Evening star., 1932-03-30
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

reason for this is that 30 much yet
remains to be done.
Thousands upon thousands Of yards
swallow up hundreds of thousands Of
bushes and plants, and yet they still
tend to look underplanted. The truth
is that they are underplanted. Very
few home grounds there are which do
not look bare to the appraising eye,
and this comes about because much
ground, even in a small place, remains
| implanted.
No one would urge a mere mass of
planting. without rhyme or reason, of
course. Beauty sometimes, but not
often, comes that way. What may be
done legitimately to take away the bare
look from the home grounds is to widen
tn scope of the mind in this matter,
then translate it into beauty in the
terms OF eyergreenS, shrubs, plants.
The movement of recent years toward
an outdoor living room," as it is called,
has done a great deal toward this end.
But it is a garden, after all, Of course.
not a living "rOOm," except in a theo-
retical sense.
The main point of the modern out
door living room is exactly the main
point of the indoor living room, and
that is nothing more mysterious than
privacy. The idea of privacy has always
been essential to the garden, but many
modern human being, at least in
America. has permitted this idea to get
away from him.
| The background Is the essential struc-
ture of the perfect garden, especially
when one chooses to call 1t an outdoor
| living room" 1t means that there must
be background Of some sort, whether
one chooses to call it wall, a fence.
/ a hedge, a planting or a border.
| To get this sort of background re-
| quireS plenty of plants. Until one has
set out deliberately to construct a real
background he will not realize just how
many shrubs and plants will be re-
quired. He will shortly become ac-
quainted with the really tremendous
number which will be necessary, and
will understand better than before how
an enormous number of live, growing
things can be absorbed into the home
gardens of America every Spring with
out making much of a showing, after
all.
The idea of privacy, inherent in the
outdoor living room" means that the
| homeoWner must have walls OF q sort.
These walls may be trees evergreens
tail shrubs, flowers or real wall, or a
fence covered with vines, anything and
! everything which grows up and out.
! The construction of such a place out
doors Is not an easy task. 1t requires a
large acquaintance with plant materials
a prior desire for such a place. some
money and real skill in handling plants
Last, but not least. it requires great
deal OF physical labor. Unless there is
some one in the family who honestly
loves to dig in the soil. and who is
capable of doing it, there is little chance
for real outdoor living loom.
In making such a place, whether 1t
be the entire garden, or just one part
of it. the shrubs offer the best per-
manent material. 1t must be kept In
mind that the evergreens are not per-
manent in the sense that a grand lilac
bush is everlasting. Many people who
plant evergreens imagine that they are
doing it for a lifetime. but they are
likely to be disappointed. The shrubs
are only sort of plant material which
give promise of everlasting life in the
garden, at least in relation to the life
Of man.
One should plant more Of these COM
mon shrubs to accentuate the beauty OF
evergreenS in the foundation planting
and to put bit Of relative permanence
there; but. more than this. the better
shrubs, known and loved by most peo-
pie, should be planted in abundance be-
cause Of their own virtues. their hardy
constitutions, their gifts of beauty, and
above all. because they are the plants
OF memorys garden. more so. perhaps,
than any Of the smaller things. The
love of most people for the common
lilac comes from childhood days. The
tl1A oh, 4. ~
althea-these are but three of the many
common shrubs loved the world around
They are the real Home, Sweet Home
of the garden picture