THE GARDEN ORCHARD
One's enjoyment of the garden would be greatly increased if the orchard,
which is so often thrust away into a remote corner, were brought into
direct communication with it. How easily the trimmer lawn spaces might
lead through groups of flowering shrubs to the rather rougher grassy
orchard. How naturally the garden Roses and masses of free-growing
Cluster Roses would lead to their near relations, the Pears and Apples
and other fruiting trees of the great Rose order.
There is no need to make a definite break between the two; it is all the
better not to know where the garden ends and the orchard begins. Towards
the edge of the mown lawn there may already be trees of the Red Siberian
Crab and the handsome Crab John Downie, and the pretty little Fairy
Apple; while the nearer orchard trees may well be wreathed with some of
the free Cluster Roses, such as Bennett's Seedling or Dundee Rambler.
[Illustration: _OLD MULBERRY AT SYON, MIDDLESEX._]
If the orchard is of some extent its standard trees of Pear, Apple,
Cherry, and Plum may be varied by three or four bush trees, or by some
of the beautiful fruit trees of lower growth, such as Medlars and
Quinces. There may also be breaks of cut-leaved Blackberry and a
thicket of Crabs or Filberts, and on some one side, or perhaps more, a
shady Nut alley. There is no need to be always moving the garden
orchard. One wide, easy, grassy way might well be kept closely shorn,
but much of the middle and side spaces had better not be cut until
hay-time, for many would be the bulbs planted under the turf, great
drifts of Daffodils and Spanish Scillas, and Fritillaries for the larger
effects, and Colchicums and Saffron Crocus for the later months. If the
grass were mown again in September, just before the Colchicums appear,
it would allow of easy access to the fruit trees in the time of their
harvest, and in those interesting weeks immediately before the Apples
ripen.
[Illustration: _OLD MEDLAR TREE ON EDGE OF GARDEN ORCHARD._]
It must not be forgotten that the best use of many fruit-bearing trees
is not restricted to the kitchen garden only, for many of them are
beautiful things in the most dressed ground. Few small trees are more
graceful in habit than the old English Quince that bears the smooth,
roundish fruits. It is not only a pleasant object in leaf and flower in
early summer, and in autumn glory of golden fruit, but even when bare of
leaves in winter a fully matured tree is strikingly beautiful, and in
boggy ground where no other tree would thrive it is just at its happiest
and is most fruitful. Then many Apples are extremely ornamental, and
there is a whole range of Crabs; Siberian, Chinese, and home-raised
hybrids that are delightful things both in flower and in fruit. _Pyrus
Maulei_, vieing in beauty of bloom with its near neighbours, the
Japanese Quinces, quite outdoes them in glory and bounty of fruit, which
in October is one of the most brilliant things in the garden. There are
no better garden ornaments for foliage than Figs and Vines, and though
the needful pruning of a Vine for fruit takes off somewhat of its
pictorial value, which depends in some measure on the wide-flung,
luscious summer growth and groping tendril, yet in any shape the Grape
Vine is a thing of beauty. Some of its garden kinds also show how, in
distinct departures in colour and shape of leaf, it is always beautiful;
for the Parsley-leaved Vine, with its dainty and deeply-cut foliage, is
a suitable accompaniment to the most refined architecture; while the
red-purple leaf of the Claret Vine and its close clusters of blue fruit
are richly ornamental in the autumn garden. A Medlar tree, with its
large white bloom and handsome leaves, is desirable, and several of the
Services are ornamental small trees. Every one knows the lovely pink
bloom of the Almond in April, but few may have tried something that is
not an experiment but a certainty--namely, the successful culture of the
hardier Peaches, near relatives to the Almond, as standards in the south
of England. A Peach of American origin, the Early Alexander, bears full
or fair crops every year. The only danger is from leaf blister from
sudden cold in May, but if its position is sheltered, or if it can be
afforded the protection of a net, it will suffer but little, and
perfectly ripened peaches, red all round, may be had at the end of July.
The beauty of Cherry blossom is so well known that it needs no
extolling; and any great high wall looks the better at all seasons for a
well-trained old Pear.
A free planting of the cut-leaved Bramble is pleasant to see on the
outskirts of the garden, and is beautiful in leaf, in flower, and in
fruit.