Evening star., 1921-09-19

, The small plot of ground which sur
rounds the average city home is one
Of the hardest problems Of the land
scape gardener; a fact that is seldom
realized by the citizen himself. The
| reasons for this difficulty are several
The owner, If he is a lover Of plants
and flowers. will want all his favor
ties included in the planting list. re-
gardless of space, style or suitability.
This naturally tends toward crowd
ed and spotty condition and defeats
at once all possibility of making a
simple, coherent effect.
Another difficulty with the small
area is the fact that its entire extent
| comes under very close personal in
spection. This necessitates a more
or less highly polished finish to the
planting groups. which. unless skill
fully handled. will develop into hard.
cold. mass paintings and lose all the
artistic value Of the free and bolder
| treatment Of large and more distant
plantations; This close and minute
of the continual trimming Of shrubs
| and evergreens until they lose all
their grace and character and become
unnatural. grotesque shapes whose
only place Is in topiary or a highly
developed formal garden.
Still again, it is true in gardening,
as In the other arts, that it is usually
the little things that count, and which
are often neglected or poorly exc
cuted because of their many limita-
overdone that 1t takes a master to
create new and interesting work of
art with the use of only two or three
elements. He must decide first the
ones best suited for the conditions
and then they must be applied in cor
/ LOT
the small plot of ground in front Of
city residence, or the back yard, as
1t IS commonly called. can only be de-
veloped effectively after the problem
mas mas been sifted down to the last de-
tail. When 1t is then executed it will
De a pleasure to the owner and an
asset to the community.
The two principle elements in the
arrangement of plant materials,
whether they be for city plots or
country estates, are simplicity and
unity; without these there can be no
real composition. First, the planting
list shuld be simplified as far as pos
slble, without monotony. however, or
lack of variety. The materials should
be chosen for their special fitness to
tica1 problem. whether it be light or
shade, soil conditions, seasons at
which the best effect is desired, or
other numerous conditions which may
play an important part in the de-
cision.
Hand in hand with the selection of
the plant materials must go their dis
position. Unity in the arrangement
can only be accomplished by having a
close relation between the planting
masses. whether they are individual
specimens or series of mixed
planting is to keep the center of the
area open, and mass the corners and
borders of the property. This treat
ment tends toward the unity by leav-
ing a large open central lawn. which
dominates and unites the planting and
for the house. When this has been
accomplished it's simplicity should not
be destroyed by the Introduction of
conventional flower bed of cannas.
scarlet sage. or other gaudy flowers
in the center of the lawn. Such geo
metrical beds are necessary and ef-
fective in our civic centers and formal
public parks. but are entirely out of
place in the home grounds:
Simplicity in the selection of ma
terials does not apply only to the
number of different plants used, but
also to their types and characteristics:
Quantities of vivid blues. yellows and
variegated leaf specimens. or the un-
usual shaped and clipped freaks OF
nature which man has taken and em-
pnaSlZeQ, SnOuiu nut Oe uScu. AheJ
only tend to make the planting con-
fused and restless, taking on the
character of an arboretum or a mu-
scum, rather than that of setting
for a home.
Therefore, in order that We may be
capable of deriving more pleasure
ourselves, and that We may help in
the general Identification Of the city,
let US give more serious thought to
the development of the small plots OF
ground about our homes. In DONG 50
lei ms keep them simple but effective.
in harmony with the civic demands OF
our neighborhood rather than as an
individual display of a few unusual
specimen plants thoughtlesly ar
ranged.