The Livable House 



Screen planting, the fourth kind of general planting, may con- 

 sist of irregular borders of shrubs and trees, or of hedges. The 

 latter are usually regarded as the logical means of screening a 

 service drive, or laundrv yard, or unneighborly nuisance. They 

 are the most obvious form of screen, the form most often used, 

 and in some ways the least effective, for their purpose is generally 

 as apparent as that of a trellis or wall would be. Like these 

 they need planting outside to tie them into the general land- 

 scape. 



Anv kind of clipped hedge is, of course, slower in attaining 

 height than plants which are allowed to grow unchecked by the 

 pruning shears. It follows that a free-growing border will screen 

 faster and more effectively than a hedge. But the most valid 

 reason for giving anv irregular planting preference is that it 

 can be made a part of the landscape. When a hedge is used either 

 for a screen or as the boundary of a garden it should have some- 

 thing in the way of transition planting outside it — a few groups 

 of shrubs and trees to break the definite form and regular line of 

 the hedge, and to "ease" it into its surroundings. 



Of the deciduous hedges, probably privet is the most common 

 and the most useful. It is obligingly adaptable, grows quickly, 

 and has a dignified appearance. Barberry makes a somewhat 

 smaller hedge, never growing over four or five feet high, and is 

 more spreading in character. Some effort has been made to in- 

 troduce hornbeam and beech as hedges. These are both good, 

 dignified hedges, and along with our native hawthorns could 

 be utilized delightfully around gardens; but their slow growth 



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