of build- ings, should have for its purpose not — as the nursery catalogue would lead one to believe — masking the foundations, but making the house look as if it belonged in its surroundings. There is nothing about an honest foundation wall that needs concealing, and it is unnecessary and undesirable that the house should grow out of a solid bank of shrubbery in order to hide something which, as likely as not, the architect has been at some pains to make in- teresting. A judicious amount of planting here and there about a house — at the corners or in angles, with something tall to carry the green line up where there are no windows, and lower growing r.5i] The Livable House things where there are — will take the raw new look away from a house and tie it dowai adequately to the lawn's green carpet. The first requirement for the right sort of foundation planting, and, for the matter of that, the last too, is appropriateness. All the other requirements, namely strength, permanence, and proper scale, are included in this one term. Probably the most common of the inappropriate sorts of foundation planting is that which appears to consist of one each of all the different kinds of evergreens contained in the nursery- man's catalogue. Every suburb and real-estate development abounds in houses whose foundations are surrounded with a lot of little yellow and green and blue balls, cones, and pyramids, which present a bristling, unnatural look and contribute nothing of repose or dignity to the house. What could be less appro- priate, less calculated to make the house look as if it belonged to its particular bit of country, than this collection of "specimen" evergreens? "Specimens" is the term which most truly describes them, and as such they should be placed in arboretums. An ex- clusively evergreen planting is always bad because the trees are too decided and definite in form; they need the more graceful, branching, deciduous things to tie them together. The chief quality on which evergreens rely for their popularity — the quality which endears them to most people — is their ever- greenness. And, indeed, their color in the winter landscape is very desirable, but other colors than green contribute cheer to winter's dullness — and shrubs with colored berries and branches may be combined with the evergreens into a much more pleasing [52] / / s G a d w HH CO >-. V-( O :3 o a X w Uh w a3 (—1 X HH < ^^ S ^o ^ H^ HH Qq ^ eck, Lo t ^ >; ^^^ CTi ■<: a p ^^ o '"^ ^r/o ^ ^H c/T ^HH OJ (^ -^o o ^' k; flj ^-^ o o 1— 1 o H «-v <1 5v ^ O P O O tn tq rJ(6ife' [53] The Livable House and natural-looking planting than one of evergreens alone. This is true of rhododendrons as well as of conifers, for a house which rises up out of a heavy somber bank of broad-leaved evergreens fits as poorly into the landscape as one whose base is concealed by ranks of little conifers. Some of the berried shrubs which add to the agreeable appear- ance of a foundation planting, as much by their graceful habit of branching as by their colored fruits, are the barberries — Thun- bergii and vulgaris; high bush cranberry (viburnum opulus), which provides from its bright clusters food for the birds all winter long; other members of the viburnum family: dentatum or arrow-wood, plicatum, tomentosum, and Carlesii, which has a wonderfully fragrant flower; the honeysuckles, Indian currant, and snowberry; ilex Sieboldii (a little known but very brilliant berried shrub) ; and the red stemmed dogwoods. Of these, ber- beris vulgaris, all the viburnums, the honeysuckles, and dogwoods grow to be big shrubs and ought therefore to be planted where they will not interfere with windows. Another shrub with an impossible name but with the unusual possession of turquoise col- ored berries is Symplocos Crataegoides. Its berries ripen at the same time as those of the Tartarian honeysuckle, and the two shrubs make a brilliant combination. Most of these shrubs have attractive flowers as well as berries, and thus provide at the same time for the summer and winter appearance of the base planting. A few shrubs interesting chiefly for their summer dress do not come amiss in any group near the house, and some of them look especially well with the dark foliage of evergreens: lilacs, white [54] t s G a n c/: hJ OJ < ^ ^ o — 1 (* 1j ^o Z, h— « o m ^ o zl r ^ ^ « o ^^ o 5»i ^ =0 ^H H -6 Vv M ^ pq w H d ?; o I-H r«id ^ ^ "^ < o [55] The Livable House and purple ; deutzia, Pride of Rochester, pink weigelia, and spirea Van Houttei are all good stand-bys which improve by their pres- ence any planting of evergreens. Another danger to be avoided in connection with evergreens near the house is the use of forest trees. In most cases, either eagerness for a quick effect or ignorance of the real character of the trees is responsible for their presence close to the house. But whatever the cause, it is not an uncommon sight to see the win- dows of houses five years or so old being overgrown by hemlocks, w^hite pines, spruces, and firs. These are all big timber trees, and for this reason are extremely inappropriate planted against a house wall. They belong out where they have room to stretch and grow into the dignified trees Nature meant them to be. Some of the smaller, less-spreading trees, such as cedars, arbor vitae, and retinosporas, may be used against the house if they are planted where they will not come in the w-ay of windows. At either side of an arch on the W. E. Seeley house at Bridgeport, cedars are well placed where they emphasize the entrance and will not grow out of bounds. Quite at the opposite end of the scale from forest trees are flow^ers as a foundation planting, and for a correspondingly oppo- site reason they are inappropriate. I refer, as in the case of evergreens, to flowers used alone. Some of the stronger growing sorts, planted in connection with shrubs or vines, as Miss Coffin has used lilies and peonies along the piazza of the Edgar house, are both pleasing and appropriate; but the border of pinks and pansies or cannas and scarlet sage which very often forms the [56] / / J^ Gar d n ^ w X 5^ H ^ O "50 -t^ X 'O <0 H ^ H-( '^ ^ ^ CA) Vm Q OJ W o \^ ^ m HH C/^ t:) m H OJ ^^ o< o U^ Ph ^5 5 wO i-s Mc/^ ^1 O ^" ^ P^^ c«* ^h-M "^ U. K Kn ■1— 1 2; V-i o O p^ Uh Q en U ^ -a w 03 Q • o CA) O ^^ Q d: O -1— 1 d: 5J ;; c^ LiH [57] The Livable Ho u s e sole decoration around the base of a big house is too obvious a violation of the requirements of good foundation planting not to be censured. Flowers alone lack strength and that feeling of permanence which good base planting should have, and, moreover, they are out of scale with the size of the house. They need shrubs or vines as a background to make them count as a mass rather than as individuals, and to leave something growing in their stead when they die down at the end of the season. By the term border planting^the second of the miscellaneous sorts under the head of general planting — I mean combinations of shrubs, or shrubs and trees, such as one finds planted along a fence, substituted for a fence at the edge of a piece of property, around a garden, or at the end of the lawn. These borders divide themselves into two classes: naturalistic or woodland borders, and gardenesque or suburban. They are two very different types, and a sharp line should be drawn between them, because, in practice, distinguishing the two makes all the difi"erence between a commonplace garden and one with a really individual quality; or, in bigger landscape work, the contrast between a scheme grandly conceived and one which is petty in spirit. The first sort of planting is made up of native trees and shrubs • — those which grow naturally along meadow hedgerows or in woodland borders; this kind of border should be used away from the house and the cultivated garden, in places where a transition is to be effected between the wild and the cultivated, or where the [58] / G a d n CEDARS USED PROPERLY NEAR A HOUSE WALL House of Mr. W. E. Seeley, Bridgeport, Connecticut Murphy and Dana, Architects [59] The Livable House spirit of native things is to be introduced or preserved. This bigger, freer sort of planting should be founded on the particular kind of landscape in which it occurs, and should follow Nature as closely as possible. A lowland border would not be composed of the same trees and shrubs as would an upland border, nor would either of these plantings be the same in Illinois and Massa- chusetts. Any naturalistic planting should express the character of the land where the border is being planted, so as to bring out the individuality of different parts of the country. Discard the bad characteristics of your especial piece of property, pick out its good, features, and emphasize them, if you wish your garden different from your neighbor's, with a quality of its own. If you have a stream on your place plant the borders near it with those shrubs and trees which grow in the neighborhood of water: alder, red-stemmed dogwood, the lacy, yellow-flowered spice bush, willows, birches (black and white), elderberry with its white panicles of fragrant flowers (which turn into berries that make the most delicious pie in the world) , arrow-wood which also has white flowers — deceiving white flowers, for they tempt one into smelling them and then offer a vile reward; button bush, with its shining leaves and white balls — and an indefinite list of other friendly things, which like low places better than high. And then if your border goes up hill, plant in it the shrubs which do not mind burning in the sun of a long hot July after- noon — sumach, wild roses, hawthorn, crabapple, sassafras, bay- berry, red bud, and witch hazel. But above all things, in planting [60] G a d n AN EXCEPTION TO THE RULE OF NO FLOWERS ABOUT THE HOUSE FOUNDATION Garden of Mrs. J. Clifton Edgar, at Greenwich, Connecticut Marian C. Coffin, Landscape Architect [6i] The Livable House such a border as this, keep out the petty gardenesque feeling — one weigelia will ruin the character of a whole group of field plants; save the nursery shrubs for the flower garden and the planting near the house. The converse of this warning is not true — any number of na- tive shrubs and trees can be introduced into a border of lilacs and spireas and altheas, without hurting it in the least; but one shrub of this tamed company is enough to dispel the illusion of an entire naturalistic planting. The same strict rule is observable in connection with evergreens; cedars, white pines, Douglas spruce, and other native evergreens take their places very prop- erly in woodland plantings, but retinosporas, cryptomerias, golden arbor vitae, smack of the nursery — and destroy utterly the free spirit of the woods and fields. Some landscape architects never get away from the suburban type of planting. Their materia niedica, so to speak, consists of the contents of the nursery catalogues, and they treat a big park just as they would a little garden plot, using over and over again barberry, snowberry, forsythia, mock orange, and spireas, with perhaps a few native shrubs mixed in, out of deference to a dim idea that parks should be planted a little differently from small places. But the big conception that country is only to be intro- duced into city by means of fidelity to country planting, or that the spirit of existing country, its own particular charm, is to be preserved only by adherence to the example it sets, quite escapes them. A big meadow will never have the feel of a real meadow,, will never be anything but an enlarged lawn, unless it be fringed [62] / G a d n [63] The Livable House with true meadow planting; the petty suburban feeling creeps in by way of privet and weigelia and deutzia — and the spirit of dog- wood and hawthorn (the native kinds, not foreign introduced sorts), hazel nut, and sumach is gone. I do not mean to be decrying the obvious merits of our faithful flowering shrubs; they are very useful and very beautiful, but I should like to make it clear that they are essentially of the house garden — that they have a tame cat feeling which belongs near the house, and that they should be left behind w^ith the house when it is the spirit of woods and fields one is trying to recall in planting. These principles are true of the elements of planting along drives and walks according as the groups of shrubs and trees are near the house or remote from it. The form which the planting should take depends upon the form of the drive or walk. The avenue type of planting, that is straight rows of things, should be confined to walks or drives which are straight; irregular lines demand irregular planting — both as to height and breadth — and a drive which twists and curves should not be bordered by straight ranks of trees and bushes of even height. It is probably unnecessary to say that no drive or walk should curve without appearing to curve for a reason, and if it curves just for the sake of curving an excuse has to be supplied. Under some circumstances it so happens that it is undesirable to fill up all the bends of a road with bushes; they are apt to give a shut-in feeling to the drive which at certain points is unpleasant. A tree or a clump of trees in such a position furnishes the needed ex- [64] G a d 11 w <^ ^ ■ ?*i w :r: ■^ R « w ^ Ci^ Si 5^ (—1 u. O rV t^ '.^ ^T^ ^ p-^ > . m "t"* :^ ^ Uh O pri ^o <73 o^ Ph GT. 2; < Q<_ en aj w w ^^ 03 C^ U O o o 2j \j ■>n Uh x 6 H [65] T h L V a b I H o u cuse for a turn and at the same time does not produce the confining effect of a solid mass of bushes. The off side, so to speak, of a curve is less important as to plant- ing. The group of bushes or trees, if any are used on this side of the drive, should consist of kinds similar to those on the opposite side, and may be carried back away from the drive in some such form as that shown in the dia- Diagram 'illustrating planting in the bend of a drive gram, with low growing stuff in front to emphasize the bay, and higher growing things be- hind. Correspondingly, the point on the opposite side might be marked by high shrubs, although observance of the demands of automobil- ists who must be able to see along the entire length of a drive, is fast leveling off all border planting. There is a purely sentimen- tal reason for making the planting in a bend high, to which I, who do not mind driving slowly along a curving road, am inclined to cling, and that is the pleasure of not knowing what lies just ahead. Mystery always has its charm, and I w^ould rather be surprised by coming out of a wood suddenly onto a green stretch of lawn than know all along that presently we shall be running at the edge of the green velvet strip, which I can see across the low bushes. [66] G a n A CURVING PATH WELL PLANTED Garden of Mr. Edward E. Sprague, at Flushing, Long Island. Marian C. Coffin, Landscape Architect [67] The Livable House Screen planting, the fourth kind of general planting, may con- sist of irregular borders of shrubs and trees, or of hedges. The latter are usually regarded as the logical means of screening a service drive, or laundry yard, or unneighborly nuisance. They are the most obvious form of screen, the form most often used, and in some ways the least effective, for their purpose is generally as apparent as that of a trellis or wall would be. Like these they need planting outside to tie them into the general land- scape. Any kind of clipped hedge is, of course, slower in attaining height than plants which are allowed to grow unchecked by the pruning shears. It follows that a free-growing border will screen faster and more effectively than a hedge. But the most valid reason for giving any irregular planting preference is that it can be made a part of the landscape. When a hedge is used either for a screen or as the boundary of a garden it should have some- thing in the way of transition planting outside it — a few groups of shrubs and trees-to break the definite form and regular line of the hedge, and to "ease'' it into its surroundings. Of the deciduous hedges, probably privet is the most common and the most useful. It is obligingly adaptable, grows quickly, and has a dignified appearance. Barberry makes a somewhat smaller hedge, never growing over four or five feet high, and is more spreading in character. Some effort has been made to in- troduce hornbeam and beech as hedges. These are both good, dignified hedges, and along with our native haw^thorns could be utilized delightfully around gardens; but their slow growth [68] G a r d ^ o -I-( •^ ^z 1— 1 * ^i ^< to 1— 1 '^ •^ CO^ oo So u w CO P ■^ ^ o '^ >-> 3 ' o S O [69] The Livable H o u and greater cost too often combine to make the weedier privet a favorite. Among evergreens, more fame attaches to the name of box than to any other kind of hedge. It is truly the aristocrat among hedges, and an old specimen commands respect and veneration from a hurrying generation, which appreciates to the full its meager inheritance but fails to provide for its children any more generously. It is only human to want immediate returns on an investment, to plant for an early effect, to be impatient of waiting for results; and yet a garden should be planned with some eye to permanence as well, and the poplars that go in because of their rapid growth should be tempered with timber trees to give dignity to the garden a decade hence, and a beech hedge started whenever possible to overawe the privet by and by, or one of hawthorn, which will cover its twisted old stems with white blossoms in the spring and red apples in the fall. To return to evergreen hedges, both dwarf arbor vitae and the yews (taxus brevifolia and brevifolia cuspidata) make good low hedges; and hemlock, arbor vitae, and cedar are all more or less dependable high hedges. Of these arbor vitae turns rusty in the winter and hemlock sometimes "kills back," but at the height of its glory hemlock probably comes nearest to possessing that dark, solid green appearance of English yew hedges, which is so much the envy of us in our drier climate. Ilex — of somewhat doubtful hardihood in Northern winters — ■ [70] / t G a d n ^ QJ C3 2 ^ c3 a. a,t^ c^ :> ^ ^ o O o (X) D U^ "k^ U, ^ ^ ■^ w ^ u •-> ^ ^ < ^ p^ r^ c5 H OJ ;^ Q w ^ (-i 3 w p^ X ~T^ H ^ C/D ^-H ^ ^, c^ o O ^->^ tn ' ■*<. a "-J :i: C/5 -^ c ^ u s-^ h-H ZJ ^ X ::: ^ -rJ L Ui K^ O W ■-hH 3 J *— ( ^. J <^ OJ r; r;^ Q rt ^ W =-5 Q S^ 1^ ^ [85] CO ~ The Livable House house, however, it does not lose the intimate feeling of a living- room, but merely adds to it the free spirit of outdoors. This is accomplished by two factors: the first, walling the garden in; the second, proper proportion. Walls used in this sense do not have to be of brick or concrete — a shrub border, a high hedge, the house wall, anything which confines the garden and limits the view, serves the purpose. Al- most all of us can recall gardens set in the midst of a great lawn, or lying in the foreground of a distant view, and can remember feeling vaguely that there was something wrong with the garden, even though the flowers were very lovely. And the reason for our discontent was the looseness of the garden, its loss of scale by com- parison with such great distance, its inefifectiveness. Some sort of wall for this same garden would have transformed it no doubt — and increased its interest a hundredfold. In the process of walling in the garden it is not necessary to shut out every prospect — to leave no distant views at all — the garden wall should contain windows even as the house wall does. Views glimpsed through a frame of trees, or a gateway, are ever so much more inviting than panoramas, because they lure us on with a promise instead of satisfying us at a glance. The boundary around the Hubbard garden is a delightful com- bination of garden wall and picture frame; it ties the garden in without shutting out entirely the surroundings and limits it with- out confining it. Proper proportion within the flower garden, the second factor which is responsible for its atmosphere of friendliness, relates to [86] G a d n AN ANTE ROOM lO THE GARDEN House at Villa Nova, Pennsylvania. Duhring, Okie and Ziegler, Architects [87] The Livable House sizes of beds, paths, stretches of green, etc. Even though one has conscientiously built a wall around the garden, narrow beds or small flowers, lost in a sea of green grass, will still leave it with a big loose feeling, or too many flowers and narrow paths make it cramped. Beds must be of sufficient size so that the flowers will count in masses, and paths should be wide enough so that two people may walk abreast on them. Half the fun of a garden is showing it to some one else — -and to have to walk through it single file is as uncomfortable as having to pass down a narrow hall side- wise for fear of scraping one's elbows. Four feet six inches is the minimum width which will allow two people to walk comfortably side by side, and a flower bed which is narrower than seven feet used in connection with such a path is apt to look thin and tenuous. Ten feet is in better pro- portion. Small dooryard gardens and box gardens are exceptions to this rule, and the paths of such gardens may be three feet or even narrower. In a larger garden a lot of small beds cut up by as many paths riiake the garden a restless place, just as numerous little rugs on the floor of a room spoil its repose and dignity. Big masses of flowers and paths wide enough to be in proportion are essentials, if a garden is to be comfortable and livable — and at the same time pictorially worth while. A stretch of green in the garden with the beds grouped about it is a good plan to adopt, when lawn space about the grounds is limited, or when for any reason the garden is apt to have a shut-in feeling. In any case the scheme rightly handled is a good one [88] G a d n ^ o o I—I W ^ W Ui (—1 [89] T h L I V a b I H o u s e Plan of the Garden of Mr. Aymar Embury II, Architect, Englewood, New Jersey and makes for repose and spaciousness; an all-over pattern, on the other hand, is apt to be less pleasing for reasons which are hard to analyze. Perhaps because it tends to be complicated and rest- less, perhaps because it easily becomes cramped in feeling — in any case it is well to make paths wide and beds spacious at the ex- pense of numbers in such a garden, for nothing so reduces the apparent size of a garden as paths that are too narrow. Three examples of the central stretch of turf type of garden, each one differently handled, are Mr. Marshall Fry's, Mr. Michael Jenkins', and Mr. Jonathan Godfrey's gardens. Each one of these, I venture to say, would seem smaller and less repose- ful if the same spaces were covered all over with flower beds and [90] a n Q OS W >. Q ^ D H^ O _ ^ ^ "■O ^ ^ - ^ *. 5U f- — ~ O ■*«. ^ O'^ C/J «o hJ 2^ dgefi cape ^ 5-^ s s^ <:S ^ ^^ W OJ Q O *-) P^ CO < :l^ O <^, <1 V '^ ^ [91] The Livable House paths. At the same time the very crowdedness of things in the picture of Mr. Aymar Embury's garden is not without its charm. The paths of either type of garden, however, must have a pur- pose, must lead somew^here — around the garden and in and out — for a path with a blind end, a path along which one walks only to turn about and retrace one's steps, always contains disappoint- ment. Next in importance, after the location and design of the garden, comes the arrangement of flowers. I am sorry to say that al- most every one is prone to look upon the flowers as of paramount importance. It is true that sheets of bloom will conceal a great many defects in design; but the flowers are passing, and may be changed at any time, whereas a garden once laid out is often im- possible to alter. Color and season are the two factors in flower arrangement which must be considered simultaneously. If one has planned to have no red in the garden at the same time pink flowers are in bloom, it is disconcerting to have the scarlet of oriental poppies flaunt itself in the face of a rose pink peony. Red is, in any event, the greatest trouble maker in the garden, and when one has made up one's mind to have the warmth of this color everything else must be planned around it; moreover, no two reds are alike, and a red garden must consist almost wholly of one flower or at least of the one which happens to be in bloom at the moment. Con- sternation is in store for the jumbler of reds — one has only to think of the cardinal of lobelia, and the good honest turkey red of scarlet sage ablaze at once to realize this. [92] G a d n •^ -^ « ^**> -v 'fir' •>7< '<»'< A GARDEN WITH A NATURAL FOREST BACKGROUND Estate of Mr. Charles W. Hubbard, at Weston, Massachusetts Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects [93] The Livable House The fewer the varieties of any color in a garden, the greater are the pictorial effects obtainable, and a good plan to follow is to pick out a succession of twos, which will be blooming at once, and plant the garden all round with groups of these. For ex- ample, a succession consisting of the following pairs : pink peonies and blue anchusa, yellow coreopsis and the resplendent blue lark- spur, purple spikes of veronica and pink phlox, lavender asters and bronze dahlias, provides the garden with a series of color combinations which should be very lovely from May until frost; the overlapping of seasons — for of course some few flow^ers of each group will come into bloom before the preceding group is done, and the coreopsis and larkspur will flowxr more or less all summer — will furnish the garden with a sufficient amount of va- rietv to offset the main mass of bloom. These combinations may be varied infinitely: salmon pink oriental poppies with their silky flapping leaves are lovely with the blue of Italian alkanet; and the prickly lavender balls of echinops are pretty with a deep salmon phlox. White is always good, even in a garden which sets out to con- fine itself to rigid color combinations; in fact, it may be used to furnish the body or warp, so to speak, of the pattern; white phlox, or shasta daisies, or gypsophila, woven in all through a garden of two contrasting colors adds a lightness to the whole picture w^hich is pleasing to the eye. In any arrangement of few^ varieties such as this, the same groups should be repeated all along a border — or at intervals the whole w^ay round a garden — so that when peonies and anchusa [94] G a n GENERAL PLAN TORfLOWEgGARPEJI Plan of the garden of Mr. Charles W. Hubbard, at Weston, Massachusetts. Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects [95] The Livable House are in bloom, peonies and anchusa flower all over the garden and not just in one portion; or when phlox and veronica are in season the whole garden is aglow with purple and pink. In a garden of many varieties a somewhat different arrange- ment must be adopted so that the flowers will not have a scatter- ing appearance. More varieties necessitate fewer flowers of a kind, and these must be planted in groups big enough to count as masses; and the masses, moreover, must drift into one another and not have the appearance of blocks. To accomplish this latter ob- ject it is necessary to lap the mass of one kind of flower by that of another; or, to put it another way, to scatter one group into the next. Color arrangement of this sort of border is complicated and difficult to manage effectively. Miss Gertrude Jekyll, a very able writer about English gardens, has taken up very fully in her book called "Color in the Flower Garden," the graduation of color in a border. Miss Jekyll says that it is possible to plant, beginning with yellow through orange and red to pink, purple, violet, and blue — and this is undoubtedly true of one of those illimitable English borders which seem to stretch away to infinity. Un- fortunately American gardens are sadly lacking in borders four- teen or fifteen feet wide and three hundred feet long. For the most part our gardens are small, and it has been my sad expe- rience that some of the vivid zinnias have been just as blighting separated from the pink phlox by a patch of white as they would have been next door to it. In any garden, all of which is visible at once, it is best to limit the flowers to varieties which harmonize, [96] / t s G a d n [97] T h L i V a b I H o u X c5 u c/> S-i H 133 U W C/2 0^ H -Tj f% J < ^ ^ ^ ;u H o "^ ;j-] ^ -^ U 05-^ s^ ^ hJ ^:^ w o ^ TS 1— 1 i_^ ^ i-i ^ cd ^ m ^ •^ 1— 1 R hH ^ O^ »--H ^<1 h:i O QPH ^-J hJ C P>^ o -M O^ II^Q 1^ ^ W :3 o ^Q c/: O^ OD lyT Oh O <^ o ^ d: W ti: CO 5-! Q ^ w o w tc H Q o [I02] / a d n WATERSIDE PLANTS GROWING NEAR A FORMAL POOL Garden of Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, at Westbury, Long Island. Delano and Aldrich, Architects [103] The Livable House cardinal flower, ferns, purple iron weed, tall marsh mallows, and the rosy Joe pie weed. It is surprising how at home these plants are in the garden proper among their more aristocratic com- panions, and how much of real charm — a charm which is due to their appropriateness — they lend to the water near which they grow. If the pool is to have a really friendly feeling, the planting should extend in places to the water's edge. Nothing is colder and less inviting than a stone-rimmed pool set in the midst of gravel. It has a harsh, ungracious look, that just a few leaves bending over the edge would mitigate, or a stray vine soften. On the other hand, it is bad to surround a pool entirely with flowers and shrubs so as to make it inaccessible. Places for planting near the border should be incorporated in the design in some such way as to provide walks to the water's edge, and intervals between, for iris or ferns or grasses. Planting for the surfaces of the water itself needs care and thought for appropriateness, as well as regard for scale. More often than not pools too small to warrant such huge leaves are planted with lotus, or tall cat-tails, or both, when their size really demands the smallest of the nymphaeas and the fine leaves of spike rush or Scirpus. Most aquatics grow rapidly and unless they are constantly thinned out they cover the entire water surface and leave no mirror to reflect bending purple flags, and white clouds. With a little taste and care in thinning, the groups of lily pads and grasses may be made into compositions interesting and pleas- ing in themselves. [104] G {I d n WATER LILY PADS WHICH LEAVE A PLEASING WATER SURFACE OPEN FOR REFLECTIONS House of Mr. Thomas H. Kerr, at White Plains, New York. Albro and Lindeberg, Architects [105] FALLS AT THE END OF THE SWIMMING POOL Estate of Mr. K. D. Alexander, at Spring Station, Kentucky. Jens Jensen, Landscape Architect [io6] a d n A TERRACE GARDEN WITH A POOL AGAINST THE WALL Grounds of Mr. H. H. Rogers, at Tuxedo, New York Walker and Gillette, Architects [107] T h L i V a b I H o u s The aquatics in the average pool should consist of hardy varie- ties which may be bedded in the pool bottom itself, rather than the tender sorts which for cultural reasons have to be planted in pots. The pots are too apt to show through the water, and introduce an artificial quality which detracts from the grace of the pool. Fitness, which is only a synonym for appropriateness, depends in pool planting, as in all other kinds, upon attention to details which will emphasize the character of the area to be planted — ■ details which will contribute to the effect to be produced. In a rock garden alpines are appropriate, plants which naturally make their homes in the scant pockets of earth between rocks, and if the stones are not large one uses the smaller flowering and smaller foliaged plants, reserving those with coarse leaves and large flow- ers for the garden which can boast boulders. Similarly, about a pool, however formal its character, those things should grow which emphasize the feeling of water, and if the pool is a large one the flowers and shrubs may be correspondingly big, whereas, if it is small, they must not reduce its size still more by too great contrast. The location of a pool in the design of a garden is something about which it is hard to generalize. Lying out in an open space of turf or gravel, the pool is apt to lose scale, to flow away on all sides and become insignificant. Moreover, such a position is likely to preclude any planting about the pool — and half the inter- est of water in the garden is due to the things which grow near it. Bending over it and dipping down into it, they give it warmth and friendliness and life. At the same time it is pleasant to be able to [io8] / t s G a n [109] The L i V a b I H o u [no] / / s G a d 11 u Q< - J < u < Q o t^ C/J D ^ ^ '=^ D o "^ ^ 53 < =-5 [ill] The Livable H o u walk all around a pool, to see it from different vantage points — and to come up to its edge in places. The free standing pool as well as the wall fountain type of pool should be designed so as to provide for planting spaces about the edge. Of informal gardens there are two sorts: the "studied haphaz- ard" garden, and the pure naturalistic garden. Mr. Henry V. Hubbard makes the distinction between the two by saying that the design of the first "consists in informal masses arranged with no particular attempt at naturalness, to make a pictorial composition, and on the other hand, informal masses arranged to give this pic- torial effect, but also to look as though they were organized by some of the laws of untrammeled Nature.'' The first sort of gar- den is illustrated at its best in the picture and plan of the Bedford Hill garden. The planting is so arranged as to form a vista em- phasizing the delightful view, and the dark foliage of evergreens is an effective background for the flower masses. If all "infor- mal" gardens were as successful as this one, I should be unquali- fiedly converted to the type, but I am bound to say of this kind of informal garden in general that it seems to me to have no place in real garden art. It is a mongrel kind of garden, an in-between type — something that is neither formal nor naturalistic, but just a compromise. It usually means that its owner has told himself he does not want a "formal" garden, but — unwilling to give up all the nursery plants of man's making which have no place in a truly naturalistic garden — he has made this half-way garden, which is neither one thing nor the other. It seems to me that it is much better art to put these hybrid flowers and shrubs into a frankly [112] G a d Plan of a country place at Bedford Hills, Neiv York "laid-out'' garden, where, in their off seasons, they will not look like a ragged fringe to a shrubbery border; and then, if one wishes an informal garden, to build one which is truly naturalistic, with as much of the spirit of woods and fields as it is possible for art to capture. This sort of garden should be remote, or at least seem to be re- mote, from houses and artificial things, and these may be banished by means of tall planting or grading or a combination of both. [113] The Livable H o u [114] / t s Gar d n '^ <1h "^ ^ ^ o u c 5 ^ [115] The Livable House Probably the only way to get the right sort of atmosphere into a naturalistic garden is to study the country around it and adopt native characteristics; that is, the good characteristics. The bad ones should be discarded and the good ones emphasized, for this is the only way to preserve the individuality of each particular bit of country. If you are making a naturalistic pool down on Long Island, or in any portion of the country where no rocky streams are to be found, resist the temptation to import rocks and boulders to put along the edge of the pond. Make it true to the type of pool which occurs in the neighborhood; let the grass run down to the water's edge, broken at intervals by clumps of iris and tall grasses, Sagittarius and button bush, with cedars and black alders and dogwood to form a background. But if the streams and pools near your house are rocky, stones may border the water's edge with perfect propriety. Be careful to have the majority of them big stones — or the water's edge will look cluttered and restless. Ferns tucked in among the rocks, and wild grape vines spreading leafy layers over their surfaces, will help fit the rocks into the land, and an occasional tree or bush growing out of a crevice may be made to have the casual charm of a ^'happen-so." Mr. Hubbard's Newport rock garden is a delightful bit of truly naturalistic gardening, and the remarkable thing about it is that the picture was taken only three weeks after its creation. Another unusually good piece of rock work is that of the Alex- ander garden at Springfield, Kentucky. Mr. Jensen's versatility in bringing out the individual qualities of totally difTferent parts [ii6] G a d 11 u H r/) i_— 1 Zj l-H T^ J < ^ C/2 K-^ ~ J =: o tj , ^ 5 .- 1— 1 S 'o u ^ c/T .^ t— 1 ?^ > > ^ o u I — I u Q -S o cri U ^ [117] T h L i V a b I H o u s e of the country is illustrated in this and his handling of the Rubens water garden, which shows the marshy planting of the prairies. No vegetation is quite so markedly characteristic of its habitat as that which grows near water. The grassy leaves of cat-tails, spike rush and iris, the luxuriant marsh mallow and swamp milk- weed, bending willows, alders and birches, all have a quality which is associated very definitely in our minds with streams and ponds, or brooks and marshes. On the other hand, such nursery shrubs as lilac, weigelia, golden bell, and deutzia belong to the tamed company of the house garden — hollyhocks and nasturtiums are quite appropriate among these, but in the naturalistic garden they introduce a gardenesque note which is altogether out of tune with the native chorus. The principle of adhering closely to native forms and plant materials is not confined to water gardens, but applies as w^ell to Jl -P/ao t/op fJorj /on tfye fiool ^ r /f OLt:nooe.~liLinoi.i Plan for the Pool Estate of H. Rubens, Glencoe, Illinois [ii8] Its Garden rock gardens, or woodland gardens of other sorts. In order to be convincingly naturalistic to charm us into thinking we have stepped out of the world into a lovely bit of Nature's gardening, we rnust follow her suggestions and use the materials she pro- vides. [119] Times and Seasons CHAPTER FOl^R Times and Seasons ^^•^^^ HERE are as many theories about proper times for ^ I -^ planting as there are nurserymen and gardeners. Al- S^ ^^ #^*^^^ most every one has his own pet ideas about the best season for moving this tree or that, based, of course, upon individual experience, but almost every one agrees on the two main seasons of spring and fall as the periods of greatest ac- tivity in transplanting. The purpose in moving plants at these two times is to catch them while they are in a more or less dormant state — in the spring before the sap has started up from the roots, and in the fall after the plant has ceased to grow for the season. It follows that it is desirable to move in the fall all those things which start into life very early in the spring, and at the latter season the more sluggish things which are slower in responding to "the urge of spring." In the first class are such shrubs as honeysuckle, lilac, and spiraea, together with dogwood and for- sythia, whose flower buds for the next spring are all set in the autumn. These plants begin to grow very early in the spring, and if they have established themselves in the fall they will be ready to grow uninterruptedly when spring sunshine sends the sap up from their roots. Fall planting of deciduous shrubs and trees may be started as [123] The Livable House soon as the leaves have fallen and continued until freezing weather makes the ground unworkable. The sooner the plants are moved after they have lost their leaves, however, the better, because root growth does not cease with leaf growth and the plants should have as much opportunity to get established before the ground hardens as possible. Some shrubs or trees are moved with greater difficultv than others, and it is wisest to defer planting these until spring; birches and lombardv poplars are among this companv — the latter fre- e]uentlv kill back if they are moved in the fall, to one-half of their height or more. Magnolias moved late in the fall are apt to be unsuccessful, as are also most of the oaks, which at best are none too easy to move. But aside from a few exceptions such as these, the great body of deciduous shrubs and trees can be moved as well in the fall as in the spring, and the rush of the spring garden work greatlv lessened thereby. The autumn season for transplanting evergreens begins sooner than that for deciduous trees, because the former cease leaf growth for the season earlier. From the last of August onward ever- greens mav be safelv moved, and although my personal prefer- ence is to finish the evergreen planting as early in the fall as pos- sible, I have planted both conifers and broad-leaved evergreens in December without loss. Care in preserving the roots, packing the earth firmlv about them, and a protecting mulch of leaves or straw will go far toward insuring the life of these plants. Winter planting for trees both deciduous and evergreen is also practiced successfully. The trees are prepared for this sort of [124] Its Garden moving by means of a root pruning machine which cuts around underneath the tree. The ball thus cut is allowed to freeze solid, when the entire mass is moved to its new home, packed into place, and guyed with ropes. Roses may be planted during the autumn season as well as in spring, but they should be well protected. Hilling the earth up eight or ten inches about the plants will shed water, which in winter is the damaging element to roses — and an additional pro- tection of leaves or straw over the hills will keep the plants from alternately freezing and thawing. There is always the danger that roses and perennials will be eaten ofi by mice and other vermin which burrow beneath the pro- tective layers of straw and leaves; against these pests outdoors, traps and cats and ''Paris green" are of little avail. Most of the hardy perennials are best planted in the fall — be- cause they start to grow very early in the spring, and interrupting this growth by the process of transplanting means practically a season's set back to the plants. The work should be begun in August, however, and ended if possible by the first of November. Lilies and Dutch bulbs, in which latter term are included tulips, narcissi, hyacinths, crocus, squills, chionodoxa, etc., like- wise need to be planted in the fall, for outdoor work. Spring planting of trees and shrubs may be done as soon as suf- ficient frost is gone to leave the ground workable; it is very de- sirable although not absolutely necessary to accomplish it before the leaves come out, because if the planting is done after the leaves arrive they wither and drop, and while the bush or tree is form- [125] The Livable House ing new ones it presents a discouragingly dead appearance. In fact it is just at this stage of things that most new gardeners lose heart — when they see the thrifty looking bushes and trees they bought from the nurseryman, or had moved from some flourish- ing hedgerow, looking like so many dead sticks. Probably no other art exacts so much in the way of patience and faith from its followers for the first few difficult years, as gardening. Moving stock, especially stock which has attained any size at all, involves a shock to the plant from which it requires time and demands in- telligent care to recover, and everything which can be done to help it establish itself is worth doing. Just sticking it in the ground and leaving it to its own devices will sometimes work all right, where the ground is exceptionally good, and moisture is plentiful, and the plant has a good root system with which to start. But it is very seldom that any plant is started under such a set of circumstances, and to "insure good results" it must be watered, and mulched, and sprayed where insect pests are trou- blesome, and this done not once, but recurrently throughout the first year or two, after transplanting, or until it has had time to adapt itself to new conditions. These conditions are made more difficult by untimely planting, which entails a proportionate amount of extra care if the plants are to live. Moved after the leaves are out when the hot suns of June have come and the reviving rains of spring have gone, they can hardly be expected to bloom and flourish. The best they can do is to struggle along against the odds of their first year and hope for a second spring to give them a new lease on life. [126] Its Garde n Nurserymen, within the past few years, have lengthened some- what the spring planting season for a limited number of plants, by preparing pot-grown stock, which can withstand late moving better than field grown stock; vines, small shrubs, roses, peren- nials, and a few evergreens are included in this list. They are valuable chiefly as ''fillers-in," to be used where unsightlv holes must be concealed; although their root systems are more or less prepared for transplanting, they are subject to the same difficulty in establishing themselves against adverse atmospheric conditions^ such as hot suns and little rain, as field grown plants. Perennials planted in the spring will be later in flowering, other conditions being equal, than those which get their start the fall before; and some early flowering ones such as peonies, trilliums, and mertensia will not flower at all for a year if they are moved in the spring. Seeds of annuals and bedding plants are sown in spring in the open ground, or, if one wishes to get them into bloom earlier, they may be started in the house during February and transplanted into the open as soon as danger from frost is past. Gladiolas, cannas, and dahlias should be planted outdoors about the end of May, when the earth has "warmed up" a bit, and frosts are over. Bulbs, which are to be replaced after their flowering season by annuals or bedding plants, must be allowed to ripen, that is, left until the leaves die down, before they are removed. Such bulbs, of course, may be saved and replanted the following fall. Times and seasons for pruning vary with different plants and [127] The Livable House with the results one wishes to produce. All deciduous shrubs and trees should be pruned at transplanting, because the root system is reduced in the process of moving, and the evaporating surface of leaves and branches should be cut down correspondingly. The extent of this pruning depends upon the amount of damage done to the root system, but it is advisable to cut back deciduous shrubs at least half, upon transplanting, and trees to about one-fourth of the last year's growth. Evergreens, which are usually moved with a ball of earth and which have in consequence better pre- served root systems, require to be pruned sparingly, or not at all. Cedars and retinosporas may have the greater part of the last season's growth removed, most broad-leaved evergreens will flour- ish without pruning, and if one wishes to induce the pines to a bushier habit of growth, the central one of the terminal buds may be pinched out. This means that instead of growing greatly in length, the branches will develop their side buds and become thicker. Beyond this pruning at transplanting time, shrubs and trees should be allowed to develop normally with no restraint from the pruning shears except an occasional thinning out of dead wood. The custom of annual pruning of flowering shrubs when every bush is gone over and chopped back to a uniform height or round- ness is a very pernicious one. It is of no benefit at all to the plant, it destroys the natural and beautiful form of the shrub, and reduces it to an ugly, heavy mass. When the shrubs once have a good start they should be left to their own devices, except for the removal of broken branches or old worn out ones. Pruning of [128] Its Cj a r d e n this sort should be done, for early flowering shrubs such as lilac, mock orange, bridal wreath, and golden bell, just after the flower- ing season is over. These shrubs flower on wood which was de- veloped the season before, and if they are cut back in the winter or early spring, it follows that the flowering branches may be lost; whereas if they are cut in the early summer, the shrub has time to develop new wood and new flower buds before fall. Late flowering shrubs, on the other hand, such as rose of sharon, hydrangea, and some of the spireas, may be pruned in the spring, because their flowers are produced on wood of the same season's growth. Roses, although they are early flowering, should be pruned in the spring, as soon as the frost is out of the ground. With Hybrid Perpetuals, all the old wood, that is the wood which flowered last year, should be cut out and from three to six of the strongest shoots produced last year left. These should be cut back to within eight or twelve inches of the ground. Hybrid Teas, on the other hand, should be pruned somewhat less severely; with these the dead and weak shoots should be cut out, and the strongest shoots shortened from four to six inches. The tall shoots of Ram- bler or Climbing roses may be cut back and the dead branches cut out. If the plants are thin and straggly they may be greatly bene- fited by shearing back to either three or four inches of the base. Almost all roses are grafted, and very frequently the bush sends up "suckers'' from below the graft, which absorb all the nourish- ment of the plant. These shoots should be removed as soon as they appear, and they may be identified by the fact that they have, [129] The Livable H o u as a rule, from seven to nine leaflets, whereas the budded stock has usually but five. Hedges and plants trained to a formal shape need to be cut several times during the season rather than just once in spring. A spring pruning stimulates them into sending up a lot of little shoots which leave the plant with a more or less ragged appearance for the summer, and these shoots need to be cut back two or three times during the season, depending upon the rapidity of growth. The pruning of fruit trees is a science about which it is dan- gerous to generalize. Each tree, bush, and vine needs careful, individual treatment, because the fruit is not borne the same way on all of them, and for a thorough and reliable treatise on the sub- ject of pruning fruit trees there is no better authority than Mr. Liberty Hyde Bailey's ''Pruning Book." The matter is here taken up in all its branches, and in a sufficiently popular way to be understandable by the layman who knows nothing about botany. [130] Garden Architecture CHAPTER FIVE Garden Architecture 4'^'i^'^'^HE architectural features of the garden — its arbors, ¥^^>^ . "^ I #• gateways, fountains, and walls — are not only important )sH M " . •^s*^*^^^ sources of interest in themselves, but the means of com- pleting the garden, of rounding it out, and giving it a finished appearance. A path which leads one through a gate is ever so much pleasanter a wav to take than one which has no such inviting barrier, and a vista which is terminated is more delight- ful than one which dwindles off with no object of interest to hold the eye at its end. Even the flowers for which a garden chiefly exists take on a charm and elusiveness they do not possess of them- selves, when they are glimpsed through the posts of the plainest grape arbor or seen through the frame of an arch. It is a certain pictorial quality w^hich good architecture contributes to the gar- den and which flow^ers and shrubs alone lack, as well as an inter- esting human note introduced by it, that make it an important consideration in planning a garden. Such intangible benefits are not easily explained to the man or woman who has no interest in architecture itself, but the many photographs in this chapter w^ill express in more concrete form, I hope, the value of good architectural detail in the garden. [133] T h L V a b I H o u s H OJ ^^ c/:j • -H W o ^ W rt H ^ ^^ W ^ :i: '^" >- H J^ cc ^. 2 ^^^ Xp^ *^ c/T O C 1-^ -5 r- OJ c j:: -C o -!-< t^ c ^ ^ c^ -a 1 < o =-5 ^ ^ F — i s — 1 OS ^ ^H tin .2 O^ 1 u-^ , ^ uu ^ .^^ ^u ^' -H OJ T|* d:°^ r CQ ''—* "^ i^ '< Jr TQ -.^ >■ ^ w cr7 > .Q 1— ( r-" J— c pq . -^ > ^. r" m oQ ^ ^^ ^ ^-^ ^ X. ,^^ < o' w -i: ^ J "t^ Oh ^ <1 ^"^ 5£ a ^ [Uij r h c L 1 V a b I c H o u s e SIMPLE ROSE ARCHES OF VERY C;o()D DESIGN Garden of Miss Emily Slade al Windsor, Vermont, diaries A. Piatt. .Inliiteet A GATEWAY AND ARBOR AT HAMILTON FARM Estate of James Cox Brady, (>ladstone, AVic Jersey. Ruth Dean, Ar< liiteet true of any free-standing wall or fence. If it does not grow out of a building or end against one, its terminations must be con- cealed by planting. Such a piece of wall is well taken care of on the Schift" place, where evergreens and sturdy shrubs make it part of its surroundings. The same criticism of loose ends is to be made of a great many arbors and pergolas. An arbor should begin at some expected and natural place and end in the same way: should lead from one spot to another, and not be just set down in the midst of things. An interesting arbor is that on the grounds of Mr. Jonathan God- frey where the arbor is in effect part of a wall. The beams run [142] G a d n A WALL PERGOLA WITH VALUABLE PLANTING SPACE AT ITS BASE Garden of Mr. Jonathan Godfrey, at Bridgeport, Connecticut Marian C. Coffin, Landscape Architect; F. Burrall Hoffman, Architect [143] T h L I V a b I H from a r(3w of columns to piers which are extensions of the wall, ami which leave pleasing window-like openings in the upper part of the wall. One of the unexpected sources of success in this per- gola is the planting space at the foot of the wall; with no room left in which to plant a friendly vine the arbor would be without half its charm. Another good combination of wall and pergola is the pergola gate in the rose garden on the Walton estate at St. Davids. Ma- terials, as well as good design, are responsible for much of its interest; the round columns of stone roughly plastered have a pleasant, careless charm which is increased by the use of broken flag walks. Of all the means whereby walls may be made interesting, prob- ably the most effective is the wall fountain. There is some- thing verv enticing about the smallest drip of water with green shinv leaves around it, and the simplest device in the way of a dolphin's head that spurts its little stream into a shell, catches and holds our interest above any other fea- ture in the garden. A plain wall fountain com- bined with a pool is that on the Rogers' place at Tuxedo. The A FAUN J. C. Kraus, Stnupzvorkrr [144] / a d n A DELIGHTFUL OLD GARDEN HOUSE Designed by Samuel Maclntyre in IJQQ on the Osborn Estate at Peabody, Massachusetts [145] The Livable Ho u s e pool lies at the foot of a high terrace wall, and is fed through a mask by a stream. Here again a strictly architectural feature of the garden owes much of its interest, its intimate personal quality to the planting about it. A more elaborate wall fountain is that at "Brookside," of which Mr. Rondoni is the sculptor. It is de- lightful in conception and the figures of the two fauns and the mask are very amusing indeed. Garden houses, like walls, should conform to the style of archi- tecture of the main house, for the garden and whatever pertains to it ought to be part of an homogeneous whole; one should be able to pass easilv from house to garden and from garden to house^ feeling that each belongs to the other; and one of the surest ways of accomplishing this spirit of coherence is uniformity of design and correlation of material in all the architectural features of the garden. Garden architecture, to be sure, need not be so dignified as that of the house; it admits of more freedom and play- fulness in its treatment than does the more important architecture of the house, but the same general style should be adhered to throughout. The practice of this principle automatically rules out the Japa- nese garden transplanted to our Western surroundings; like most exotics, its fault is that it fails to fit in our civilization and tradi- tions of art, and it must always occupy the position of a curiosity. An Eastern garden is full of symbolism which is lost to the un- trained Western mind, and it is no more feasible to graft this art on our traditions of garden design than it is to introduce Japanese manners, costumes, and religion. [146] / / G a d The anomaly of an Italian garden in conjunction with a so- called colonial house — or a garden distinctively French in char- acter, with a house of easy informal English design — is less Hagrant, though equally to be avoided. The best features of al- most anv style offer enough good things from which to choose, so that one need not be driven to the resources of another style for variety. Of garden furniture there is very little of stock design which is good. Stone workers have done a great deal better for us than A tSTAL FIGURE WHICH IS VERY PLEASINC; E. Lucche?i, Sloneiiorker A FINE REPRODTCTION OF A NEO-GR(£CQlTE PHILOSOPHER J. C. Kraus, Stoneiuorker [147] T h L a b I H wood craftsmen; and the cast stone benches and tables which may be obtained offer good adapta- tions of classic designs. But there is little wood garden furniture, except that done to special de- sign, which is even passable. Good garden figures are almost as scarce as good wooden furniture; but occasionally one finds something that it not the stereotyped "boy with fish/' or Hebe, or Diana. Cast iron reindeer gave us a great set-back in our appreci- ation of garden ornaments; for many people, still under the influence of the very Wfj^ ^H proper reaction against this Pim^ ^^^^B sort of garden "adornment,'' refuse to have any "statuary" at all abcnit their grounds. This is unfortunate, because there is no d(^ubt about the fact that a few figures carefully chosen con- tribute a lot of interest and life to the garden. It is pleasant to come on a faun laughing out of the leaves at one, or the wise old smile of a philosopher, or the pagan grin of a grotesque. And amusing in much the same way are the lead figures used so often in English gardens; [148] A GOOD TERMI NAL FIGURE FOR PATH ANOTHER TER- MINAL FIGURE FOR PATH G a d O ^ -^^ OJ w 'o rn r^ C t»4 ^ 3 i== O < TH ■«>H ^ X '.^ W X) ^ ^ ^^ CQ O ^ [149] T h L a b I H o u A FRUIT BASKET FOR A GARDEN GATE POST J. C. Kraus, Stonezaorker shepherds and shepherdesses, amorini and grotesques. Lead is a very agreeable ma- terial for garden figures, and it is regret- table that no one is manutacturino: them in this country to-day. A tew dealers import lead work from England, and now and then an old figure strays into the country, but for the most part the use of this material for garden work is very limited. Good sun-dials of the "made in America" kind are also few and far between. For the most part our stock sun-dials consist of Doric columns of yery doubtful proportions, or of a single heayy baluster supporting a plaeque on which the dial face rests. Very little ingenuity and good taste seems to haye been exercised in their designs, and — I admit it reluctantly — we haye almost no dials to compare in interest with hundreds to be found in England. I am not going to excuse the scarcity of good design in garden furniture and accessories on the basis of the youth of this country, or its hustling interest in business, or its lack of a leisure class. These are the customary and time-worn excuses for almost eyery artistic defect we possess. We haye the best architects in the world to-day, and we haye able manufacturers and good designers of furniture for interiors. Among the three we ought to produce garden furniture which is as good in design as that of any other country, and which will be a real factor in making the gardens livable. [150] / s G a d n kl^w^-^.M' — -i . ^« A J 't' '",5 ' [iSiJ T h L i V a b I H o u W O O w ^ DO o -^ W CO o < o o OS [152] a d n [153] r h L i V a b I H o It < o o Q Q W O CO W Q O Li, H O < CJ ^ ^ b7j . Ph u 5S 154] G a n [155; T h L a b I H o u s c H -c" .n u 'u < -Td ^ < ^J ^ J c^ o< O '^^ OS ^W Q s j "^ fc •^ -^o ^ K k~H O >< w ^' P^ u - o< C/2 v, fc fc s--^ ^^ >.<; ZTi _^ <^ 15 -< r ^ o d. qS o ^<^< c < J 5 ,v,^ d o 2; w CO od: o :;h ^^ '•>. uo ^ . . H ,,^ W o' 2; ■>3 ^^ ^^ s-/ ;2 1-- O n o [156] / t G a r d n CO -T. aM^'- ^* rMi. ■^'^ J -a < l-H K* ^ -a w c H (XI < 03 >?H C/2 ^ o .2 ^ ^H H ^' CA2 ^ i-H c/T "< w CAi s. s P-H W ^•^ <^ Q Q^ "-' Q c^ b^ ^ ^ ^ "^ o < w H ^^ < o o < J C/5 o o U ^ o' w ~ Ph ■^ <: [157] T h L a b I H o u s e A W ALL O !■ K i'. r' V :\ KD DESIGN Garden of Mrs. E. S. Clark, Pomfret, Couuccticut Charles A. Piatt, Architect [158] G a d e n A GATE POST OF SI M PLE DIGNIFIED DESIGN Estate of Mr. Willard Straight, at Westbury, Long Island A. F. Brinckerhoff, Landscape Architect [159] T h L I V able H o u s e A CLEVER TRELLIS TREAT M E N T OF A HIGH WALL In the garden of Mr. Charles Biddle, at Andalusia, Pennsylvania. Mellor and Meigs, Architects [i6o] G a d A A UNUSUALLY GOOD BIT OF "RUSTIC WORK" Garden of Mrs. J. Clifton Edgar, at Greenwich, Connecticut Marian C. Coffin, Landscape Architect [i6i] T h L I V a b I e H o u s A FENCE OF CHESTNUT PALINGS BETWEEN BRICK PIERS Garden of Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, Westbury, Lcng Island. Delano and Aldrich, Architects G a 11 lliigf laiil |iliii2fi||| THE WHITE PICKET FENCE OF A DOOR-YARD GARDEN House of Mrs. Harrison Sanford, at Litchfield, Connecticut Restored by Mr. Aymar Embury II, Architect [163] T h L i V a b I H o II s e J J -^ < ^ > •-^ r^ ^ o o ^ ^ h^ K^. rt Q m i: ^ < >> :^ H O ^ ^r, t:: ^ ' ^ -^ W W ^ 'w> ~ C/D ^ r. ^-^ -J^'- < P:. .5 oj o w o o C/D . J p ^«^ CO i-i J >a ^ u. ■>3 rD 2 O r/O «^ ^ W ^ O ~c; 'i-^ U s P ►-S c:/2 [164] G a d tn J (— •1— < u Z3 w C£i p^ -w H s: ^ Q ^' W ^ > o oi; ^ D -o ^ C; ■1-1 s^ VI • ~ < tn i-^ O ":; -^ ^ ^ '^ ^ ^ ai o H ' M-H 'S q^ ^ ^-i ■ ^ w OS OJ lU o cQ (—' w X ^ H . '-5 ^ . ^ p^ ^ ^ o ^ PQ O C^ < [165] T h L i V a b I H o u s [i66] G a d 11 f 1 P GAZEBO OF THE ROYALL HOUSE At Medford, Massachusetts [167] T h c L I V a b I e H o u s e AN AMUSING WALL FOUNTAIN Jt "Brookside." Estate of Mr. William Hall Walker, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Ferrucio Vitale, Landscape Architect [i68] G a d ji A WALL FOUNTAIN COMBINED WITH A POOL Garden of Mr. H. H. Rogers, at Tuxedo, New York Walker and Gillette, Architects [ifc9] T h L I V a b I H o u s i -i, A GARDEN ENTRANCE FOR WHOSE CHAR M AGE IS RESPONSIBLE House at (So Federal Street, Salem, Massachusetts Samuel Mclntyre, Architect, 1782 [170] G a d n o 4—1 a. > ^ < f2 ^ ^ ^ L^n jw^; [171] T h L i V a b I H o u s e A W^ R O U G H T IRON LA N 1 E R N AN D BRACKET At Forest Hills Gardens, Forest Hills, Long Island Grosvenor Atterbury, Designer [172] / / J- G a d e n TWO BENCHES OF INTERESTING DESIGN BACKED UP BY TRELLIS Ralph Adams Cram, Architect [173] T h L I V able Ho use A REPRODUCTION OF AN OLD REN AI SS AN CE URN Jt Hamilton Farm. Gladstone, Neic Jersey. Ruth Dean, Landscape Architect; J. C. Kraus, Stoneworker [174] I I I