Jane Loudon

Sites

Ancient style, Arbor, Arboretum, Basin, Bed, Border, Botanic garden, Conservatory, Flower garden, Fountain, Lake/Pond, Lawn, Pleasure ground/ Pleasure garden, Pot, Seat, Shrubbery, Statue, Sundial, Trellis, Vase/Urn, Walk

Texts

• 1845, Gardening for Ladies (p. 120)

“ARBORE’TUM.—A collection of trees and shrubs, containing only one or two plants of a kind, arranged together, according to some system or method. The most common arrangement is that of the Natural System; but the plants in an arboretum may be placed together according to the countries of which they are natives; according to the soil in which they grow; or according to their sizes and habits, or time of leafing, or flowering. In all small villa residences an arboretum is the most effectual means of procuring a maximum of enjoyment in a minimum of space, as far as trees and shrubs are concerned. To render an arboretum useful and interesting, each tree and shrub should be named.”

• 1845, Gardening for Ladies (p. 120)

“ARBOURS.—Seats or resting-places, forming terminations to walks, or fixed in retired parts of shrubberies or pleasure-grounds. In general, every straight walk ought to lead to some object of use, as well as of beauty; and an arbour is one of those in most common use. The structure being formed, climbing plants, ligneous or herbaceous, are planted all around it at the base of the trellis-work, or frame, against which, as they climb up, they ought to be tied and trained, so as to spread over the whole arbour. Some of the best plants for this purpose are the different species of Honeysuckle, Roses, and Clematis; and the Laburnum, the Periplòca graeca, the Maurandias, the Wistarias, Eccremocárpus scábra, Lophospermum, Rhodochiton, the Virginian creeper, Cobaea scándens, Menispermum canadensis, and ivy.”

• 1845, Gardening for Ladies (pp. 131–32)

“BORDER.—A border differs from a bed in having a walk only on one side; and an ornamental border, in which flowers or shrubs, or both, are grown, ought to have the plants so arranged in regard to height and distance, as to have them seen to the greatest advantage from the walk. For this purpose the lowest-growing plants should be placed in front, and the highest kinds behind them, and the distance between the different plants should be proportioned to their breadth, not to their height. . . . With regard to the mode of arranging herbaceous plants in borders with reference to the colour of their flowers and time of flowering, the object ought to be to have an equal number of plants in flower in each of the floral months; and among the plants of each month to

have as nearly as possible an equal number of each of the principal colours. This is the beau idéal that the cultivator should keep in view; but it is not easy to carry it out into practice without the assistance of a reserve garden, and a number of plants in pots, that can be brought out when in flower on the shortest notice. . . .

“BORDER FLOWERS.—Herbaceous plants of hardy constitution; showy in appearance, and of easy culture, and therefore well adapted for ornamenting the borders which accompany walks in gardens.”

• 1845, Gardening for Ladies (p. 133)

“BOTANIC GARDEN.—A garden devoted to the culture of plants with a view to botanical science; and in which the plants are arranged according to some system, only one of a kind is planted, and a name appended to each. The most convenient mode for study is to place the plants in straight rows of narrow beds, one row in a bed, with a narrow path between; but the best mode for effect is to place them in groups of one order, tribe, or genus in a group. These groups have the best effect when of a circular form, and when placed on a lawn. The position of the groups relatively to each other should be such as to correspond with the botanical system followed.”

• 1845, Gardening for Ladies (p. 166)

“CONSERVATORY.—This term originally implied a house in which orange-trees, and other large shrubs, or small trees, were preserved from frost during the winter; but at present it is applied to houses with glass roofs, in which the plants are grown in the free soil, and allowed to assume their natural shapes and habits of growth. A conservatory is generally situated so as to be entered from one of the rooms of the house to which it belongs; and from which it is often separated only by a glass door, or by a small lobby with glass doors. It should, if possible, have one side facing the south; but if it is glazed on every side, it may have any aspect, not even excepting the north: though in the latter case, it will only be suitable for very strong leathery-leaved evergreens, such as Camellias, Myrtles, &c. . . . The plants should be of kinds that will grow in a few years nearly as high as the glass; and they should, as much as possible, be all of the same degree of vigour, otherwise the stronger kinds will fill the soil with their roots, and overpower the weaker. . . . The pillars which support the roof, and, to a certain extent, the under side of the rafters, may be clothed with creepers. . . . The most suitable plants for conservatories are those that flower in the winter season, or very early in the spring.”

• 1845, Gardening for Ladies (p. 197)

“EDGINGS are lines of plants, generally evergreens, to separate walks from beds or borders. The plant in most universal use for this purpose in British gardens is the dwarf Box. . . .

“Edgings to beds and borders are also formed of other materials, such as lines of bricks, tiles, or slates, or of narrow strips of stone, or even of wood. In general, however, edgings of this kind have a meager appearance, especially in small gardens, though they have this advantage, that they do not harbour snails, slugs, or other vermin. In architectural flower-gardens, near a house, where the garden must necessarily partake of the character of the architecture of the building, stone or brick edgings are essential, and they should be formed of strips of curb-stone, bedded on stone or brickwork, so as never to sink. . . .

“Much of the beauty of all gardens, whether useful or ornamental, depends on the neatness and high keeping of the edgings; for whatever may be the state of the boundary fence, of the gravel, or pavement of the walks, and of the soil or plants of the borders, if the edgings have an uneven, ragged appearance, or if the plants be either too large or too small, the garden will be at once felt to be in bad keeping.”

• 1845, Gardening for Ladies (p. 210)

“The ancient English flower-garden is formed of beds, connected together so as to form a regular or symmetrical figure; the beds being edged with Box, or sometimes with flowering plants, and planted with herbaceous flowers, Roses, and one or two other kinds of low flowering shrubs. The flowers in the beds are generally mixed in such a manner, that some may show blossoms every month during summer, and that some may retain their leaves during winter. This kind of garden should be surrounded by a border of evergreen and deciduous shrubs, backed by low trees; and in the centre there should be a sundial, a vase, a statue, or a basin and fountain.”

• 1845, Gardening for Ladies (p. 413)

“Water as an element of landscape scenery, is exhibited in small gardens either in ponds or basins, of regular geometrical or architectural forms; or in ponds or small lakes of irregular forms in imitation of the shapes seen in natural landscape. In general all geometrical or architectural basins of water ought to have the margins of masonry, or at least of stones placed so as to imitate a rocky margin. The reason is, that by these means the artificial character is heightened, and also a colour is introduced between the surrounding grass, vegetation, gravel, or dug-ground, which harmonizes the water with the land. Artificial shapes of this kind should never be of great diameter, because in that case the artificial character is comparatively lost, and the idea of nature occurs to the spectator.”