Landscape gardening has often been likened to the

painting of a picture. Your art-work teacher has doubtless told you
that a good picture should have a point of chief interest, and the rest
of the points simply go to make more beautiful the central idea, or to
form a fine setting for it. So in landscape gardening there must be in
the gardener's mind a picture of what he desires the whole to be when
he completes his work.

From this study we shall be able to work out a little theory of landscape gardening.

Let
us go to the lawn. A good extent of open lawn space is always
beautiful. It is restful. It adds a feeling of space to even small
grounds. So we might generalize and say that it is well to keep open
lawn spaces. If one covers his lawn space with many trees, with little
flower beds here and there, the general effect is choppy and fussy. It
is a bit like an over-dressed person. One's grounds lose all
individuality thus treated. A single tree or a small group is not a bad
arrangement on the lawn. Do not centre the tree or trees. Let them drop
a bit into the background. Make a pleasing side feature of them. In
choosing trees one must keep in mind a number of things. You should not
choose an overpowering tree; the tree should be one of good shape, with
something interesting about its bark, leaves, flowers or fruit. While
the poplar is a rapid grower, it sheds its leaves early and so is left
standing, bare and ugly, before the fall is old. Mind you, there are
places where a row or double row of Lombardy poplars is very effective.
But I think you'll agree with me that one lone poplar is not. The
catalpa is quite lovely by itself. Its leaves are broad, its flowers
attractive, the seed pods which cling to the tree until away into the
winter, add a bit of picture squeness. The bright berries of the ash,
the brilliant foliage of the sugar maple, the blossoms of the tulip
tree, the bark of the white birch, and the leaves of the copper beech
all these are beauty points to consider.

Place makes a difference
in the selection of a tree. Suppose the lower portion of the grounds is
a bit low and moist, then the spot is ideal for a willow. Don't group
trees together which look awkward. A long-looking poplar does not go
with a nice rather rounded little tulip tree. A juniper, so neat and
prim, would look silly beside a spreading chestnut. One must keep
proportion and suitability in mind.

I'd never advise the planting
of a group of evergreens close to a house, and in the front yard. The
effect is very gloomy indeed. Houses thus surrounded are overcapped by
such trees and are not only gloomy to live in, but truly unhealthful.
The chief requisite inside a house is sunlight and plenty of it.

As
trees are chosen because of certain good points, so shrubs should be.
In a clump I should wish some which bloomed early, some which bloomed
late, some for the beauty of their fall foliage, some for the colour of
their bark and others for the fruit. Some spireas and the forsythia
bloom early. The red bark of the dogwood makes a bit of colour all
winter, and the red berries of the barberry cling to the shrub well
into the winter.

Certain shrubs are good to use for hedge
purposes. A hedge is rather prettier usually than a fence. The
Californian privet is excellent for this purpose. Osage orange, Japan
barberry, buckthorn, Japan quince, and Van Houtte's spirea are other
shrubs which make good hedges.

I forgot to say that in tree and
shrub selection it is usually better to choose those of the locality
one lives in. Unusual and foreign plants do less well, and often
harmonize but poorly with their new setting.

Landscape gardening
may follow along very formal lines or along informal lines. The first
would have straight paths, straight rows in stiff beds, everything, as
the name tells, perfectly formal. The other method is, of course, the
exact opposite. There are danger points in each.

The formal
arrangement is likely to look too stiff; the informal, too fussy, too
wiggly. As far as paths go, keep this in mind, that a path should
always lead somewhere. That is its business to direct one to a definite
place. Now, straight, even paths are not unpleasing if the effect is to
be that of a formal garden. The danger in the curved path is an abrupt
curve, a whirligig effect. It is far better for you to stick to
straight paths unless you can make a really beautiful curve. No one can
tell you how to do this.

Garden paths may be of gravel, of dirt,
or of grass. One sees grass paths in some very lovely gardens. I doubt,
however, if they would serve as well in your small gardens. Your garden
areas are so limited that they should be re-spaded each season, and the
grass paths are a great bother in this work. Of course, a gravel path
makes a fine appearance, but again you may not have gravel at your
command. It is possible for any of you to dig out the path for two
feet. Then put in six inches of stone or clinker. Over this, pack in
the dirt, rounding it slightly toward the centre of the path. There
should never be depressions through the central part of paths, since
these form convenient places for water to stand. The under layer of
stone makes a natural drainage system.

A building often needs the
help of vines or flowers or both to tie it to the grounds in such a way
as to form a harmonious whole. Vines lend themselves well to this work.
It is better to plant a perennial vine, and so let it form a permanent
part of your landscape scheme. The Virginia creeper, wistaria,
honeysuckle, a climbing rose, the clematis and trumpet vine are all
most satisfactory.

close your eyes and picture a house of natural
colour, that mellow gray of the weathered shingles. Now add to this old
house a purple wistaria. Can you see the beauty of it? I shall not
forget soon a rather ugly corner of my childhood home, where the dining
room and kitchen met. Just there climbing over, and falling over a
trellis was a trumpet vine. It made beautiful an awkward angle, an ugly
bit of carpenter work.

Of course, the morning-glory is an annual
vine, as is the moon-vine and wild cucumber. Now, these have their
special function. For often, it is necessary to cover an ugly thing for
just a time, until the better things and better times come. The annual
is 'the chap' for this work.

Along an old fence a hop vine is a
thing of beauty. One might try to rival the woods' landscape work. For
often one sees festooned from one rotted tree to another the ampelopsis
vine.

Flowers may well go along the side of the building, or
bordering a walk. In general, though, keep the front lawn space open
and unbroken by beds. What lovelier in early spring than a bed of
daffodils close to the house? Hyacinths and tulips, too, form a blaze
of glory. These are little or no bother, and start the spring aright.
One may make of some bulbs an exception to the rule of unbroken front
lawn. Snowdrops and crocuses planted through the lawn are beautiful.
They do not disturb the general effect, but just blend with the whole.
One expert bulb gardener says to take a basketful of bulbs in the fall,
walk about your grounds, and just drop bulbs out here and there.
Wherever the bulbs drop, plant them. Such small bulbs as those we plant
in lawns should be in groups of four to six. Daffodils may be thus
planted, too. You all remember the grape hyacinths that grow all
through Katharine's side yard.

The place for a flower garden is
generally at the side or rear of the house. The backyard garden is a
lovely idea, is it not? Who wishes to leave a beautiful looking front
yard, turn the corner of a house, and find a dump heap? Not I. The
flower garden may be laid out formally in neat little beds, or it may
be more of a careless, hit-or-miss sort. Both have their good points.
Great masses of bloom are attractive.

You should have in mind
some notion of the blending of colour. Nature appears not to consider
this at all, and still gets wondrous effects. This is because of the
tremendous amount of her perfect background of green, and the
limitlessness of her space, while we are confined at the best to
relatively small areas. So we should endeavour not to blind people's
eyes with clashes of colours which do not at close range blend well. In
order to break up extremes of colours you can always use masses of
white flowers, or something like mignonette, which is in effect green.

Finally,
let us sum up our landscape lesson. The grounds are a setting for the
house or buildings. Open, free lawn spaces, a tree or a proper group
well placed, flowers which do not clutter up the front yard, groups of
shrubbery these are points to be remembered. The paths should lead
somewhere, and be either straight or well curved. If one starts with a
formal garden, one should not mix the informal with it before the work
is done.