A Garden Can Be a Work of Art

It should ever be remembered that the highest art is that which conceals art. The effects which we create in our gardens, therefore, must be so contrived as not to reveal too patently the means by which they are produced. By the observance of this principle we get the nearest approach to a natural garden, inasmuch as the examples of nature\'s work then impress us more strikingly than the work of the garden designer - and this is as it should be.

A further quality which it is important to introduce into the garden is that of repose. Repose is closely correlated with breadth of treatment, but it also involves a proper proportioning of the main elements of the design, the borders, grass, and walks.

With regard to the walks in a garden, it is only necessary to see that they exist for a definite purpose (not merely because the designer thinks they help the outlines on his paper plan) and that they do not sprawl aimlessly about the plot, cutting it up into awkward shapes. Grass, more than any other feature, helps to secure a feeling of repose. As far as possible it should exist in a single stretch, or at least it should not consist of a number of scattered pieces.

Apart from questions of tennis and croquet, grass in a garden provides a valuable background to the flowers; a place where the feet may escape the \"crunch\" of gravel, and one may find perhaps a corner bathed in shadow, from which to look out upon one aspect of the garden picture, or to enjoy one\'s thoughts or thoughts of another between the covers of a book.

A quality which is important to introduce into the garden is that of repose. Repose is closely correlated with breadth of treatment, but it also involves a proper proportioning of the main elements of the design, the borders, grass, and walks.