There is often a strip of ground in a garden that can only be put to good purpose with more labor than we can devote to it. It may once have been a lawn, which means mowing; or a long border, which needs weeding and upkeep; or merely a strip along the boundary fence in the garden of a new house.
Hitherto uncultivated, which demands some treatment to turn it into something better than a rough waste. I had an idea for such a place, which should be pretty and Iabor-saving.
The shape does not matter very much; it could be rectangular, square, or even circular, though a long narrow rectangle would give the best effect. What is important is that it should be flat and that the ground surface should be level—no bumps, no depressions.
You then plant it at regular intervals (say 15’ feet apart either way) with young stripling sapling trees, straight of stem and twiggy of the head; it will be important to keep the branches clean of growth so that you can always see through and between them. A thin little grove is what I have in mind.
The silver birch with its pale bark would be ideal, especially in light or sandy soil; the linden, for any ground; the whitebeam, whose underside leaves show silver in the breeze; even young oaks, round-topped and grown as standards.
Planting Underneath
The question will then arise of what you plant underneath. Since the heads of the little trees will be very green, the accent should emphasize the greenness. Turf is impossible because of the mowing, and anyway, one should aim at a brighter green than that.
I have a great weakness for sweet woodruff; it does not object to shade, remains green from April until autumn, can be grown from seed, and would make a dense cushion rather like those enormous eiderdowns (duvets) that one finds in old-fashioned French hotels.
I would also plant some patches of greenish flowers; for instance, the green and silver star-of-Bethlehem; the wood anemone; the lily of the valley; and, later in the year, some clumps of Solomon’s seal and the sweet-smelling Smilacina racemose.
I don’t know about these last two: they might be too tall and interrupt the vistas between the straight little trunks.
Such planting must depend upon individual taste, but of one thing I feel sure: that all color must be excluded. It must be all green and white, cool, symmetrical, and severe.
44659 by V. Sackville-West