PLANTING DESIGN OF PARKS 



SCREEN AND EMBELLISHMENT 



In small parks it is recommended that all shrubs and low-branched 

 trees, and particularly evergreens, be kept at the outer portions of the 

 park almost in the nature of screening, which will tend to give a feel- 

 ing of seclusion to the interior portions of the park, and protect it 

 somewliat from dust and noise of the surrounding streets. In resi- 

 dence districts, vistas within the park are desirable to reveal the beauty 

 of park scenery; therefore, there had best be only sufficient planting 

 in each case to give the park a feeling of enclosure without absolutely 

 screening out its interior beauty from view of the adjacent residences. 

 On the other hand, screen planting may be designed so as to be attrac- 

 tive from the street side. 



In large parks, planting is usually for the embellishment of exist- 

 ing scenes of beauty, or to create entirely new ones when necessary. 

 Planting of parks in this larger phase is the more complex one of com- 

 position, involving, in addition to regulations of form, colour and 

 scale, considerations of pictorial effects such as elements of distance, 

 relation of interest, planal values, lighting, etc., all of which has been 

 made the subject matter of the book of this series entitled " Pictorial 

 Planting for City, Suburb and Countryside." 



UNDERGROWTH COMPOSITION 



One of the most difficult problems of the park designer is that of 

 obtaining growth under trees, so charming a feature of the planting 

 compositions in European parks. So far, we seem to have been unable 

 to achieve verj^ satisfactory results in this respect. There are few 

 plants which will withstand dense shade and contend successfully in 

 the struggle for existence with the root growth of trees. It is pos- 

 sible, however, to accomplish something in this respect. The under- 

 growth material of Italian parks, such as alder, elder, hawthorn, horn- 

 beam, and dwarf maple is already familiar to our park planters, and 



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