DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66025#0018
XII.
INTRODUCTION
urns that ornamented the piers of terrace and stairway, and of the many gods of the ancient
mythology, whose statues, set in niches of clipped greenery, adorned the shady ways and other
portions of the garden design. The hillside site necessitated much terracing and many important
flights of steps, but a terrace near the house commonly led to some kind of pavilion of fine
design where the princely host might entertain his friends, and receive the men of learning and
science, the poets and others devoted to the fine arts, whom he delighted to honour.
It may also be considered that the ornamentation of gardens with architectural and sculptured
detail would be the more insisted on because the resources of the time, compared with those of the
present day, yielded so little of actual ssower beauty. Roses they had of a few simple sorts, jasmine,
violets, white lilies, honeysuckle and ssag irises ; of shrubs for garden use they had box and bay;
juniper, ilex and cypress for clipped hedges. Of ssowering shrubs such as we have in such
profusion, we hear of none but orange and lemon, oleander, myrtle and perhaps pomegranate.
Small wonder then, that with this restricted means of ornamentation by ssowers there should
be all the greater care that the garden should be made as beautiful as might be by the work of
the sculptor and the architect.
It is hoped that these illustrations of all kinds of garden ornament, now brought together
for convenient study and comparison, may serve, not only to quicken the interest in beautiful
gardening but also to show how ornament may best be applied, according to the quality or
calibre of any place. The descriptions and critical remarks are to be taken as suggestive rather
than authoritative, but they will be useful in directing attention to the various objects and their
judicious treatment, mainly as to the preservation of harmony and avoidance of incongruity.
The overgrowth of good buildings by ivy and fast-growing climbing plants is pointed out in
several instances ; it is a matter that should receive much more attention, for ivy is answerable
for the disintegration of much ancient masonry that ought to have been better guarded, and
architecture of careful and refined character deserves better treatment than to be defaced or
even obliterated by a rampant growth of common climbing plants.
INTRODUCTION
urns that ornamented the piers of terrace and stairway, and of the many gods of the ancient
mythology, whose statues, set in niches of clipped greenery, adorned the shady ways and other
portions of the garden design. The hillside site necessitated much terracing and many important
flights of steps, but a terrace near the house commonly led to some kind of pavilion of fine
design where the princely host might entertain his friends, and receive the men of learning and
science, the poets and others devoted to the fine arts, whom he delighted to honour.
It may also be considered that the ornamentation of gardens with architectural and sculptured
detail would be the more insisted on because the resources of the time, compared with those of the
present day, yielded so little of actual ssower beauty. Roses they had of a few simple sorts, jasmine,
violets, white lilies, honeysuckle and ssag irises ; of shrubs for garden use they had box and bay;
juniper, ilex and cypress for clipped hedges. Of ssowering shrubs such as we have in such
profusion, we hear of none but orange and lemon, oleander, myrtle and perhaps pomegranate.
Small wonder then, that with this restricted means of ornamentation by ssowers there should
be all the greater care that the garden should be made as beautiful as might be by the work of
the sculptor and the architect.
It is hoped that these illustrations of all kinds of garden ornament, now brought together
for convenient study and comparison, may serve, not only to quicken the interest in beautiful
gardening but also to show how ornament may best be applied, according to the quality or
calibre of any place. The descriptions and critical remarks are to be taken as suggestive rather
than authoritative, but they will be useful in directing attention to the various objects and their
judicious treatment, mainly as to the preservation of harmony and avoidance of incongruity.
The overgrowth of good buildings by ivy and fast-growing climbing plants is pointed out in
several instances ; it is a matter that should receive much more attention, for ivy is answerable
for the disintegration of much ancient masonry that ought to have been better guarded, and
architecture of careful and refined character deserves better treatment than to be defaced or
even obliterated by a rampant growth of common climbing plants.