Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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ditions, we add charm in proportion as we create secluded enclosures, sheltered from the public gaze. Our design training demands some method of enclosing the flower planting to give unity and background to the picture, and England offers the tangible proof this principle. Everywhere we are impressed anew' with the charming enclosures from the low brick parapet walls of the city gardens of Guilford, and the simple weathered fences of Penshurst village, to the deep green of the yew hedges and the soft colorings of the old brick terrace wall at Penshurst Manor House. Simplicity of planting materials is a characteristic of much of the planting. By this I mean that exotic plants foreign to the country are not used in such abundance as here, where the owner is often influenced by the nurseryman’s glowing description of the latest importation, rather than by an inherent taste for gardening. The English people love their native trees and shrubs, and use them in abundance. In this way they obtain a luxuriance not possible with imported stock, and also the planting takes its proper place in the scheme and does not attract particular interest to itself. Horticultural varieties have their place, and, I think, nowhere have I seen this better shown than in the Golden Box Garden at Penshurst. The garden was one of the many long allees between tall dark green yew hedges with a wall sundial and semi-circular pool at the end of the vista. The deep borders on either side of the broad turf panel were filled with masses of violet and blue larkspur, filmy clouds of cream-colored meadow rue, the pure white trumpets of madonna lilies, and white grass pinks. For accent points at regular intervals on either side were balls of golden box in the midst of the flowers. I saw the garden in a pouring rain, and that may account for my pleasure in the brilliancy of the golden box. Much as I dislike yellow-leaved varieties under most circumstances, here the exotic quality of the box was a part of the well-conceived formal unit, and did not give the restless feeling that golden varieties used in an accidental fashion do. Another pleasing result of their ability to see beauty in the homely trees and shrubs is the use of the apple trees in their gardens. Since the time of the mediaeval pleasaunce, the English have appreciated the picturesque outline of this tree, and have often given it places of honor in the planting. At Penshurst they have a “flowery orchard” laid out with a simple design of grass walks, shade-loving flowers, and unadorned features. Many of the important vistas of this garden are laid through the midst of the orchards so that the apple trees play a definite part in the garden ensemble. The branches spread in a caressing fashion over the hedges, relieving the hard clipped line at points, and adding the glory of flower and fruit in its season. There were apple trees in our colonial gardens, perhaps from necessity, but for a time every useful tree or shrub was banished from the flower area. Now with renewed in- 8

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planned with some thought of its design. The gardeners on the large estates seem really to love their work. Certainly they must give more than their eight hours daily, when we find that three men and a boy are able to do justice to the garden work at Compton Wynyates with its extensive lawns, and its richly maintained perennial borders with hedges and quaintly clipped figures in box. This love of gardens is no recently acquired taste, but has been growing stronger with the years. Gardens in England are handed down from father to son, and this has a restraining influence. An Englishman does not think only of immediate effects, but plants long-lived trees, looking toward the future development. This restraint protects the garden from fads, and promotes a healthy, well-conceived growth. Age plays a large part in the beauty of these gardens. It has softened the colors of the stone of walls and garden features, has added picturesqueness in the rugged, gnarled branches of the older trees, and has given a splendid luxuriance to the planting. Such widespread appreciation of the art of gardening is the result of the education and intellectual growth of an older country. As Bacon said in his essay “Of Gardens ”—“And man shall ever see, that when Ages grow to Civility and Elegance, Men shall come to Build Stately sooner than to Garden Finely; As if Gardening were the Greater Perfection.” The English countryside itself is a garden with the magnificent trees, the rich tangle of vines and shrubs in the hedgerows, and the lavish supply of wild-flowers. All gardens have this splendid background, but the people do not stop here. “• Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made By singing, ‘Oh, how beautiful !’ and sitting in the shade.” Their love of gardening is so sincere that they are constantly making improvements. No scheme is entirely successful after the first planting, and some adjustment is always necessary as new growth changes conditions. The English appreciate this, and their gardens show it by their finish. English gardens have many natural advantages, the climate, the age of the gardens, and the true spirit of gardening born and bred in all the people. However, there are certain tangible elements of charm which if studied as principles and not simply copied, may be adapted to our conditions with great success. “In the form of his garden, man has been, is, and will be most revealing.” Englishmen, as a result of their aristocratic training, have a passion for privacy. So the English emphasize privacy which has always been the greatest charm and chief source of popularity of all successful gardens. In this country, with our democratic ideals, we subordinate the development of the individual lot to the appearance of the street as a whole. However, whenever it is consistent with other eon- t

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terest in garden craft the apple tree is coming back into its own. Almost all English gardens demonstrate how much interest changes of level, which necessitate steps and retaining walls, add to a design. From the more formal St. Catherine’s Court to the more informal terraces of Mr. Peto’s house, the soft-weathered grays of the native stone serve as a foil for the brilliancy of the flowers. Ilford Manor near Bath, the home of the well-known architect, Mr. Peto, boasts a charming terraced area. The clever use of stone features is full of inspiration for the designer. Granted that the architect has been extremely fortunate in his collection of Italian stone antiques, still it is the setting of paved terraces, stone stairways and walls which tie his collection together, and add the feeling for form without which the garden becomes a hodge-podge mixture with no delineation. English gardens are the result of a constant, long-continued growth. England has passed through many schools of garden craft and has learned something from each extravagance. We still enjoy the walled gardens of the monastery type, the stone garden houses, flowering orchards and fish ponds of the mediaeval pleasaunce, and the vine-covered arbors, and fascinating patterns of nosegay flowers and quaintly clipped box of the Tudor days. Since Elizabethan times there has been a logical, intimate relation between house and garden, and the flower border has demanded recognition. The beautiful parks of such estates as Bowood and Wilton House, with their famous lawns, magnificent low-spreading trees, and luxuriance of undergrowth planting tying the lawn to the tree masses, are the results of mistakes made during the reign of the landscape school iconoclasts. The more recent development of wild gardening during the end of the nineteenth century under Robinson, since the atrocious habit of so-called rockeries has disappeared, has resulted in the intelligent planting of wild areas. Miss Jekyll inspires enthusiasm for this kind of work, in descriptions of woodlands where masses or “drifts” of daffodils, scillas, rhododendrons and laurels, foxgloves, roses, lilies, and such trees as birches, beeches and holly give an ever-changing color picture. At her home, Munstead Wood, she has indulged her love of woodland plantings. The main ideas of this wild gardening have not been abandoned, still there has been a decided return to formality. The modern school of garden makers includes many architects who plan gardens depending on precision of line and balance of masses for beauty. The modern schools are tolerant of each other and attempt to use the best of each in its place without extravagance of manner. Elizabeth Dickerman Jones. 9