DOI Heft:
No. 91 (Oct., 1900)
DOI Artikel:Prior, Edward S.: Garden-making, [1]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19786#0044
Garden-Making
catastrophes of flood and avalanche
cleared the ground : what volcanic
fires gave the richness of their
dressing: what centuries of frost
and snow, of rain and wind pre-
pared the soil for a short lived
brightness ! And how many miles
of fallow lie round these plots of
Nature's display? Can man pre-
tend to Nature's length of years and
Nature's spaces ? To sprinkle bulbs
under trees and make tangled tufts
of perennials may be a pleasing
fancy, but why call this pretence a
wild or natural garden ?
And in just as false a position
stands the landscape gardenist.
He, too, would pretend with big
words to what is impossible, and
show failure by equal incompetence.
That an art of garden-making might
be founded on that of landscape-
painting was an idea that came with
that most artificial phase of the
painting art some two hundred
..... ' ,' ^^M^^ilHS^yH years ago, when landscapes were
';; - ; " > tf$'y!» *\ . composed with nymphs, grottos,
. ;,- ■■I'^^'-t■<-:'■ l^^^'^i^^^^'-'^'r.^ temples, and terminal figures. No
j, -» > * v- . v 4ji%a doubt gardens could be artificially
S Vl^i /. .*•' , •.'/ H1' ' . f&iis furnished with such adjuncts as
. ,(1 appear in Watteau's and Boucher's
t Ik. , • ■•• -lrS-|^ canvases. But now landscape-
," p ; ; - '>; :dfi8m3t; painting realizes other emotions than
"'-s£ * \i -,-»-» ■' '^ffl&M those that can be engineered like
. ' ^t 'v' \ stage-scenery. Our painter has his
/. '^f^PBsS-i . JB] impression, his point of view, his
t ' si special atmosphere in each picture.
1 ■"' * ' ' :™ But the garden is to be viewed
EXAMPLE OF CLIFF GARDEN BY R. T. ELOMFIELD fr0m & thousand points, in a
thousand lights, and with every hour a
changed impression. The conditions
us, how shall man make Nature's garden ? She of the two arts have separated as wide as can be.
has her gardens wherein hundreds of years Must we walk in our gardens blindfold till we stand
count as the seasons, but will man, the thought at the ideal point of view, and then wait patiently
of one of her seconds, do as she ? The garden for just the right light ere we venture to see the
of this earth is too big a thing for his private art ? No one admits such absurdities. An art
enterprise ; it is too solemn, too terrible. Pan, which aims at making in a garden what we call
as Stevenson has it, " stamps his foot" as well " scenery," is an exercise of human foolishness on
as " trolls on his pipe." " It is a shaggy world, yet a footing with the pretence of man's wilderness,
studded with gardens." Yes ; tangled woods, Of course both ideas claim literary sponsorship :
briar-beset, but sometimes carpeted with bluebells; but the " Heath " of Bacon's famous essay was no
foetid bog-mosses with glittering islands of poten- more " the Garden wild " of our Mr. Robinson than
tilla ; weary Alpine cliffs with cushions of gentian ; Milton's description of" Paradise " could be realized
so are laid out Nature's flower-beds. But what in the landscape gardens of Kent and Shenstone.
29
catastrophes of flood and avalanche
cleared the ground : what volcanic
fires gave the richness of their
dressing: what centuries of frost
and snow, of rain and wind pre-
pared the soil for a short lived
brightness ! And how many miles
of fallow lie round these plots of
Nature's display? Can man pre-
tend to Nature's length of years and
Nature's spaces ? To sprinkle bulbs
under trees and make tangled tufts
of perennials may be a pleasing
fancy, but why call this pretence a
wild or natural garden ?
And in just as false a position
stands the landscape gardenist.
He, too, would pretend with big
words to what is impossible, and
show failure by equal incompetence.
That an art of garden-making might
be founded on that of landscape-
painting was an idea that came with
that most artificial phase of the
painting art some two hundred
..... ' ,' ^^M^^ilHS^yH years ago, when landscapes were
';; - ; " > tf$'y!» *\ . composed with nymphs, grottos,
. ;,- ■■I'^^'-t■<-:'■ l^^^'^i^^^^'-'^'r.^ temples, and terminal figures. No
j, -» > * v- . v 4ji%a doubt gardens could be artificially
S Vl^i /. .*•' , •.'/ H1' ' . f&iis furnished with such adjuncts as
. ,(1 appear in Watteau's and Boucher's
t Ik. , • ■•• -lrS-|^ canvases. But now landscape-
," p ; ; - '>; :dfi8m3t; painting realizes other emotions than
"'-s£ * \i -,-»-» ■' '^ffl&M those that can be engineered like
. ' ^t 'v' \ stage-scenery. Our painter has his
/. '^f^PBsS-i . JB] impression, his point of view, his
t ' si special atmosphere in each picture.
1 ■"' * ' ' :™ But the garden is to be viewed
EXAMPLE OF CLIFF GARDEN BY R. T. ELOMFIELD fr0m & thousand points, in a
thousand lights, and with every hour a
changed impression. The conditions
us, how shall man make Nature's garden ? She of the two arts have separated as wide as can be.
has her gardens wherein hundreds of years Must we walk in our gardens blindfold till we stand
count as the seasons, but will man, the thought at the ideal point of view, and then wait patiently
of one of her seconds, do as she ? The garden for just the right light ere we venture to see the
of this earth is too big a thing for his private art ? No one admits such absurdities. An art
enterprise ; it is too solemn, too terrible. Pan, which aims at making in a garden what we call
as Stevenson has it, " stamps his foot" as well " scenery," is an exercise of human foolishness on
as " trolls on his pipe." " It is a shaggy world, yet a footing with the pretence of man's wilderness,
studded with gardens." Yes ; tangled woods, Of course both ideas claim literary sponsorship :
briar-beset, but sometimes carpeted with bluebells; but the " Heath " of Bacon's famous essay was no
foetid bog-mosses with glittering islands of poten- more " the Garden wild " of our Mr. Robinson than
tilla ; weary Alpine cliffs with cushions of gentian ; Milton's description of" Paradise " could be realized
so are laid out Nature's flower-beds. But what in the landscape gardens of Kent and Shenstone.
29