San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1924-04-06
Work Out Appropriate Plan
and Then Adhere to 1t
Carefully Selecting Only
Suitable Flowers and
Bushes for Design You
Wish to Create.

In planting shrubbery about the
house to improve the home grounds.
there are few well-defined rules that
should be carefully followed. In the
first place, never plant them in
straight lines, but group them in ir-
regular masses or as nearly like ma
ture grouped them as possible.
When using them for foundation
planting up next to the front and
side of the house, plant the taller
growing varieties back next to the
wall with the lower growing varieties
out in front. Also do not plant the
higher growing varieties directly in
front of the windows and door, as it
is not desirable for the view from the
front to be cut off by these. If the
foundation of the house is quite high,
little or no attention need be paid to
this point, but more often than not,
the foundation is not sufficiently high
to make this point one that may be
overlooked.
Make Pencil Sketch.
Before selecting the kind Of shrub
berry to be used and ordering same
from the nursery, make a careful pen
ell sketch of the grounds and indi-
cate where each shrub or tree is to
be planted, keeping in mind that the
front part of the grounds should be
kept almost entirely free of trees and
shrubbery. OF course these may be
planted on the side front. but not d.
rectly in front as this would cut off
the view, and that is undesirable.
Never plant shrubbery except in
groups. unless it is some of the larger
Towering specimens like Crepe Myrtle,
which can be used to decided advan-
tage by planting it individually to the
sides or to the rear of the grounds.
Never plant the shade trees in
straight lines. Group them more or
less in the way nature groups them.
Extensive Use Of Evergreens.
After the tentative sketch is made.
indicating where the shrubbery and
trees are to be placed, then select the
kind and variety desired. 1t should
be kept in mind that in the South ex-
tensive use should be made of the
evergreen shrubbery, both the broad
leaved evergreen and the Coniferous
evergreen. As rule one-half to two
thirds Of the shrubbery planted on
Southern home grounds should be
evergreens.
The Abelia Grandiflora Is probably
the leader among the broad-leaved
evergreens for use on Southern home
grounds. Its leaves are dark glossy
green and stay on throughout the win.
ter. From early spring until frost it
is a mass of beautiful flowers. I'll
will stand heavy pruning and may be
cut so as to grow high, low, or in any
desired shape.
Some Of Leading Kinds.
OF the Towering shrubs that are
not evergreens, Spirea is One of the
leaders. and everyone should plant one
or more clumps of this beautiful
Towering shrub. Spirea Van Houtte
the common name of which is bridal
bower, is one of the best, 1t produces
a great mass of white blooms early
in the spring. 1t grows quite high
and good arrangement is to plant
the Spirea Van Houtte right next to
the wall with lower growing Spirea
directly in front Of it, such as Spireta
Thunbergi. Then directly in front of
the Spires Thunbergi, plant a clump
or group of the Abelia Grandiflora.
This will give a mighty effective ar
rangement of these three shrubs.
OF course these three are only
few of the many verieties that are
especially suited to the South. Others
that may be used very effectively are
some OF the Coniferous evergreens,