CHAPTER IIILANDSCAPE GARDENING
This wide field of study is one which women are well suited to, provided they have brains and good taste. In order to be really successful, imagination is required, as well as other qualities that are needed by an ordinary head gardener. No amount of study or training can adapt an inartistic woman to this profession, but given artistic feeling, the power of conveying her ideas to her employers and to those working for her, great possibilities are within reach. Many fail, perhaps, by a headstrong desire to carry out their own plans; they do not regard sufficiently the views and wishes of those for whom they work. A considerable amount of tact is necessary, in order to obtain the confidence of the owner of the garden. Having ascertained his requirements, and made these the centre of the scheme, the woman-gardener’s imagination should help to fill in all details.
MODEL BY MISS A. C. SEWELL OF A CHILDREN’S GARDEN, EXHIBITED AT THE WHITECHAPEL COUNTRY IN TOWN EXHIBITION.ILLUSTRATION OF WHAT CAN BE SHOWN OF A GARDEN BY MEANS OF A MODEL.Photograph by Clarke and Hyde.
MODEL BY MISS A. C. SEWELL OF A CHILDREN’S GARDEN, EXHIBITED AT THE WHITECHAPEL COUNTRY IN TOWN EXHIBITION.
ILLUSTRATION OF WHAT CAN BE SHOWN OF A GARDEN BY MEANS OF A MODEL.
Photograph by Clarke and Hyde.
I assume that the candidate for such a position has had a good general education, and is wellgrounded in botany and botanical geography. It is necessary that she should be able to draw, and a knowledge of simple plane geometry and geometrical drawing is essential. She must be able to make a sketch plan showing the proposed alterations with their measurements. In some cases, where the employer is not himself a draughtsman or does not read a ground plan easily, the lady gardener may find it useful to have recourse to a different system for conveying her meaning to him.
I have seen a rough model made in cardboard to represent the house, and real soil used to surround it, with little twigs placed here and there in imitation of trees or hedges. This is a somewhat childish means of experimenting upon future alterations, but in cases where the owner is undecided or unable completely to grasp the effect which will be attained by moving soil, or planting trees, the model may be exceedingly useful. The soil can be so easily shifted from side to side with the hands, a tree planted here, a dividing hedge placed there, until the desired effect is attained. Then, too, it may convey well to the contractor (who possibly undertakes the whole alteration) the exact amount of labour that he will have to expend.
Another way of conveying ideas for proposedalterations is by means of a “prophetic drawing.” That is to say, if a rose arbour is to be made, a sketch, with finished details of what it should look like two years hence, when the roses have climbed to the summit of the pergola, may influence the owner in his decision to put the matter in hand. It is important that all these methods of conveying intentions should be studied.
A slight acquaintance with geology will be useful in forming rock work. Most of these subjects, together with surveying, can be learnt at a Municipal School, but the more thoroughly they are acquired the better.
Methodical habits are essential. So many women, compelled to earn a living, fail in this. They do not note expenses carefully; they are not business-like in rendering an account of wages paid out; and they do not trouble to obtain estimates of work to be done. The education of women is much at fault in these respects, but certainly, until this lack of business qualities is replaced by methodical ways, we shall be considered the reverse of helpful.
It will greatly assist the young gardener if visits are paid to many gardens, both private ones as well as market gardens. Small cottage gardens or wayside hedgerows should not be despised; much can be learnt by looking atboth. The plants that are natural to the climate and soil are at once detected in this way, and knowledge is obtained as to what will most speedily lend itself to an effect of foliage or colour. Often, the chance arrangement of a large mass of gypsophila with bright coloured nasturtiums interwoven with its feathery flowers, or pansies springing up between an old paved path, may give ideas for a large garden. The “Traveller’s Joy,” and blackberries, that grow so rampantly on chalk, will make a pergola look clothed before a rarer plant could grow three feet up it.
If possible, a trip abroad should be taken; it would give fresh ideas, if the fields of mauve autumn crocuses in France, or the terraces and vineyards of Italy, could be seen. There are so many different ways of building pergolas, training creepers, and tying vines to posts. If we adopt some of these foreign styles in England it gives a touch of Italy to our tame English gardens. Copious notes should be made of all that is seen, and the knowledge thus acquired can be readily applied to designs for gardens here.
All books on landscape gardening, new and old, must be studied; many old-fashioned plans of mazes and beds can so easily be used or adapted to modern grounds, and with some knowledge ofarchitecture, it will be easy to place the right design near a house.
All gardens must be chiefly considered with a view to improving the appearance of the house. This must be the starting point and first consideration. Planting specimen trees and lovely plants is of secondary moment. No school or college can teach good taste; some people will learn it instinctively, others will never acquire it. With constant observation and copious notes, artistic feeling in gardening may certainly be increased. It will be helpful to know the habits, mode of growth, etc., of trees, shrubs, and garden plants. Their time of flowering, and appearance, are more important matters for consideration than the actual ability to grow them. A head gardener can cultivate them, when the broad effects of colour have been planned and decided upon.
As much knowledge as possible must be gained concerning soils, manures, road making, draining, pond making, levelling, embanking, and there must be the ability roughly to calculate the cost of such operations. By apprenticeship, or by going to watch someone who is making large and extensive alterations, much can be learnt. Facility is acquired in estimating the time that is taken in carting soil, or loading manure, by watching a large staff of men at work; experience can thusbe gained as to the best method to map out work. It is so essential to save labour and untidiness. A job that has to be done twice over is distressing to all concerned. The organisation of work can only be arrived at by planning out each detail beforehand, and orders can at once be given as to where the excavated soil is to be placed so that it may, at a future time, be handy for a further development of the plan.
We are considering this branch of gardening as one that may be gone in for without capital. When the training is completed it will be best to advertise for work. The terms for paying a preliminary visit and giving general advice should be stated. After this, should an understanding with an employer be arrived at, the further charges will depend upon the way in which the work has to be carried out. Perhaps it may only be necessary to pay an occasional visit to the scene of operations and see how the head gardener is executing his orders. In this case a guinea or more a visit would be the remuneration. It may answer the purpose better to obtain the services of a local contractor, and having explained the whole plan carefully to him, let him quote a price for the fulfilment of the contract. The fees would then be so much per cent. upon the total.
Under all circumstances it will be necessary todeal tactfully with the men who do the work. The ideal way of carrying out landscape gardening would be to have a staff of permanent workmen, who would accompany the landscape gardener to the various gardens, and carry out her directions. How much more quickly things would often go, if she had her own men to rely upon. As this, however, means capital, it should not be considered here, and stress can only be laid upon the necessity for making orders concise and clear, and studying the characters of the various workpeople, so as to succeed in obtaining the largest value possible out of their services. The power of interesting them in their work is a useful adjunct. Often a friendly word, or placing some slight responsibility upon a workman, will double the amount he tries to do.
At first it will be difficult to obtain work. Any successful plans that are carried out gratis for friends are sure to lead to further employment, and each good thing achieved will bring other opportunities. Should there still be time on hand, perhaps an architect may be found who is willing to secure the help of a well-trained garden designer.
No fixed rules for obtaining employment can be laid down. Ambition and keen desire to get on will steer best to the right channel for seeking work. Several municipal authorities are willingto employ women as landscape gardeners. Should it be possible for women to make a success of private garden designs, it would surely help towards their appointment to larger spheres of landscape garden work. The laying out of parks, squares, and garden cities could be handed over to them, and what a large source of interest this would be.
It is unfortunate that we in England attach so little importance to the study of forestry. In none of our agricultural colleges is it taught in the same thorough way as in Germany. A great future might be open to a lady who studied this subject. It might be possible to induce a consulting forester in England, Scotland, or, better still, in Germany, to take a pupil. This subject, if fully mastered, would be of the greatest use in carrying out large alterations in public parks or private grounds.
To any lady with a love of nature, the possession of taste, and possibly the wish to improve and add to the beauty of our English country homes, this branch of gardening will greatly appeal. What a pleasurable sensation it is to see a lovely picture growing daily more like the plan that was roughly sketched out. How satisfactory to watch the building up of that stately terrace beneath the house, which puts the finishingtouch to the beauty of the building itself. Without a terrace, the house would appear insignificant and poor—now it seems to have grown in dignity and stateliness. What pleasant days, too, can be spent in noting the happy results of garden-making, such as we see in the great yew trees of Levens, the grand Avenues of Le Nôtre, at Versailles, or the clever grouping of trees in many an English park. Here we, who come some two hundred years after, reap the full benefit of what then had the appearance only of a flat field dotted with stiff little baby trees. We can follow the old plans and ideas, but by using quicker growing materials it is possible to develop a picture under our eyes.
THE HANGING GARDENS, RATTON PARK, SUSSEX.LAID OUT BY THE HON. MRS. FREEMAN-THOMAS.Photograph by Pictorial Agency.
THE HANGING GARDENS, RATTON PARK, SUSSEX.
LAID OUT BY THE HON. MRS. FREEMAN-THOMAS.
Photograph by Pictorial Agency.