Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-19
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

comes about not only because they prize
privacy above display, but also because
they know that concealment until the
right moment Is one Of the basic prin-
ciples of art.
We were Interested the other day in
reading in an old English garden book
instructions as to the proper division Of
an acre plot into a number of smaller
gardens, each hidden from the other,
each leading to the othsr, each inde-
pendent but giving rise to expectations.
So close Is literature to gardening
that Charles Dickens called one of his
best novels (rerhapS his best) by the
interesting title, Great Expectations. F"
y X y \
The great expectation which q hedge
raises in the mind and heart of the
garden investigator must not be disap-
pointed.
The garden which is cut up into com
ponent gardens, as 1t were. must con-
tain real and delightful surprises.
These, however, need not be elabo-
rate.
Preferably they consist of items which
might go unremarked in ordinary fiat
gardens, but which, in their given sit
uation, strike the beholder with all the
force Of novelty.
X X X
An example follows:
Two lilacs form a sort Of gateway
to the territory behind the garage.
In most small home grounds this
place Is nothing or worse than nothing.
In some, alas, 1t is a veritable junk
heap! In others it harbors the COM
post pile, necessary although seldom
beautiful adjunct to a garden.
In the garden under discussion the
ground behind the garage is on gentle
slope. and the gardener has bisected
wild flowers to either eide
The visitor comes upon this little
place, now just beginning, with a COM
plete sense of surprise.
He can see at a glance the beauty
which will tnhabit 1t . month or two
hence.
Its novelty pleases the mind.
X X
Nothing that has been said here
should be construed as in favor Of the
messy, overworked garden. There are
too many Of these already.
Far better Is the plain. simple, fiat,
perfectly open garden, II its opposite
must be achieved by mixing many fac
tors into an indiscriminate heap. piling
one thing almost on top Of another.
Such garden can possess little in
trigue, because it gives the spectator a
headache to contemplate 1t. Between
this extreme and that of Japanese sim
plicity, as represented by single rose
IN a vase, there can be no room for
doubt in choice.
Every one would take the rose, but
still there is no reason to stop with
one, or to feel offended with plenty, so
long as the artistic eye and hand have
cOnSptred to secure beauty
X n n
Six roses, or dozen roses, properly
placed in the right vase, are better, in
most situations, than a single rose in
tall vase. The latter was designed
for the simple japanese room, not a
modern American living or dining room.
Our gardens fundamentally must fit
American conditions; that Is why we
cannot initiate either the English or the
japanese. Most of us may be able to
introduce the element of surprise only
here and there in a few features which
might strike the expert as childish, al
most. If he did not consider Gas he
would, If he were real expert) the
mind and heart which strove for per-
lection
Realizing the intent, the good expert
would be more delighted with this little
attempt than with some grand realiza-
ton which might have cost thousands
OF dollars and which, therefore, was
easy.