To lay out and plant a suburban garden, where the object is chiefly to make a picturesque display of ornamental trees and shrubs, with a few flowers.

148. General Arrangement

For this example, we shall take a garden which was laid out and planted from a design of ours. The situation is a piece of flat ground, on the border of a common, within two miles of St Paul's, London: it contains, altogether, about a quarter of an acre; and the soil is a strong loam. The house forms part of a row; and, from a stable, chaise-house, and poultry-house being placed alongside of the dwelling, the frontage, and, consequently, the width of the back garden, is upwards of 60 ft. There being no common sewer, or general system of drainage, in the neighbourhood, the most defective part of this residence is the dampness of the surface of the ground in wet weather. The drains of the walks, however, are conducted to a well at the further extremity of the garden; whence the water, after heavy rains, may be pumped up to a gutter, which is conducted along the surface of the common. The situation, though flat, is not without some distant prospect, that is intended to be seen from the floor of the living-room (which is about 5 ft higher than the surface of the garden), broken and varied by the trees which are to be planted.

The shrubs will be, for the most part, below the eye; and the finer flowers are intended to be chiefly confined to the front garden; in which, in order to form a greater contrast with the back garden, it is only intended to have climbers against the house and the side walls. The portion of the front garden before the coach-house and stable is separated from that before the house by a wall; thus giving a yard for the poultry, and room for cleaning the horse, chaise, etc. The only trees in the front garden are a row of thorns of six different kinds, placed close by this partition wall, in order to hide the view of the poultry and chaise-yard from the parlour window.

149. The house, the boundary fences, the walks, and the outdoor buildings, were designed and carried into execution before our advice was asked, and were to be considered as unalterable. Some asparagus beds, sea-kale beds, and gooseberry bushes were planted, and were also not to be disturbed. All that was left for us to do, therefore, was to arrange the beds on the plot of lawn, or turf, which formed the principal part of the area of the back garden; and to indicate the kinds of trees and shrubs to be planted in these beds and in their side borders. This we did on a working plan, of which fig. 42. occupying pp. 96. and 97. is a copy, accompanied by the following explanatory references; to which we shall subjoin a list of the trees and shrubs planted, with their prices: a The door of the house, which opens on a landing covered by a trellised porch; from which a flight of seven steps descends to the garden walk. b, Privy. e, Summer-house.

d, Pit for cucumbers, heated by dung from the stable; thrown into a vault, through a door at one end.

e, Raised cover to a welL f, Pump. g, Door to the stable.

A, Situation of the dining-room window, being the only window of a sitting-room which looks into the garden; and with reference to the view from which window all the trees are planted.

i, Border of shrubs and flowers; the fence on this side being wooden pales, about 5 ft, high; the aspect south by east.

k, Border for rhubarb, sea-kale, chives, parsley, and other annual and perennial kitchen herbs: the fence here is a brick wall, 5 ft. high.

l, Asparagus beds.

m, Two rows of gooseberries, with strawberries between. The margin of the walks is, on one side, a continuation of the lawn, 1 ft. broad; and, on the other, box.

n to o, Part of the wall, on which currants may be trained.

p, Border of shrubs and flowers, with some trees, facing the north; the wall brick, and about 5 ft high, covered with fruit-trees of different kinds; but which, from the aspect, are of little use as such. Beyond the fences, on the right and left, are similar gardens; and at the extreme end there is an open common in grass.

q, Dark circles, indicating the fruit-trees which are already planted, and are not to be removed.

r, Open circles, indicating the situation of trees to be planted.

s, Marks thus *, ihdicating the situation of evergreen shrubs to be planted. The dots, thus , indicate situations for herbaceous plants, annual or perennial.

t Marks thus x, indicating the situation of deciduous shrubs to be planted.

u to v, Twelve posts in the fence of pales, against each of which a China rose is to be planted, and trained on each side; and also allowed to overtop the wall, so as to break its formal outline.

w, Situation where a vase on a proper pedestal, a statue, or other architectural object, might be placed; taking care to connect it architecturally with the walk.

x, Situation where a small circular basin and fountain might be introduced.

y, Situations where chairs may be placed.

The different tools required for the garden, including the wheelbarrow and roller, are kept in a division of the stable; the flower-pots, etc, under the summer-house; and the mould and compost heaps near the east-end of the pit.

150. In the disposition of the trees, the object is, to preserve an irregular-sided vista along the centre of the lawn; to break the formality of the straight lines of the walks and fences on each side of it; to conceal the termination of the lawn, and hide the asparagus-beds; and to vary and partially conceal the scenery of the neighbouring side gardens and of the country beyond. The principle of guidance in the selection and disposition of the shrubs is, partly to cooperate with the above object; but principally to produce an agreeable variety of flowers and foliage throughout the whole space, and during every month in the year. For this purpose, certain evergreens (such as the laurustinus), and certain flowering shrubs (such as the China rose), are distributed throughout; the same variety of the species not being repeated, but different varieties. There are also shrubs for flowering at every season of the year: such as the chimonanthus and Cydonia japonica for autumn and winter; the mezereon for early spring; the common azalea and rhododendron for the beginning of summer; the clethra for August; and the arbutus and wych hazel for the latter part of the season.

The whole of the trees and shrubs are of kinds which do not require peat earth, and may be purchased at moderate prices.