STYLES OF DESIGN
For comparative suggestion the styles of garden design can be
considered in the groupings below. Note particularly that a
design need not conform to one group; it may be a combination
of more than one or even a new group.
Level: (mostly formal types) e.g. Rose, Sunk, Paved, Bedding,
Old World, Knot Garden, Courts, etc. With or without pools,
Woodland glade, etc.
Undulating: (at varying levels, mostly informal types) Water,
Bog, Terraced, Alpine, Rock, Wild Gardens, etc.
Landscape: Mountain, Moraine, Scree, Hills and Valleys,
Naturalistic, Woodland, etc.
Model: Miniature models of whole or parts of world-famous
gardens (Taj Mahal, Granada, Versailles, Hanging Gardens
of Babylon, etc.) with or without miniature replicas of the
buildings involved. Mill gardens; farmstead gardens; national types, etc.
SIMPLE ROCK AND ALPINE GARDENS
The informal alpine garden is the most common for sink and
trough gardens. They aim at reproducing conditions similar to
those under which alpines flourish in natural surroundings, viz.:
perfect drainage, a gritty surface of rock rubble or chippings, etc.,
that does not hold surface moisture, small pockets of loam soil in
cracks and crevices.
Only compact and slow-growing alpines should be planted and
these should be selected for their contrasts in form and colouring
of flower and foliage, and planted accordingly. Usually some
"edge-trailing" plants are included that will grow and hang over
the edge of the trough.
Alpine gardens may be usefully considered in progressive
stages and as a basic development for other styles of design.
DEVELOPMENTS OF ALPINE GARDEN
1.An alpine garden can be on a more or less flat level.
2.Different-sized rocks of similar type grouped to give a
natural appearance, and having pockets of gritty soil for the
plants to grow in the clefts and partly over the rocks. The rocks
should be embedded firmly into the soil foundation.
One (or more) dwarf trees will enhance considerably. Plates
IV, V and VIII.
3.A single large, porous rock (weatherworn limestone or
tufa) can be embedded to dominate the garden. Clefts and
pockets chipped out, filled with soil, and planted. Plate V.
4.Smaller rocks can be used as above to make outcrops as
on a hillside landscape; patches of bare rock show at intervals,
through the vegetation.
5.A "scree" is a heap of vari-sized rocks at the foot of a
mountain, height, or cliff, rather like an avalanche of stones
which has slid from the summit. It provides the natural home
for sedums and small pinks.
6.A "moraine" is a kind of ravine between two rocky sputs
through which a glacier has passed. In this ravine, crevices, tufts
and a heap of stones, make little rock pockets favoured by the
small androsaces.
7.River Ravine. A gorge or ravine through which water
tumbles down in a series of falls and cascades. Sometimes the
water may disappear under rocks and then appear again at a
lower level. (This would be constructed in the manner described
in Chapter IV.)
8. Dry Ravine. If you think of a river ravine without water,
you will have a dry ravine. The construction is similar to above
but needs careful planning and planting if it is to be really
effective.
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