34 The Landscape Gardening Book 



them, for unless this is done the whole will inevitably fail. 

 Plants are as differept in their manners as people, and quite as 

 likely to look and seem queer, when put in the wrong places. 

 Stiff and prim little trees and shrubs are to be had in plenty — 

 but they must be of a shape conforming to the position which they 

 are to occupy; and though a tangle of flowers may fill a given 

 space iji the formalest of gardens, the space itself must be set 

 aside in a distinct and precise manjier. 



Evergreens furnish such a variety of shapes, from Gothic 

 to globular, that they are naturally much used in architectural 

 planting. Formal design becomes, therefore, especially desira- 

 ble in places where winter effect is sought, as an aid to this 

 effect as well as a means of transition from Nature to man. 

 Let there be wildwood, and daisy-studded meadows, and grand 

 old trees, and parklike sweeps of lawn by all means, wherever 

 there is space. But do not outrage these by setting in their 

 midst an artificial excrescence in which to dwell, without softening 

 the affront as mvich as lies within your power, by all the means 

 at your command. 



Even if there were no beauty in formality this need for it 

 would be argument enough in its favor. But it is beautiful; 

 in and by itself, it possesses a serene and stately beauty absolutely 

 unrivaled. It is only the extravagant abuse of it that is un- 

 desirable — ^but is extravagance ever anything else, whatever 

 form it takes? And is intemperance ever anything but vulgar? 



Lists of Plants 



Plants for formal gardening are divided into two classes : the 

 untrimmed and untrained natural forms, and the trimmed and 

 trained artificial forms. In the first class there are columns. 



