CHAPTER XVI 

 PLANTS FOR HEAVY FORMAL EFFECTS 



While many trees and shrubs in the hands of expert designers and 

 gardeners may be used interchangeably for either formal or informal 

 effects, the fact still remains that there is a group of plants which are 

 best adapted for use to produce the heavier and more compact formal 

 effects. The effect of formality is obtained by emphasizing geometric 

 lines or surfaces. Plants which are upright, slow-growing, and more 

 compact in their habit, are better adapted for this purpose than 

 plants which are more vigorous in their habit of growth, more spread- 

 ing, and looser in texture and therefore less apt to retain a consistent, 

 definite form. 



The expert may select plants from Chapter XVII and in many in- 

 stances produce an effect equally as attractive as that produced 

 by plants in this group. The possibilities of failure, however, are 

 much greater, and the subsequent necessity of pruning to retain ap- 

 proximate forms is much greater. 



We speak of heavy formality as a contrasting term to plants which 

 are loose. Compact may be a better word. It is often necessary to 

 develop border plantations surrounding lawns filled with a feeling of 

 formality, because of numerous axial lines, and also to surround or 

 border definite formal garden areas with trees and shrubs. To be 

 successful these masses of plants must lend themselves to this formal 

 effect. They must be such as can be kept within definite limits with 

 the normal amount of pruning. The European hornbeam, the red 

 cedar, pyramidal arborvitae, and tartarian honeysuckle are excellent 

 illustrations of this type of material. A so-called formal effect in a 

 border planting is not necessarily produced by the use of trees. It 

 may be equally well produced by shrubs depending upon the scale 

 of the landscape setting. It is not necessary either to resort to 

 the use of evergreens, although there are certain types of architectural 

 details beside which deciduous plantings appear "weak." Climatic 

 conditions being favourable for a normal growth of the type of material 



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