Two ideas should be fixed14 in the mind of the improver, the one being to allow all the beautiful shrubs to assume their natural shapes, either singly or in groups, with sufficient space between to allow of their fair development, so that the shrubbery might, in the flowering season, or indeed at all seasons, be the best kind of conservatory—a beautiful winter garden even, with the branches of most of the shrubs touching15 the ground, no mutilation whatever visible, and no hard dug line outside the shrubs. This last improvement could easily be effected by forming a natural fringe, so to say, by breaking up the usual hard edge from good planting; by letting, in fact, the edge be formed by well–furnished shrubs projected beyond the hard line, and running in and out as they do on a[113] hill copse, or as the box bushes sometimes do on a Sussex down. Here care, variety in selection, taste and skill in grouping, so as to allow different subjects, whether placed singly or in groups, or little groves16, being in a position where they may grow well and be seen to advantage, would lead to the most charming results in the open–air garden. With sufficient preparation at first, such shrubberies would be the cause of very little trouble afterwards.
Now, such beauty could be obtained without any further aid from other plants; and in many cases it might be desirable to consider the trees and shrubs and their effect only, and let the turf spread in among them; but we have the privilege of adding to this beautiful tree and shrub2 life another world of beauty—the bulbs and herbaceous plants, and innumerable beautiful things which go to form the ground flora17, so to say, of northern and temperate18 countries, and which light up the world with loveliness in meadow or copse, or wood or alpine19 pasture in the flowering season. The surface which is dug and wasted in all our parks, and in numbers of our gardens, should be occupied with this varied20 life; not in the miserable21 old mixed border fashion, with each plant stuck up with a stick, but with the plants in groups and colonies between the shrubs. In the spaces where turf would not thrive, or where it might be troublesome to keep fresh, we should have irises22, or narcissi, or lupines, or French willows24, or Japan anemones25, or any of scores of other lovely things which people cannot now find a place for in our stiff gardens. The soil which now does little work, and in which the tree–roots every year are mercilessly dug up, would support myriads26 of lovely plants. The necessity of[114] allowing abundant space to the shrubs and trees, both in the young and the adult stage, gives us some space to deal with, which may be occupied with weeds if we do not take care of it. The remedy, then, is to replace the weed by a beautiful flower, and to let some handsome hardy27 plant of the northern world occupy each little space; keeping it clean for us, and, at the same time, repaying us by abundant bloom, or fine foliage28 or habit. This system in the first place allows the shrubs themselves to cover the ground to a great extent. In the London parks now every shrub is cut under so as to allow the digger to get near it; and this leads to the most comical and villainous of shapes ever assumed by bushes. Even the lilac bushes, which we see so horribly stiff, will cover the ground with their branches if allowed room enough; therefore, to a great extent, we should have the branches themselves covering the ground instead of what we now see. But open spaces, little bays and avenues running in among the shrubs, are absolutely essential, if we want to fully29 enjoy what ought to be the beautiful inhabitants of our shrub garden. Such openings offer delightful30 retreats for hardy flowers, many of which thrive better in semi–shady spots than they do in the open, while the effect of the flowers is immeasurably enhanced by the foliage of the shrubs around. To carry out this plan well, one should have, if possible, a good selection of the shrubs to begin with, although the plainest shrubbery, which is not overgrown or overcrowded, may be embellished32 with hardy plants on the ground. The plan may be adopted in the case of new shrubberies being formed, or in the case of old ones; though the old ones are frequently so dried up and overcrowded that great alterations33[115] would have to be made here and there. In the case of young shrubberies it is, of course, necessary at first to keep the surface open for a while until the shrubs have taken hold of the ground; then the interesting colonies to which we alluded34 may be planted.
An essential thing is to abolish utterly35 the old dotting principle of the mixed border, as always ugly and always bad from a cultural point of view. Instead of sticking a number of things in one place, with many labels, and graduating them from the back to the front, so as to secure the stiffest imaginable kind of arrangement, the true way is to have in each space wide colonies or groups of one kind, or more than one[116] kind. Here is a little bay, for example, with the turf running into it, a handsome holly36 feathered to the turf forming one promontory37, and a spreading evergreen barberry, with its fine leaves also touching the ground, forming the other. As the turf passes in between those two it begins to be colonised with little groups of the pheasant’s–eye Narcissus, and soon in the grass is changed into a waving meadow of these fair flowers and their long grayish leaves. They carry the eye in among the other shrubs, and perhaps carry it to some other colony of a totally different plant behind—an early and beautiful boragewort, say, with its bright blue flowers, also in a spreading colony. Some might say, Your flowers of narcissi only last a certain time; how are you going to replace them? The answer is, that they occupy, and beautifully embellish31, a place that before was wholly naked, and worse than naked, and in this position we contend that our narcissi should be seen in all their stages of bud and bloom and decay without being hurried out of the world as soon as their fair bloom is over, as they are on the border or in the greenhouse. They are worth growing if we only secure this one beautiful aspect of vegetation where before all was worse than lost. We also secure plenty of cut flowers without troubling the ordinary resources of the garden.
We might then pass on to another, of the German iris23, occupying not only a patch, but a whole clump38; for these enormous London parks of ours have acres and acres on every side of this greasy dug earth which ought to sparkle with flowers; and, therefore, a very fine plant might be seen to a large extent. And how much better for the gardener or cultivator to have to deal with one in one[117] place than be tormented39 with a hundred little “dots” of flowers—alpine, rock, wood, copse, or meadow plants—all mixed up in that usually wretched soup called the “mixed border”! No plants that require staking ought to be used in the way we are speaking of. Day lilies, for example, are good plants. In some bold opening what a fine effect we could get by having a spreading colony of these therein; scores of plants might be named, that want no sticking, for such places. Each plant having a sufficient space and forming its own colony, there is much less doubt in case of alterations as to what should be done. In fact, in the case of an intelligent cultivator, there should be no doubt. Observe the advantage of this plan. Instead of seeing the same plants everywhere, we should pass on from narcissi to iris, from iris to bluebell40, and thus meet with a different kind of vegetation in each part of the park or garden, instead of the eternal monotony of privet and long dreary41 line of “golden–feather” everywhere. The same kind of variety, as suggested for the flowers, should be seen among the shrubs. The sad planter’s mixture—privet, laurel, etc.—taking all the colour and all the life and charm out of the shrubbery, should be avoided; so, too, the oppressive botanical business, with everything labelled, and plants classified out of doors as they are in an herbarium. They should be put where they would look well and grow best. Well carried out, such a system would involve labour, and, above all things, taste at first; but it would eventually resolve itself into the judicious42 removal of interloping weeds. The labour that is now given to dig and mutilate once a year and keep clean at other times of the year would easily, on the plan proposed, suffice for a much[118] larger area. More intelligence would certainly be required. Any ignorant man can dig around and mutilate a shrub and chop up a white lily if he meets it! But any person taught to distinguish between our coarse native weeds and the beautiful plants we want to establish, passing round now and then, would keep all safe.
On a large scale, in the London parks, such a plan would be impossible to carry out without a nursery garden; that is to say, the things wanted should be in such abundance, that making the features of the kind we suggest would be easy to the superintendent43. The acres and acres of black surface should themselves afford here and there a little ground where the many hardy plants adapted for this kind of gardening might be placed and increased. This, supposing that a real want of the public gardens of London—a large and well–managed nursery in the pure air—is never carried out: the wastefulness44 of buying everything they want—even the commonest things—is a costly45 drawback to our London public gardens. At the very least we should have 100 acres of nursery gardens for the planting and replanting of the London parks. So, too, there ought to be intelligent labour to carry out this artistic46 planting; and with the now–awakened taste for some variety in the garden, one cannot doubt that a few years will give us a race of intelligent young men, who know a little of the plants that grow in northern countries, and whose mental vision is not begun and ended by the ribbon border.
The treatment of the margin47 of the shrubbery is a very important point here. At present it is stiff—the shrubs cut in or the trees cut in, and an unsightly border running[119] straight along, perhaps with a tile edging. Well, the right way is to have a broken margin, to let the shrubs run in and out themselves, and let them form the margin; let them come to the ground in fact, not stiffly, and here and there growing right outside the ordinary boundary, in a little group. Throw away altogether the crowded masses of starved privet and pruned48 laurel, and let the turf pass right under a group of fine trees where such are found. This turf itself might be dotted in spring with snowdrops and early flowers; nothing, in fact, would be easier than for any intelligent person, who knew and cared for trees and shrubs, to change the monotonous49 wall of shrubbery into the most delightful of open–air gardens; abounding50 in beautiful life, from the red tassels51 on the topmost maples52 to flowers in the grass for children.
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1
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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shrub
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| n.灌木，灌木丛 | |
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greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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evergreen
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| n.常青树；adj.四季常青的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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alpine
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| adj.高山的；n.高山植物 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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irises
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| n.虹( iris的名词复数 )；虹膜；虹彩；鸢尾（花） | |
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iris
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| n.虹膜，彩虹 | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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anemones
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| n.银莲花( anemone的名词复数 )；海葵 | |
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myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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embellish
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| v.装饰，布置；给…添加细节，润饰 | |
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embellished
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| v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色 | |
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33
alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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holly
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| n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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promontory
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| n.海角；岬 | |
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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bluebell
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| n.风铃草 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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44
wastefulness
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| 浪费，挥霍，耗费 | |
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45
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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46
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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47
margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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48
pruned
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| v.修剪（树木等）( prune的过去式和过去分词 )；精简某事物，除去某事物多余的部分 | |
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49
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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50
abounding
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| adj.丰富的，大量的v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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51
tassels
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| n.穗( tassel的名词复数 )；流苏状物；（植物的）穗；玉蜀黍的穗状雄花v.抽穗， （玉米）长穗须( tassel的第三人称单数 )；使抽穗， （为了使作物茁壮生长）摘去穗状雄花；用流苏装饰 | |
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52
maples
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| 槭树，枫树( maple的名词复数 )； 槭木 | |
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