CHAPTER XI.. The Garden Upon the Terrace.

THE GARDEN UPON THE TERRACE.

The Terrace Garden.--How it takes the Place of a Garden.--Terrace exposed to the North.--Its Trellised Roof.--Irish Ivy to cover it.--Shrubs to fill the Boxes.--Variegated Holly, Alaternus (Buckthorn), Rhododendrons, Great Periwinkle.--Terraces of a good Exposure.--Running Plants: Honeysuckle, Clematis, Boursault Rose, Bougainville, Chinese Glycine, Virginia Creeper, Buddleya, Clianthus, Delphinium, Hibiscus.--Summer Pruning of the Persian Lilac.--Watering.

The Terrace Garden.

Terraces on the roofs of houses are not common with us. I shall, however, not omit what our author says about gardening on terraces; for, besides that it is very interesting, the flat roofs of extensions and back buildings answer every purpose so far as gardening is concerned.

Terraces, like the windows of your house, may be exposed to the north, the east, the west, or the south. You already know that, for gardening purposes, the two last exposures are the most favorable; particularly if your terrace has open space enough before it to permit the air and the sun to reach it without much obstruction.

Terrace exposed to the North.

Let us take the worst hypothesis first: your terrace is fully to the north; in all other directions it is hemmed in by lofty buildings, so that the sun has the right to visit it the 35th of every month, and then only. You have, however, done very well, ladies, to have a terrace constructed, even under these unfavorable conditions. At its centre have a wooden column erected, which is to sustain a trellised roof consisting of four triangular parts. The Irish ivy will quickly overrun this, covering it with its thick verdure. A round table, through the centre of which the column passes, will be a convenience for placing your books and work upon, also for taking breakfast and tea there, when, oppressed within doors by the heats of summer, you take refuge in the open air, under the shelter afforded by that dense foliage. One side of the terrace being closed by the wall of the house of which it is an appendage, in which wall are the doors and windows opening upon it, erect, at each of the other sides, two arches, from the centres of which vases are to be suspended.

Shrubs blooming in the Shade.

Just within the balustrade, or the parapet (if it be a parapet) of your terrace, we must have a range of boxes similar to those on the great balcony, which, by our joint endeavors, we have been getting all the good out of that we could. This terrace garden of yours being a northern one, its boxes must be filled with heath soil; and we must rear there shrubs with persistent leaves--variegated hollies, alaterni, rhododendrons. These are among the shrubs which tolerate the shade, and whose robust temperament does not fear the cold, and, with the great periwinkle for their associate, they will constitute the basis of the decoration of your garden. Add to them whatever ornamental plants I have previously made known to you, as being able to bloom passably well without the help of the sun.

When the heat of the dog days renders coolness precious, your friends will be glad to come and partake with you of that which your ivy-clad arbor affords: for three months its freshness will be a source of delightful feelings for them as well as for yourself. Do you say this is no great thing? Agreed. But, on your side, you will have to admit that it is a great deal better than nothing at all, and that, as a general rule, it is wise not to ask of any thing more than it can give you--a rule which, applying as it does to your terrace with a north exposure, as to all other things, must be its protection against unwise exactions.

Terraces of a good Exposure.

What we have effected, in the way of gardening, upon your balconies to the east, west, and south, you have only to repeat on a larger scale, if your terrace garden has one of these exposures. Here, however, is the place for some advice respecting certain plants, of medium and large size, that we have not been able to cultivate before, for want of room.

Running and Climbing Plants.

That trellis roof, when it has the good fortune to be removed to a terrace with a good exposure, admits of being clad in a garment composed of the most agreeable mixture of climbing and running plants, in place of the Irish ivy, which, in the northern exposure, was its only covering. Do not be afraid, ladies, to vary and multiply these plants; they will agree very well with each other; each one will take its just share of air and of sun; each will bloom in its own proper time; vying with each other, in the most amicable spirit possible, in their joint task of weaving over your head the most charming canopy that can be conceived.

At the corners of your terrace plant honeysuckles, clematis, Boursault roses, and Bougainville, to which you may add the glycine of China, and the Virginia creeper. Whilst climbing up the pillars that sustain the arches of the trellis, the buddleya and the clianthus will feel entirely at home; nor will they be incommoded by the company of a tall hollyhock and a fine Ajax delphinium, attended by two or three hibiscuses.

The room which all these will possess themselves of, on the balustrade of the terrace, will still leave enough there for yourself when you wish to lean on it, and look down upon whatever there may be worth seeing below.

Summer Pruning of the Persian Lilac.

On terraces having a western or a southern exposure, besides the boxes serving as the border beds of your garden, there may be others, of a medium size, for receiving oranges, myrtles, pomegranates, rose laurels, and even a few fine Persian lilacs.

When the elegant spring bloom of these last is over, do not omit to subject them to the summer pruning. This is a happy innovation, introduced into our horticulture but a few years ago, and already generally adopted. The process is as follows:--

When the flowers of the Persian lilac have faded, we do not, as formerly, content ourselves with merely cutting off the bunches from which the flowers have fallen; we cut off the tops of every branch of the plant, and, moreover, every thing that is green upon it, the lilac thereby finding itself stripped entirely--no less perfectly naked than at Christmas. But very soon the inherent energy with which the Persian lilac is endued manifests itself in a most vigorous vegetation: young shoots, all of equal length, all equally floriferous for the next year, replace the pruned-off branches; and you have a plant the very best of its kind. A necessary precaution, with respect to lilacs and other shrubs cultivated in separate boxes, is, to turn the box partly round twice a week, so that each side of the plant may receive by turns its just share of air and of light. Otherwise the natural propensity of plants to grow most vigorously on the best lighted side will cause them to shoot out mostly on one side, whereby the symmetry of their heads would be entirely spoiled, and in the course of a single summer they would be altogether deprived of grace. When the boxes are turned often enough, the annual growth cannot get a wrong set.

Watering.

When your terrace has a southern exposure, the earth contained in the boxes forming the border requires watering two or three times a day; the heat reflected from the floor of the terrace, especially when of metal, causing a far more rapid evaporation than would take place in the borders of a parterre having a similar exposure. These waterings, the sowing of seeds, sticking slips, transplanting, removing day by day the faded flowers, and gathering of seeds for next year, will be just so much healthful exercise for you in the open air of your terrace garden.

These attentions and this work--of which you must be careful to do no more than you can do without over-fatigue, without occasioning feelings of exhaustion--will imbue you with a taste for ornamental plants; which, becoming more and more lively as you proceed, will finally expand into a real love, such as that with which we love living beings reared by our care. With your sex it is matter of instinct to love all that is gentle, tender, elegant, and graceful.

Do not imagine, ladies, that the above is all that the garden on the terrace can yield for you in the shape of pleasure arising from the practice of horticulture; there is, besides, quite a different series of facts, which you will appreciate if you will take the pains to read the following chapter.