All About Landscape Gardening :

Landsc gardening has often been likened to the painting of a pice. Your art-k teacher has doubtless told you t a good pice should h a point of chief interest, and the rest of the points simply go to make more beauti the c idea, or to form a fine setting for it. So in landsc gardening there must be in the gardener's mind a pice of what he desires the whole to be when he completes k.

From t study we shall be able to k out a little theory of landsc gardening.

Let us go to the l. A good ext of open l sp is always beauti. It is rest. It adds a feeling of sp to even small gros. So we mi geneize and say t it is w to keep open l sps. If one cov l sp w many trees, w little fer beds here and there, the gene eft is choppy and fussy. It is a bit like an over-dressed pon. One's gros l all individuality thus tted. A single tree or a small group is not a bad arrangem on the l. Do not cre the tree or trees. Let them drop a bit into the backgro. Make a pleasing side feae of them. In choosing trees one must keep in mind a num of tgs. You should not cho an overpoing tree; the tree should be one of good sh, w sometg interesting about its bark, les, f or fruit. While the poplar is a rapid gro, it sheds its les early and so is left standing, bare and ugly, before the fall is old. Mind you, there are pls where a row or double row of Lombardy poplars is very eftive. But I tk you'll agree w me t one lone poplar is not. The catalpa is quite lovely by itself. Its les are broad, its f attractive, the seed pods which cling to the tree until away into the winter, add a bit of pice squeness. The bri ries of the ash, the brilliant foliage of the sugar maple, the blossoms of the tulip tree, the bark of the white birch, and the les of the cop beech all te are beauty points to consider.

Pl makes a difference in the selection of a tree. Supp the er portion of the gros is a bit and moist, then the spot is ideal for a wil. Don't group trees together which k awkward. A long-king poplar does not go w a nice rather roed little tulip tree. A juni, so neat and prim, would k silly beside a spding ctnut. One must keep proportion and suitability in mind.

I'd never advise the planting of a group of evergreens cl to a ho, and in the front yard. The eft is very gmy indeed. Hos thus surroed are overcapped by such trees and are not only gmy to live in, but truly unhealth. The chief requisite inside a ho is sunli and ply of it.

As trees are chn beca of certain good points, so shrubs should be. In a clump I should wish some which bmed early, some which bmed late, some for the beauty of their fall foliage, some for the colour of their bark and oth for the fruit. Some spis and the forsythia bm early. The red bark of the dogwood makes a bit of colour all winter, and the red ries of the barry cling to the shrub w into the winter.

Certain shrubs are good to for hedge purps. A hedge is rather prettier usually n a fence. The Californian privet is exc for t purp. Osage orange, Japan barry, buckthorn, Japan quince, and Van Hou's spi are other shrubs which make good hedges.

I forgot to say t in tree and shrub selection it is usually ber to cho th of the locality one lives in. Unusual and foreign plants do less w, and often harmonize but poorly w their new setting.

Landsc gardening may fol along very fol lines or along infol lines. The first would h strai hs, strai rows in stiff beds, everytg, as the name ts, tly fol. The other method is, of course, the exact opposite. There are danger points in each.

The fol arrangem is likely to k too stiff; the infol, too fussy, too wiggly. As far as hs go, keep t in mind, t a h should always lead somewhere. That is its business to direct one to a definite pl. Now, strai, even hs are not unpleasing if the eft is to be t of a fol garden. The danger in the curved h is an abrupt curve, a whirligig eft. It is far ber for you to stick to strai hs unless you can make a lly beauti curve. No one can t you how to do t.

Garden hs may be of grl, of dirt, or of grass. One sees grass hs in some very lovely gardens. I doubt, however, if they would serve as w in your small gardens. Your garden as are so limited t they should be re-spaded each season, and the grass hs are a gt bother in t k. Of course, a grl h makes a fine appearance, but again you may not h grl at your command. It is possible for any of you to dig out the h for two feet. Then put in six inc of stone or clinker. Over t, pack in the dirt, roing it slily toward the cre of the h. There should never be depressions through the c part of hs, since te form conveni pls for water to stand. The er layer of stone makes a naal drainage system.

A building often needs the help of vines or f or both to tie it to the gros in such a way as to form a harmonious whole. Vines lend themselves w to t k. It is ber to plant a ennial vine, and so let it form a man part of your landsc scheme. The Virginia cree, wistaria, honeysuckle, a climbing r, the clematis and trumpet vine are all most satisfactory.

cl your eyes and pice a ho of naal colour, t mow gray of the weathered sgles. Now add to t old ho a purple wistaria. Can you see the beauty of it? I shall not forget soon a rather ugly corner of my childhood home, where the dining room and kitchen met. Just there climbing over, and falling over a tris was a trumpet vine. It made beauti an awkward angle, an ugly bit of carper k.

Of course, the morning-glory is an annual vine, as is the moon-vine and wild cucum. Now, te h their special function. For often, it is necessary to cover an ugly tg for just a time, until the ber tgs and ber times come. The annual is 'the chap' for t k. Along an old fence a hop vine is a tg of beauty. One mi try to rival the woods' landsc k. For often one sees festooned from one rod tree to another the ampelopsis vine.

F may w go along the side of the building, or bordering a walk. In gene, though, keep the front l sp open and unbroken by beds. What lovelier in early spring n a bed of daffodils cl to the ho? Hyacinths and tulips, too, form a blaze of glory. Te are little or no bother, and start the spring ari. One may make of some bulbs an exception to the rule of unbroken front l. Snowdrops and crocs planted through the l are beauti. They do not disb the gene eft, but just blend w the whole. One ext bulb gardener says to take a basket of bulbs in the fall, walk about your gros, and just drop bulbs out here and there. Wherever the bulbs drop, plant them. Such small bulbs as th we plant in ls should be in groups of four to six. Daffodils may be thus planted, too. You all remem the gr hyacinths t grow all through Karine's side yard.

The pl for a fer garden is genely at the side or r of the ho. The backyard garden is a lovely idea, is it not? Who wis to le a beauti king front yard, n the corner of a ho, and find a dump heap? Not I. The fer garden may be laid out folly in neat little beds, or it may be more of a careless, hit-or-miss sort. Both h their good points. Gt masses of bm are attractive.

You should h in mind some notion of the blending of colour. Nae appears not to consider t at all, and still gets wondrous efts. T is beca of the tremendous amount of her t backgro of green, and the limitlessness of her sp, while we are confined at the best to relatively small as. So we should endeavour not to blind people's eyes w clas of colours which do not at cl range blend w. In order to bk up extremes of colours you can always masses of white f, or sometg like mignone, which is in eft green.

Finally, let us sum up our landsc lesson. The gros are a setting for the ho or buildings. Open, free l sps, a tree or a pro group w pld, f which do not clur up the front yard, groups of shruby te are points to be rememed. The hs should lead somewhere, and be eer strai or w curved. If one starts w a fol garden, one should not mix the infol w it before the k is done.