DOI Heft:
No. 91 (Oct., 1900)
DOI Artikel:Prior, Edward S.: Garden-making, [1]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19786#0045
Garden-Making
The fact is that such ideas of "Nature" and as well say that "the art of painting lies in the
" Landscape " in the garden have been kept alive by perfect laying on of the perfect colour—this is
the make-believe of certain professionals, who, taken what makes the painter, and therefore painting."
at their profession by wealthy men, have wasted much As a matter of experience no garden beauty, but
money in purposeless mound-raising and valley- considerable ugliness, seems to result from the
sinking, in the clumping of shrubs, and disposing labours of the flower specialist, the grower of the
of shapeless water-pools, with " rustic" bridges, and perfect flower, whether his mania be for roses,
dribbling waterfalls, all wherewith to manufacture tulips, or daffodils. For connoisseurship is not by
points of view, that when achieved are equally its nature a love of art, but only of preciousness.
nightmares to both painter and gardener. For- Its care is not for the beauty of garden flowers, but
tunately the small proprietor need not be at the for something bigger, gaudier, or more monstrous
mercy of such ambitions. He cannot seriously than others have achieved. Even in its least crazy
propose in his acre or two to model a Turner or efforts the specimen garden has the notion of a
Corot any more than an alpine precipice or a museum; of beauty displayed under a glass case;
prairie meadow. But unfortunately the unthrifty not the charm of a home, with a delight that can
technique and the unworkmanlike gardening of be handled. When the erections and contrivances
the professional landscapist is easily acquired, and of flower or plant growing crowd out the grace of
the dregs of his system are drunk to the bottom in gardening the skill of the gardener has come to
the untidy beddings, winding
purposeless paths, the irregu-
lar water-puddle, the rockery
and the rhododendron clump,
which recur not only in our
great places, but in too many
villa front-plots " usque ad
nauseam.",:::
And it is pitiable to see
to-day books on gardening,
ambitious to sum up the
gardening science of the
century, prefacing their prac-
tical treatises by a dish-up
of all the puerile recipes
of this exploded landscape
ideal. And sad too to find
that even the flowers that
can be grown in an English
garden cannot be detailed
without our author posing as
the child of " Nature," whose
teeth are set on edge by the
sour grapes of " Art."
But there is yet another
theory of the garden which
brings the art of its making
to naught, and this is the ideal
of specimen growth. What
does the laying out matter,
say some, when the one
thing in a garden is to have
the perfect growth of the per-
fect flower. This is what
makes the gardener and there-
fore the garden. But we might example of square lay-out garden by e. s. prior
30
The fact is that such ideas of "Nature" and as well say that "the art of painting lies in the
" Landscape " in the garden have been kept alive by perfect laying on of the perfect colour—this is
the make-believe of certain professionals, who, taken what makes the painter, and therefore painting."
at their profession by wealthy men, have wasted much As a matter of experience no garden beauty, but
money in purposeless mound-raising and valley- considerable ugliness, seems to result from the
sinking, in the clumping of shrubs, and disposing labours of the flower specialist, the grower of the
of shapeless water-pools, with " rustic" bridges, and perfect flower, whether his mania be for roses,
dribbling waterfalls, all wherewith to manufacture tulips, or daffodils. For connoisseurship is not by
points of view, that when achieved are equally its nature a love of art, but only of preciousness.
nightmares to both painter and gardener. For- Its care is not for the beauty of garden flowers, but
tunately the small proprietor need not be at the for something bigger, gaudier, or more monstrous
mercy of such ambitions. He cannot seriously than others have achieved. Even in its least crazy
propose in his acre or two to model a Turner or efforts the specimen garden has the notion of a
Corot any more than an alpine precipice or a museum; of beauty displayed under a glass case;
prairie meadow. But unfortunately the unthrifty not the charm of a home, with a delight that can
technique and the unworkmanlike gardening of be handled. When the erections and contrivances
the professional landscapist is easily acquired, and of flower or plant growing crowd out the grace of
the dregs of his system are drunk to the bottom in gardening the skill of the gardener has come to
the untidy beddings, winding
purposeless paths, the irregu-
lar water-puddle, the rockery
and the rhododendron clump,
which recur not only in our
great places, but in too many
villa front-plots " usque ad
nauseam.",:::
And it is pitiable to see
to-day books on gardening,
ambitious to sum up the
gardening science of the
century, prefacing their prac-
tical treatises by a dish-up
of all the puerile recipes
of this exploded landscape
ideal. And sad too to find
that even the flowers that
can be grown in an English
garden cannot be detailed
without our author posing as
the child of " Nature," whose
teeth are set on edge by the
sour grapes of " Art."
But there is yet another
theory of the garden which
brings the art of its making
to naught, and this is the ideal
of specimen growth. What
does the laying out matter,
say some, when the one
thing in a garden is to have
the perfect growth of the per-
fect flower. This is what
makes the gardener and there-
fore the garden. But we might example of square lay-out garden by e. s. prior
30