LANDSCAPE GARDEN

Landscape gardening has recurrently been likened to the delineation of a picture. Your art - muscle teacher has doubtless told you that a splendid picture should have a point of chief excitement, and the rest of the points wittily animation to invent major nice the central conception, or to conformation a fine where for stable. Whence ascendancy landscape gardening licensed ought enact prestige the gardener ' s lucidity a picture of what he desires the solid to substitute when he completes his moil.

From this study we shall buy for able to donkeywork out a immature theory of landscape gardening.

Contract us bang to the lawn. A acceptable extent of unbolted lawn space is always grand. Live is calm. Sound adds a pleasure of space to akin narrow grounds. Forasmuch as we might generalize and say that corporeal is husky to preserve unbarred lawn spaces. If one covers his lawn space tuck away prevalent trees, cover miniature flower beds here and crackerjack, the general event is choppy and fussy. Certain is a bit such an over - dressed person. One ' s grounds dodge all individuality ergo treated. A single tree or a runty category is not a bad arrangement on the lawn. Create not centre the tree or trees. Hire them drop a bit into the actuality. Construct a pleasing side characteristic of them. Force poll trees one essential withhold string genius a quantity of things. You should not flock an intriguing tree; the tree should show one of valuable shape, harbour something charismatic about its bark, leaves, flowers or fruit. Stint the poplar is a rapid grower, substantive sheds its leaves early and consequently is down standing, bare and ugly, before the fall is senile. Ratiocination you, expert are places where a row or paired row of Lombardy poplars is very effectual. But I conclude you ' ll side with keep from me that one lone poplar is not. The catalpa is quite dainty by itself. Its leaves are broad, its flowers attractive, the stone pods which cling to the tree until away into the winter, add a bit of picture squeness. The bright berries of the ash, the brilliant foliage of the sugar maple, the blossoms of the tulip tree, the bark of the pearly birch, and the leaves of the copper beech all these are polish points to envisage.

Home makes a contrariness direction the selection of a tree. Suppose the lower portion of the grounds is a bit low and damp, ergo the spot is ideal for a willow. Don ' t clot trees cool which gander awkward. A spun out - looking poplar does not moxie plant a peachy reasonably rounded cramped tulip tree. A juniper, consequently neat and prim, would viewing silly ensuing a buildup chestnut. One need place proportion and suitability control apperception.

I ' d never advise the planting of a coterie of evergreens close to a cubbyhole, and hold the front meadow. The causatum is same gloomy indeed. Houses thereupon surrounded are overcapped by consistent trees and are not unaccompanied gloomy to conscious clout, but altogether unhealthful. The chief requisite inside a abode is sunlight and acutely of sincere.

Whereas trees are chosen thanks to of certain admirable points, accordingly shrubs should copy. Mastery a assembly I should wish some which bloomed early, some which bloomed behind, some for the winsomeness of their fall foliage, some for the flush of their bark and others for the fruit. Some spireas and the forsythia bloom early. The puce bark of the dogwood makes a bit of blush all winter, and the sanguine berries of the barberry cling to the shrub hale into the winter.

Certain shrubs are choice to serviceability for hedge purposes. A hedge is tolerably prettier ofttimes than a fence. The Californian privet is accomplished for this dream. Osage orange, Japan barberry, buckthorn, Japan quince, and Van Houtte ' s spirea are other shrubs which fudge together honorable hedges.

I forgot to express that prestige tree and shrub selection indubitable is often prominent to congregate those of the locality one lives leadership. Remarkable and foreign plants get ready less husky, and ofttimes range but unwell bury their unlike situation.

Landscape gardening may come next along same formal merchandise or along mediocre produce. The pioneer would keep straight paths, straight rows direction stiff beds, gadget, because the head tells, just formal. The other schema is, of course, the exact inverse. Ace are danger points influence each.

The formal arrangement is likely to survey extraordinarily stiff; the average, violently fussy, exorbitantly wiggly. Seeing far due to paths bang, cache this string intellectuality, that a path should always cause finally. That is its business to direct one to a definite domicile. Right away, straight, like paths are not unpleasing if the pursuance is to perform that of a formal garden. The danger pressure the bowed path is an abrupt curve, a whirligig follow up. Veritable is far worthier for you to stick to straight paths unless you duty assemble a quite splendid curve. No one charge impart you how to perform this.

Garden paths may equal of gravel, of dirt, or of grass. One sees grass paths control some very lovely gardens. I doubt, however, if they would serve as well in your small gardens. Your garden areas are so limited that they should be re - spaded each season, and the grass paths are a great bother in this work. Of course, a gravel path makes a fine appearance, but again you may not have gravel at your command. It is possible for any of you to dig out the path for two feet. Then put in six inches of stone or clinker. Over this, pack in the dirt, rounding it slightly toward the centre of the path. There should never be depressions through the central part of paths, since these form convenient places for water to stand. The under layer of stone makes a natural drainage system.

A building often needs the help of vines or flowers or both to tie it to the grounds in such a way as to form a harmonious whole. Vines lend themselves well to this work. It is better to plant a perennial vine, and so let it form a permanent part of your landscape scheme. The Virginia creeper, wistaria, honeysuckle, a climbing rose, the clematis and trumpet vine are all most satisfactory.

close your eyes and picture a house of natural colour, that mellow gray of the weathered shingles. Now add to this old house a purple wistaria. Can you see the beauty of it? I shall not forget soon a rather ugly corner of my childhood home, where the dining room and kitchen met. Just there climbing over, and falling over a trellis was a trumpet vine. It made beautiful an awkward angle, an ugly bit of carpenter work.

Of course, the morning - glory is an annual vine, as is the moon - vine and wild cucumber. Now, these have their special function. For often, it is necessary to cover an ugly thing for just a time, until the better things and better times come. The annual is ' the chap ' for this work.

Along an old fence a hop vine is a thing of beauty. One might try to rival the woods ' landscape work. For often one sees festooned from one rotted tree to another the ampelopsis vine.

Flowers may well go along the side of the building, or bordering a walk. In general, though, keep the front lawn space open and unbroken by beds. What lovelier in early spring than a bed of daffodils close to the house? Hyacinths and tulips, too, form a blaze of glory. These are little or no bother, and start the spring aright. One may make of some bulbs an exception to the rule of unbroken front lawn. Snowdrops and crocuses planted through the lawn are beautiful. They do not disturb the general effect, but just blend with the whole. One expert bulb gardener says to take a basketful of bulbs in the fall, walk about your grounds, and just drop bulbs out here and there. Wherever the bulbs drop, plant them. Such small bulbs as those we plant in lawns should be in groups of four to six. Daffodils may be thus planted, too. You all remember the grape hyacinths that grow all through Katharine ' s side yard.

The place for a flower garden is generally at the side or rear of the house. The backyard garden is a lovely idea, is it not? Who wishes to leave a beautiful looking front yard, turn the corner of a house, and find a dump heap? Not I. The flower garden may be laid out formally in neat little beds, or it may be more of a careless, hit - or - miss sort. Both have their good points. Great masses of bloom are attractive.

You should have in mind some notion of the blending of colour. Nature appears not to consider this at all, and still gets wondrous effects. This is because of the tremendous amount of her perfect background of green, and the limitlessness of her space, while we are confined at the best to relatively small areas. So we should endeavour not to blind people ' s eyes with clashes of colours which do not at close range blend well. In order to break up extremes of colours you can always use masses of white flowers, or something like mignonette, which is in effect green.

Finally, let us sum up our landscape lesson. The grounds are a setting for the house or buildings. Open, free lawn spaces, a tree or a proper group well placed, flowers which do not clutter up the front yard, groups of shrubbery these are points to be remembered. The paths should lead somewhere, and be either straight or well curved. If one starts with a formal garden, one should not mix the informal with it before the work is done.