If possible, portions at any rate of the lake should be visible from the best parts of the flower-garden, or even from the house itself, and to attain this end vistas should be carefully preserved by the due regulation of timber and plantations.
Stone embankments quite spoil the appearance of sheets of water, giving them a semblance to those miniature lakes which are frequently encountered in public gardens at the seaside. If there is a likelihood of the banks being seriously damaged by the wash of water, a suitable protection in exposed places may be made by stones set in cement, the whole being afterwards hidden with grass and trailing plants. Where the general surroundings are wild or rocky, a lake with gently undulating banks and sweeping outline will look out of place; the promontories will require rougher and more broken treatment, whilst firs, such as may be seen on Brathay Crag, Windermere, would be more in keeping than willows and alders, which are associated with scenery of a milder type.
If the site commands a view of a fine natural sheet of water, it is seldom advisable to create an artificial lake. The latter is almost bound to look puny and ridiculous, whilst comparison is invited, which seldom tells favourably on the work of the designer. Similarly, the artificial stream only too surely betrays its character when a free flowing river is also included in the line of sight. It is seldom nowadays that we hear of water being treated in the lavish style of design which made Brown famous among his contemporaries. So far as the small property is concerned, the less of Art and the more of Nature we have, the better. In most cases, existing effects should be jealously preserved, the designer making it his business merely to amplify and elaborate these without destroying their individuality. Above all, the presence of water should be made the excuse for an aquatic garden, than which nothing gives greater interest and pleasure. Fountains and cascades are very well, but they are always alike and present from day to day the same prospect of rising or falling water. The water garden is ever fresh, ever new, its aspect undergoes constant alteration, owing to the growth and change of the plants it contains. Above all the reflected beauty of flower and branch, of cloud and summer sky, are never failing sources of attraction, bringing home to the most jaded mind some of the fairest and most subtle charms of the great world of Nature.
CHAPTER VIII
HARDY HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS
As the glowing colours to a beautiful picture, so are the flowers to our gardens. In many books written on garden design, we find no mention whatever of the best kinds of plants, wherewith to fill the beds and borders when they are made. Surely this is a mistake, for our object in making a garden is to provide a home for flowers and trees. Were an artist attempting to instruct us in the making of a picture, he would not stop when he had completed the rough sketch in charcoal. The most important work has yet to come. The filling in of the colours, the harmonising of the various shades, and the final touches which proclaim the good or bad workman, are points over which the novice is likely to stumble. A faulty, ill-balanced plan will to a certain extent ruin the appearance of our garden for all time; but Nature is kind, and the flowers which spring luxuriantly from the earth will by degrees help to hide many crudities. But this fact must not be abused, as is frequently the case with the careless worker. How often it is said in effect “Oh, of course the garden does not look nice yet, but wait until the things have grown, so as to hide the ugly corners.” It is the designer’s duty to see that there are no “ugly corners,” and there ought to be beauty, because so full of promise, in the bare outlines of paths, beds and lawns—the charcoal sketch of the picture. The best effects are generally obtained by boldly defined colour masses, providing of course that these are arranged so as to harmonise well with each other. The choicest flowers are of very little use if they are jumbled heedlessly together; tall and dwarf reds, blues, whites and yellows heterogeneously mixed. In suggesting suitable subjects for beds and borders, I have endeavoured to arrange the plants in sections, according to colour, at the same time giving a rough idea as to the height, which under ordinary circumstances each will attain. The list makes no pretensions whatever to completeness, the object being rather to suggest a few really desirable subjects, many of which are too seldom seen in our gardens.
Hardy Border Plants with White Flowers
Lupins.—Extremely valuable plants for the back of the border, free flowering, and with handsome foliage.
Chrysanthemum Maximum.—A daisy-like flower, useful for cutting. When established it forms bold, handsome clumps.
Asters, Michælmas Daisies or Starworts.—One of the best of these is A. Harpur Crewe; multiflorus with small flowers is also desirable.
Delphiniums, Larkspurs.—Well-known hardy perennials. They are of easy culture, bloom profusely over an extended period, and the hybrid varieties are especially lovely.