DOI issue:
No. 257 (September 1914)
DOI article:Mawson, Thomas Hayton: What is a garden?
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21210#0292
What is a Garden ?
ones which come naturally uppermost to the mind Nevertheless, the scenic side of garden de-
when speaking on the subject of gardens and garden sign very nearly equals in importance that we
making. If so I would plead that in so doing I am have been considering. There are some gardens,
merely following our great instructress in art, and quite successful gardens too, that owe
Nature herself, who always does this. The great nothing to their surroundings or to that blend-
purpose of all her products is primarily a practical ing of distant prospects with beautiful and many-
one and generally associated with the purpose of hued foreground which is so much to be desired,
reproduction of the species, and when we come to Two of our illustrations (p. 273) show such a
think of it there is no part of a flower, a tree or a garden which was designed by me for a client in a
shrub or any other of Nature's beautiful productions manufacturing district where pleasant prospects
which is not designed solely for a practical pur- without the garden were impossible and so all the
pose. It is not too much to say that its beauty interest had to be concentrated on the scheme
proceeds from the efficient accomplishment of this itself and a sense of scale and perspective obtained
practical purpose and I have always felt that if we without any help from surrounding objects. In
are to design fine gardens which shall not only most instances, however, the garden would lose half
dazzle by their extent, variety, or colour in the first its beauty if it were not treated so as to make
instance, but shall continue throughout many years the most of its surroundings. This is of course
to give lasting pleasure, this pleasure
must be based upon a solid founda-
tion which can only be obtained by
the satisfaction of practical needs in ^^^t
an aesthetic manner.
Turning now to the aesthetic side ^BEL*^r
of our subject and asking the same
question, " What is a garden?", we
have in the literature of this country
alone, and especially in its poetic
literature, sufficient answers many
times to fill the volume of which
this article is a part so that it *^Tt
will be only possible to take two
of the more obvious of them for
The first and most obvious answer ^3
is, that the garden is a place for the \'\
cultivation of beautiful flowers for ' -.' '■
v
their sakes and not only for ^Hfcffll^^^^^^HS" *«*?3^^^Kv J-''.- *!$B
their own sakes but also for the
creation of colour effects and blend- Wt ' ' SRH 4; *':
ings, harmonies and contrasts. All mh ^raSHMf.
the rest is, in a sense, but the frame . ^•'•1 nf-vm "i; s f
work on which to build this feature. ■■&.'>' '»•'■ 'si-Sk 1 , s t 'j*"
Our terrace walls are incomplete -^^^Br
unless swarthed in rampant roses, ^^^HEr?>&«fiitj^/SpP*^'"'jS^r
our yew hedges lose half their purpose $r ^"^^^^i^^S$iS(fe^
unless they form a background for
the brilliant hues and huge masses J^B£,«i»
of hardy perennials, and paths and
walks are meaningless unless they
clearly and inevitably contribute to M?f!Q>i£HBl
our enjoyment of the greenery and * sPfci^ki
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
architectural or scenic, are subsidiary
' 1 THE CARDRNS, I.EVKNS HAI L, WESTMORLAND
to them. (Reprodured by permission from" The Art and Craft of Garden Making")
272
ones which come naturally uppermost to the mind Nevertheless, the scenic side of garden de-
when speaking on the subject of gardens and garden sign very nearly equals in importance that we
making. If so I would plead that in so doing I am have been considering. There are some gardens,
merely following our great instructress in art, and quite successful gardens too, that owe
Nature herself, who always does this. The great nothing to their surroundings or to that blend-
purpose of all her products is primarily a practical ing of distant prospects with beautiful and many-
one and generally associated with the purpose of hued foreground which is so much to be desired,
reproduction of the species, and when we come to Two of our illustrations (p. 273) show such a
think of it there is no part of a flower, a tree or a garden which was designed by me for a client in a
shrub or any other of Nature's beautiful productions manufacturing district where pleasant prospects
which is not designed solely for a practical pur- without the garden were impossible and so all the
pose. It is not too much to say that its beauty interest had to be concentrated on the scheme
proceeds from the efficient accomplishment of this itself and a sense of scale and perspective obtained
practical purpose and I have always felt that if we without any help from surrounding objects. In
are to design fine gardens which shall not only most instances, however, the garden would lose half
dazzle by their extent, variety, or colour in the first its beauty if it were not treated so as to make
instance, but shall continue throughout many years the most of its surroundings. This is of course
to give lasting pleasure, this pleasure
must be based upon a solid founda-
tion which can only be obtained by
the satisfaction of practical needs in ^^^t
an aesthetic manner.
Turning now to the aesthetic side ^BEL*^r
of our subject and asking the same
question, " What is a garden?", we
have in the literature of this country
alone, and especially in its poetic
literature, sufficient answers many
times to fill the volume of which
this article is a part so that it *^Tt
will be only possible to take two
of the more obvious of them for
The first and most obvious answer ^3
is, that the garden is a place for the \'\
cultivation of beautiful flowers for ' -.' '■
v
their sakes and not only for ^Hfcffll^^^^^^HS" *«*?3^^^Kv J-''.- *!$B
their own sakes but also for the
creation of colour effects and blend- Wt ' ' SRH 4; *':
ings, harmonies and contrasts. All mh ^raSHMf.
the rest is, in a sense, but the frame . ^•'•1 nf-vm "i; s f
work on which to build this feature. ■■&.'>' '»•'■ 'si-Sk 1 , s t 'j*"
Our terrace walls are incomplete -^^^Br
unless swarthed in rampant roses, ^^^HEr?>&«fiitj^/SpP*^'"'jS^r
our yew hedges lose half their purpose $r ^"^^^^i^^S$iS(fe^
unless they form a background for
the brilliant hues and huge masses J^B£,«i»
of hardy perennials, and paths and
walks are meaningless unless they
clearly and inevitably contribute to M?f!Q>i£HBl
our enjoyment of the greenery and * sPfci^ki
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
architectural or scenic, are subsidiary
' 1 THE CARDRNS, I.EVKNS HAI L, WESTMORLAND
to them. (Reprodured by permission from" The Art and Craft of Garden Making")
272