Instructions in gardening for ladies

by Mrs. Loudon

CHAPTER X.

ROCK-WORK, MOSS-HOUSES, RUSTIC BASKETS,
AND FOUNTAINS.

Rock-work, though composed of somewhat ponderous materials, is very frequently arranged according to female taste; and one of the most remarkable examples in England (that at the Hoole, near Chester,) was designed by a lady, and executed entirely under her direction. There are many kinds of rock-work; but they may be all described as collections of fragments of rocks, stones, flints, vitrified bricks, scoriæ, and similar materials, so arranged as to afford a striking object in the landscape; and, at the same time, so as to form a number of little nests or crevices for the reception of alpine plants. The mode of arranging these materials depends entirely upon taste; and of course varies widely. The most natural kind of rockwork, is like that at Redleaf, near Tunbridge Wells; where Mr. Wells, the proprietor, taking, what Mr. Loudon calls the key-note, from the natural scenery of the neighbourhood, has made his rocks appear “to crop out” of the soil, as though naturally, in such situations as to give the best effect to the scenery. The plants deposited in the hollows of these rocks, are so admirably placed, and the art with which they are cultivated, is so skilfully concealed, that no illusion can be more complete; and we may fancy ourselves in a scene of nature, but of nature in her greatest beauty and highest luxuriance.

Very different is the rock-garden of the late Duke of Marlborough, in his private gardens at Blenheim. It is perhaps more beautiful than the rocks at Redleaf; but no one could possibly mistake it for anything but a work of art, and it owes its chief beauty to the plants grown in it. It is formed on a scar in the natural rock, which is hewn into zigzag paths; on one side of each of which are numerous niches to receive the plants. These plants are planted and kept with great care; and they grow so luxuriously, as almost to hide the paths, and to make the rock look at a little distance like a bank of flowers. Mosses of different colours are interspersed, and the whole has a peculiarly rich and sparkling effect.

The rock-work at Syon has been compared to the scenery of a highland glen; but I must confess there does not appear to me the slightest resemblance. In fact, the Syon rock-work is so overpowered by the magnificent conservatory in front, with its splendid terrace, and the geometric flower-garden at its base, with its myriads of beautiful flowers, &c. that it becomes quite a secondary object, and its real beauties are very apt to pass unnoticed. It consists of masses of granite, intermixed with broken capitals of columns, &c. thrown together in a natural manner, and planted with ornamental flowering plants, principally exotic. The rock-work at Norbiton Hall, is disposed in the same manner as that at Syon; but it is on a smaller scale; and its principal use is to keep moisture round the roots of the plants, which are planted among it.

Many other specimens of rock-work might be mentioned, particularly that of the Rev. J. Clowes at Lower Boughton Hall, near Manchester, that of Mrs. Lawrence at Drayton, that of the late Duke of Bedford at Woburn, and that of Thomas Millie, Esq. at St. Clair Town, in Perthshire; but the most remarkable of all is that of Lady Boughton, at the Hoole, near Chester, which, indeed, stands quite alone, the only one of its kind. The design for this rock-work was taken from a small model, representing the mountains of Savoy, with the valley of Chamouni; and the rocks are made sufficiently large to give a person walking among them, an idea of their reality. The labour of forming this rock-work was very great; not only from the large size of the stones to be removed, but from the difficulty of getting them of the proper colours and shapes. Besides this, it was very difficult to make it stand against the weather. “Rain washed away the soil, and frost swelled the stones: and several times the main wall failed from the weight put upon it. The walls and foundations are built of the red sandstone of the country; and the other materials have been collected from various quarters, chiefly from Wales.” The part that represents the outer circle of rocks, is principally composed of the red sandstone of the neighbourhood, in which little niches have been made for plants, and filled with exactly the kind of soil in which alpine plants grow naturally; viz., broken fragments of stones, clean-washed river gravel, and the debris of decaying moss, and other plants, crumbling rocks, &c. The plants are all strictly alpine—the only liberty taken, being the mingling of the alpine plants of hot and cold countries, or rather of different elevations, together; and this is contrived very ingeniously, by placing fragments of dark-stone to absorb the heat, round those that require most warmth, and fragments of white stone to reflect the heat, round those that require to be kept cool. In all the trees and shrubs planted among the rocks, the same care is taken to keep up the illusion: they are all alpine plants; and dwarf species, or those of very slow growth, are generally chosen, to prevent them from becoming too large for the rocks. The part which represents the “Mer de Glace,” is “worked with grey limestone, quartz, and spar. It has no cells for plants; but the spaces are filled up with broken fragments of white marble, to look like snow; and the spar is to imitate the glaciers.” I have already mentioned that Lady Boughton was her own artist; and, I may add, that the rock-work was six or eight years in progress, before it was completed.

Whatever kind of rock-work may be erected, the first thing to be done is to make a secure foundation; as, unless this is effected, the stones will gradually sink into the earth by their own weight; and thus, in a few years, the mass will either have become half buried, or tottering and insecure. It is therefore most prudent, unless the rock-work be actually erected on a solid rock, to prepare a foundation for it of brick-work; not suffering, however, any of the wall to appear above the surface of the ground. To prevent the possibility of this foundation wall being seen, it will be best not to carry it higher than to within six or eight inches of the surface. All being prepared, the stones may be arranged, the largest at the base; and the upper ones diversified according to the taste of the designer.

The following general rules will apply to all the different kinds of rock-work:—never to let the stones rest against any kind of building; as, when so disposed, they give ideas of disorder and insecurity. Never to mix up decaying materials, such as roots of trees, &c. with durable materials, such as rocks and stones; or things evidently natural, with those evidently formed by art. Never to let the rock-work rise abruptly out of the turf, like a great mass of stones discharged from a cart; but gradually to prepare the way for it, by sinking some fragments of stone half-way in the ground, and letting them become larger and more numerous, till the spectator at last arrives at the principal mass. Never to begin to work without having some fixed design, whether avowedly artificial or apparently natural; and where the design is to make what may be called a natural rock-garden, like that of the Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim, always to take care that the stones are very large, and piled upon one another, so as to imitate the stratification of a rocky country.

“In general,” says Mr. Loudon, in his Suburban Gardener, “rock-work, to be truly natural, can only show the rock on one side, or at most on two sides; as scars, cliffs, and precipices are seen in rocky districts.” This abrupt side or face of the rock should be represented as projecting into ledges or shelves, to imitate the terminations of the different strata; and the flowering plants should be introduced, in what may be supposed to be the clefts and fissures of the natural rock. The summit of the rock and the sloping side should be covered with turf, and may be planted with trees, some of which may hang over the rock; or the line of junction between the stones and the turf may be concealed, by the luxuriance of the alpine plants, planted in the fissures, and suffered to climb over the top. It must be observed, however, that in granite or basalt rocks, the lines of stratification are generally vertical; and consequently very ill adapted for forming ledges for plants. The best materials for a natural rock-garden in ledges are therefore sandstone and limestone, the lines of stratification in which are chiefly horizontal, with occasional dips.

It will be evident, from what has been said, that to make good rock-work, requires the eye of an artist; and it may be added, that rock-work should never be attempted without first making a coloured drawing of it on paper, or a small model, with a child’s box of bricks, or some similar materials, to try the effect.

Moss-houses are interesting as garden buildings, because they afford great scope to the exercise of the fancy; not only in the design for the entire building, but for the arrangement of the moss in different patterns. The first thing to be considered in carrying the design into execution, is the foundation; and this, if the soil be damp, should be dug out two feet deep, and nearly filled with concrete. In this must be fixed the rustic pillars which are to support the roof; and these are generally composed of the trunks of young larches or spruce-firs with their bark on, which should be chosen as nearly as possible of the same size. The number of pillars and the manner in which they are to be arranged depends, of course, on the design; but the general number is from eight to twelve. Great care must be taken to drive the posts firmly into the ground, and all to the same depth. The rafters for the roof are then fixed on, and narrow laths, or hazel rods, nailed between them, and also between the uprights. Between these laths or rods the moss is pushed with a wedge-shaped piece of wood; the pattern having been first rudely traced with chalk on the outside of the rods. The moss to be used should be first collected and sorted, all of the same kind being put together; and when it is used the root end should always be the part pushed in between the rods. The principal mosses fit for this purpose are the reindeer moss, Cenomyce rangifera, and its allies, many of which are found in abundance on Bagshot Heath, and other commons near London, and nearly all of which are white: the different kinds of Bryum, all of which are very neat and compact growing mosses, sending up long stalks bearing their seedpods; of these, Bryum roseum is pink, B. hornum yellowish green, and B. cuspidatum light green: Dicranum glaucum nearly yellow, and D. scoparium a very dark green: Sphagnum, one kind pink, and another nearly white; and Hypnum, several species, varying in different shades of green. All these are abundant in the commons about London. Farther north, more brilliant colours are found, some very dark brown, some of a rich brownish purple, some of a very bluish green, and some so white as to look like snow. Wherever there is a common or very old turf, it will be an amusement to explore it in search of the different kinds of mosses; and when the prevailing mosses of the district have been discovered, the pattern and colours for the moss-house can be arranged accordingly. A very rich, and at the same time original effect, might be produced in a moss-house, by arranging the moss in an arabesque pattern, with different colours combined something like those of a Turkey carpet; and instead of paving the floor it might be formed in the same manner as the walls. Or, the walls might be of some plain colour with only the crest of the family, or the initials of the designer’s name in white or colours, and the ceiling and floor in arabesque.

In all cases the outside of the roof is thatched or covered with shingles; and the outside of the walls is either boarded or covered with a thick coating of moss. Where the house is large, or if there are glass windows, it is best to have the frame-work made by a regular carpenter; but where the moss-house is small, and open in front, it may be put up by the gardener, or any intelligent servant. In many cases, the roof is finished with a circle of pine-cones fixed round it as a cornice; and the floor is either laid with other pine-cones, or with small pebbles, some of which are white and are arranged in a kind of pattern; the windows are frequently of coloured glass; and a curious effect might be produced by having those in the back of the building purple, which would make the ground and every object seen through them look as if covered with snow; and those in front of the building filled with yellow glass, which gives every object the rich glow of summer.

The seats in a garden or pleasure-ground are generally purchased ready made; but an agreeable variety may be occasionally produced, by having the stump of an old tree formed into a seat, and twining ivy, and creeping flowering shrubs, round it. Where it is an object to save trouble, a plant of the Virginian creeper may be planted with one of the giant ivy; and if both are left to nature, the effect will be very good, as the brilliant deep red of the Virginian creeper in autumn will be relieved by the dark green of the ivy. A few moveable seats—one to wheel about from one part of the garden to another, and another of the new folding kind, imported from Norway by Charlwood, and sold at 3s. 6d. each, are very convenient. Where there is a terrace, a seat may be erected at each end of wood, but of a somewhat massive design, and painted white, being strewed while the paint is wet with very fine sand, which will make it a good imitation of stone. Seats may also be decorated by nailing on a wooden frame-work hazel rods with the bark on, which have been stained of different colours, and then varnished. These rods are arranged in a pattern, and I have seen the effect of a landscape produced; but it appears a kind of decoration that is in very doubtful taste, or at least one that it requires great judgment to manage properly.

1. Rustic Box.

Rustic Baskets.—There are perhaps few things over which the alchemy of taste has more power than the apparently worthless materials of which these elegant ornaments are constructed, An old cask, a few pine-cones, and a few pieces of rope, combined by skilful hands, will produce an almost magical effect. The baskets at Dropmore were all constructed in this manner from designs by Lady Grenville. As an example of what may be done with the commonest materials in this way, Fig. 1. is an old Chinese tea-chest, with part of a tree sawn through as a pedestal, and some pieces of rope nailed on as decorations. Fig. 2. is an old basket with all its interstices stuffed with moss. Many other articles might be devised, which any person of taste and invention would find it an agreeable occupation to design, and to superintend the execution of. In addition to these rustic baskets, a few wirework frames might be designed of much more elegant forms than those commonly sold, which an intelligent gardener might be easily instructed to make at his leisure hours; and indeed a lady with two pair of small pincers would find no great difficulty in twisting the wire herself. The great point is to exercise our own skill and ingenuity; for we all feel so much more interested in what we do ourselves than in what is done for us, that no lady is likely to become fond of gardening, who does not do a great deal with her own hands.

2. Moss Basket.

Fountains.—Though fountains are more suitable to a hot country than to a weeping climate like that of England, yet it must be confessed they are generally a great improvement to garden scenery. The first thing to be considered before erecting one, is where to make the reservoir; as on the elevation which that is above the garden, depends the height to which the water of the fountain will ascend. The length of time which the fountain will play depends on the quantity of water contained in the reservoir, but this has nothing to do with the height to which the water will rise. If a cistern be formed on the top of a summer-house, ten feet and a half high, and a pipe from that be carried down a sufficient depth into the ground to secure it from frost, and thence horizontally to the orifice which is to form the fountain, that orifice, if it be only half an inch in diameter, will throw up a jet of water ten feet high, and will continue playing till all the water in the cistern is exhausted. The conducting pipe for such a fountain should be two inches and a quarter in diameter, and it should be furnished with a valve or stop-cock, which may be turned at pleasure, and by which the water may be either suffered to ascend through the orifice, or retained in the conducting pipe. The reservoir cistern must be kept full by a forcing pump, or hydraulic ram; or, in the neighbourhood of London, by high service from the water company which supplies the dwelling. Any cistern, sufficiently high above the garden, will do. Where a cistern in the roof is supplied with a high service pipe, a fountain with a jet thirty or forty feet high, according to the height of the house, might be had in the garden at no other expence than that of fixing descending, and horizontal conducting pipes.

The water in a fountain may be thrown up in various designs, which are formed by little tubes of brass, called adjutages, which are screwed on the orifice of the conducting pipe. Some of these designs imitate a convolvulus, some a wheat-sheaf, some a basket, and some a globe. In short, they are very numerous, and after exhausting the fancy of the English plumbers, a variety of different and very elegant designs may be obtained from Paris.