82 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS 



looking spiraeas, and come to compare them with the 

 cluster of birches springing from one root, or a mass of 

 hazel bushes mixed with forsythia fortunii or viburnum 

 dentatum. 



But recognizing, however, as we do, that few shrubs 

 will assimilate in habit and foliage in the group, we are 

 inclined to employ a number of one kind of shrubs to- 

 gether, depending on a few smaller shrubs, allied in gen- 

 eral appearance, to give a dash of desirable variety to 

 the mass; and with this in view, it is a good idea to 

 plant some of these other shrubs singly, or in clusters, 

 just a few feet away on the turf, to give the suggestion 

 of naturalness and informality, so grateful in the arrange- 

 ment of plants. 



It is difficult to explain just why we come to think that 

 certain shrubs look well together. We may try to ex- 

 plain it by saying that the habit and color are similar, 

 but that does not explain it, because it is not true. Per- 

 haps, after all, we shall have to fall back on the fact that 

 we have seen these shrubs stand together on the lawn or 

 in the woods and found that they looked well ; but, never- 

 theless, it does seem as if we would have to refer the 

 ability to make this choice to some instinct that becomes 

 to our minds more seemingly infallible the longer we 

 continue to contemplate different kinds of trees and 

 shrubs. 



Having obtained some sensible ideas on the relations of 

 shrubs in groups as to color and form, we must not forget 

 to consider the sky line or top line of bordering planta- 

 tions of trees and shrubs. A monotonous line of shrubs 

 all in a row and of the same size offends a sense of beauty 

 that very properly seeks variety at all times and places. 

 In lifting up the top line of a bordering mass of shrubs 



