ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY EVERETT FRANKLIN PHILLIPS BEEKEEPING LIBRARY "*" """"'''"^ *-'""'>' SB 473 A26 SmiM ''^^'9" '" theory and practice. '3 924" "i 002 "81 3 2T" The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924002813214 GARDEN DESIGN IN THEORY AND PRACTICE A St'nk I' nth. GARDEN DESIGN IN THEORY AND PRACTICE By MADELINE AGAR Author of ' A Primer of School Gardening.' PHILADELPHIA : J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY LONDON: SIDGWICK & JACKSON LTD. MCMXII 5 Preface TN writing this book I have purposely omitted everything of a purely horticultural nature, such as instructions on cultivation and lists of suitable subjects for different soils and situations. There are already numberless good works dealing with that side of garden design. Indeed, in the stress laid upon contents, form has been neglected, and since the gardener's resources have been so enormously developed by the introduction of new plants, and the improvement of old, the art of design in the garden has deteriorated. Within the Jfcst few years it has revived, thanks to a band of architects who realized the unity of house and garden, and were not content to see a carefully planned house surrounded by a haphazard arrange- ment of mixed vegetation. Without going into the old controversy as to whether or not the architect should also do the garden, I would suggest that there are many men whose knowledge of horticulture is their strength, and who are perfectly capable of laying out grounds artistically, with due regard to the house and the X tRElFACE convenience of management, and in addition will employ their experience with plants to the great benefit of the design. Such a man would do well to co-operate with an architect where questions of buildings are involved; and similarly the architect with a faculty for garden design needs some one to assist him in the wide field of horti- culture, for an architect's garden is sometimes an impossible home for plants. In the portions relating to the practical work of surveying, levelHng and plan drawing I have been guided by experience with pupils. Plan drawing alone will never give enough technique, and I recommend a severe course of geometrical drawing, which, apart from some of its problems being of actual use, affords a splendid drill in the accurate use of instruments. Perspective should also be practised for the sake of being able to express one's ideas in the solid. Constant examination of good work is essential. When seeing a garden the student should decide whether or not its disposition is agreeable to him, and the reason for his opinion. There are, for- tunately, plenty of fine gardens as originally planned in England, both public and private, and some of the modern work lacks only age to make it equally good. No opportunity should be lost of seeing such. Next to seeing gardens plans may advantageously be studied, and copied for the sake of realizing dimensions and propor- PREFACE xi tion ; while for landscape gardening the best school is natural scenery. There are many good and helpful books worth careful reading—among which may be mentioned : Kemp's How to Lay out a Garden, Milner's Land- scape Gardening, Blomfield's Formal Garden in England, Ed. Andre's great work L'Art des Jardins, Mawson's Art and Craft of Garden Making, and from the historical side The History of Gardening in England by the Hon. Alicia Amherst. The standard work on Japanese gardens is by J. Conder. Many other books might be mentioned, but the above I have found the most interesting from the design point of view, and I make my acknowledgments to the authors who have in any ways assisted me in the art of Garden Design. M. AGAR. Amersham Common, Bucks, June, 191 1. ————— — CONTENTS PAGE List of Full-Page Illustrations . xv Section I. History and Description of Styles . i Progress of Garden Planning—The Various Styles in Gardening—The Formal Style—The Landscape Style —The Mixed Style—England—France—Holland—Ger- many—Italy—Japan. Section II. Preliminary Considerations . 53 Ideal Site—Co-operation with Architect—Economics. Section III. Preparation of the Design . 65 Surveying—Levelling—Setting out the Plan—Finish- ing the Plan—Estimating—Working out the Design. Section IV. Structural 113 Paths and their Making—Edgings—Terraces and Steps —Walls—Treillage—Garden Furniture—Drainage. Section V. ^The Component Parts of a Garden . 155 The Approach — Kitchen Garden and Orchard Water—The Rose Garden—Rock and Wall Gardens Wild Garden — Iris Garden — Other Specialized Gardens—Recreation Grounds and Public Parks. Section VI. Planting 203 The Use of Flowers—Preparation of Planting Plans Shrubberies and Tree Planting—Avenues—Hedges Grass—Boundaries—Privacy, ziii — xiv CONTENTS PAGE Section VII. Final Considerations . 241 special Difficulties — Small Gardens —Making the most of Opportunities—Alterations and Additions —The Work in Progress. Appendices 263 Index 267 LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS TO FACE PAGE A Sunk Path. {From a Water-Colour by E. E. Everett.) See p. 252 Frontispiece The Water Garden : Kensington Gardens. {From a Water-Colour by E. E. Everett.) See p. 11 . 74 The Formal Garden : West Hall, Byfleet. {From a Water-Colour by E. E. Everett.) See p. 19 . 122 An Alpine Garden. {From a Water-Colour by E. E Everett.) See p. 186 186 PAGE Carney's Seat, Goodwood 7 A Queen Anne Garden {from a Tapestry) 9 Plan for Garden in Anglo-Chinese Style . To face 10 Design for Bedding, Shobdon Court . 14 Plan of Garden for House at Beaconsfield 21 Design for Maze .... 23 Artificial Planting in a Valley . To face 28 Plan of a Modem Estate (French) . 33 The Mixed Style {by M. Vacherot) . 35 A Sunk Garden below Terraces 40 The Garden of a Marquis {from a Japanese Print) 45 Design for Entrance to Garden 135 A Rose Garden for House in Bedfordshire 175 Rose Garden, Fowey, Cornwall. 183 The Wilderness, Hampton Court 213 A Small Town Garden, Chichester . 247 Section I HISTORY & DESCRIPTION OF STYLES " My garden sweet, enclosed with walks strong. Embanked with benches to sytt and take my rest, The knottes so enknotted, it cannot be exprest. With arbours and aUys so pleasant and so dulce. The pestilent ayres with flavors to repulse." I G. Cavendish. " From the intimate union of art and nature, of architecture and landscape, will be bom the best gardening compositions which Time . now promises to bring us." Ed. Andri. HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF STYLES Progress of Garden Planning—The Various Styles in Gardening —The Formal Style—The Landscape Style—The Mixed Style—England—France—Holland—Germany—Itely—Japan. HE earliest English gardens belonged to monasteries, as the monks were the only folk with sufficient leisure from war and labour to pay attention to horticulture. The mo- nastic garden was essen- tially for use. It grew vegetables for food, herbs and roots for medicine, and the flower portion consisted of such things as are suitable for chapel decoration, and for weddings, and burials. Fish ponds were a feature, and have survived the destruction of the garden in many places : for example, at Bosham, the chain of fish ponds gives some idea of the charm of the old place, though they are now merely in a meadow. The old garden was invariably enclosed, generally with walls, and : 4 GARDEN DESIGN square was considered the proper shape. Inside the planning was strictly geometrical : the paths were straight, the trees were evenly spaced, and a " mount " was commonly introduced whereby the monks could get a peep of the world. After the Wars of the Roses a change came over the architecture of the country, with a corre- sponding effect on gardens. The manor house, lying low, took the place of the castle set on a hill, and the monks were not the only gardeners. The same features, however, were reproduced with more elaboration. For instance, the " mount " became an imposing erection from which a man might shoot deer. At Wrexhall, in Yorkshire, we are told " In the orchards were mounts, opere topiarii writhen about with degrees hke turnings of cockell shells to cum to the top without paine." Knots of curiously entwined box edging and flowers were laid out on sanded plots. A maze or labyrinth was " a proper adournements upon pleasure to a garden." A labyrinth and its central bower is said to have been the retreat of " Fair Rosamund. Pleached alleys, and " galleries of trellis work covered with creepers (forerunner of pergolas) began to be the fashion, and topiary work was introduced. Garden design on these lines reached its zenith in Elizabeth's reign. Hampton Court had already been laid out by Cardinal Wolsey and was des- tined to reflect the changing tastes of time. HISTORY & DESCRIPTION OF STYLES 5 But the chief requirements of a Tudor gentleman still remain. " Theobalds," laid out by Lord Burleigh, was considered very fine, and we have contemporary descriptions of it : "It is large and square, having all its walls covered with fiUery and a beautiful jet d'eau in the centre. The Parterre hath many pleasant walks, many of which are planted on the sides with espahers, and others arched over. Some of the trees are limes and elms, and at one end is a small mount called the Mount of Venus, which is placed in the midst of a labyrinth, and is upon the whole one of the most beautiful spots in the world." Hatfield was laid out early in King James' reign, and still retains many of the best characteristics of Tudor taste.