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FLOWER GARDENS (Part 1)

NOWADAYS gardening has joined tennis, golf, and other sports as a respectable pastime and hobby. The mistress or master of the house often takes an active interest in the welfare of the flower garden instead of leaving such matters to the hired gardener. Hence it is essential that an intimate relation between the house and the garden be established in order that from the windows or from an adjoining terrace you may enjoy the fruits of your labors.

No longer may the garden be placed at a distance, to be visited only occasionally; it must be close by where you may enjoy it at all times. Wide windows must offer pleasing vistas, and doors give easy access to the garden itself. Nor in achieving such an intimate relation with the house may one forget to maintain a relation between the garden and the other portions of the property. In other words, it must be a part of a comprehensive plan that embraces the entire place. Access to the garden from the lawn must be arranged, and transition from the one to the other must be accomplished easily and without conscious change of mood. Specifically, it is usually best to place the garden on an axial line which leads out from a door or window of the living room, or from a terrace adjacent thereto.

There are two types of garden plans, two moods in which design may be approached, the formal and the informal; or, better, the architectural (conventional) and the naturalistic (rustic). One does not like to use the word "formal," for in the minds of some people it connotes stiff, uninteresting regularity; and the word "informal" too often means formless, altogether without design.

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