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Our landscaping book lesson for today includes information about some basic principles of art and, in this case, landscaping or the art of landscape gardening. This is part two of lesson one.

Styles

It is customary to recognize several different styles in landscape gardening. Style may be defined as the national or racial quality in landscape gardening. In this art the word style has a meaning wholly different from that given to it in the other arts, especially in literature.

The styles usually mentioned are the English, the Italian and the Japanese; but there exist, at least theoretically, also a Chinese style, a Persian style, an Egyptian style, etc. The English, Italian and Japanese styles have sometimes been called respectively the natural, the formal or architectural and the picturesque. This synonomy is very superficial and should generally be avoided.

More logically stated the natural or informal method on the one hand and the architectural or formal on the other, are not styles at all, but fundamental garden forms. Any of the properly national styles may be either formal or informal. As a matter of fact the formal and the informal methods have both been used successfully both in Italy and in England.

These distinctions, however, are somewhat abstruse and hardly necessary to the work of the beginner. The young student may safely speak of formal gardening and of the natural style because these terms are in common use even though they are slightly illogical.

Utility and Beauty

Another phrase in our definition should have a short examination. We have said that our object in landscape gardening is to secure the maximum of utility combined with the maximum of beauty. It is sometimes assumed that utility and beauty are conflicting qualities and that beauty is necessarily marred whenever we intrude anything “practical” or merely useful. This idea is absolutely wrong and mischievous.

The fundamental truth is the exact opposite, viz. that the maximum of beauty can be realized only when practical requirements have been fully met. So radical is this principle that some of the great philosophers have held that this satisfaction of practical utilities is the sole foundation of beauty.

In common experience we certainly do find many instances in which practical utilities are far from beautiful. A steel smokestack, an iron bridge, a wooden silo are almost certain to be ugly. But there are inoffensive smokestacks, noble and beautiful bridges and distinctly good-looking siloes. And the beautiful smokestacks, bridges and siloes are just as useful as the ugliest ones ever built.

It is often thought that a large part of landscape gardening is directed to covering up and disguising unsightly but necessary objects. Unfortunately work of this sort has to be done sometimes: - we seldom find perfectly ideal conditions in this present world; but our first effort should always be to render every useful object beautiful instead of merely trying to hide it. Particularly reprehensible is the practice of covering up dirty and unsanitary nuisances by such means as planting screens of “ornamental” trees and shrubs. As though a garbage dump could be ornamented!

Readings

The pupil will easily find innumerable books on art and enough on landscape gardening, some good, many indifferent, others worthless. He should read as many good books on art as possible. In the field of landscape gardening a large and valuable literature is available. Some of the most important works are listed in the Bibliography at the close of this book; these and other books on the subject should be read and digested as opportunity offers.

Our author certainly has a point about some of landscaping efforts being aimed at just trying to hide eye sores. But there are ways to make many nuisances beautiful. Such as the ugly tree stump left behind when a tree must be cut down. Think of how beautiful it could be with a climbing rose draped over it or as a holder of birdhouses. Certainly some great ways of incorporating beauty into our landscaping despite what could be eye sores.