PLANTING DESIGN 167 



have come to have a symbolic function in planting * almost as definite 

 as that of the symbolic decorations of a church. This symbolism has 

 been carried to a much greater elaborateness in the case of flowers than 

 in the case of trees : we all know the modest violet, the pure lily, 

 indeed there is a whole language of flowers, and it might be very 

 interesting as a play of fancy to design a flower garden in these symbolic 

 terms. 



The plants used in a landscape composition must be considered by Plantations 

 the designer in different aspects according as they form a wall or screen 

 or edging, separating one scene or one area from another, or as they 

 themselves form a number of separate objects in an open area, composi- 

 tionally related one to another, or as, growing comparatively low, they 

 serve as the surface decoration of the ground of a unit in design. 



The separating wall between one open area and another in a scheme Inclosing 

 of any size will usually be formed largely of tree masses. If these Plantatwns 

 masses cover any considerable area they should have their own character 

 as seen from within, that is they should be subject to those considera- 

 tions that apply to a bosquet or a wood. Where they inclose a formal 

 area of any kind, their edge will usually be designed to parallel or accent 

 the boundary of this area, and will be treated as though the woods 

 were a plastic material to be molded to whatever man-made form 

 might be desired in accordance with the formal design. Where these 

 tree masses form the boundary of an irregular open space, however, 

 a glade, a meadow, even a well-kept and much-used lawn, their 

 compositional relations may well be more complicated. The principles 

 of repetition, sequence, and balance are still to be considered, though 

 in this case manifested in an informal way, but besides these there 

 must be taken into account the feelings of the observer as to what are 

 reasonable and natural relations of informal foliage masses, and these 

 feelings will probably be based on relations which he remembers between 

 the tree masses and open spaces which he has seen in free landscape ; 

 that is, these informal designs will be definitely naturalistic, or they will 

 almost always have at least some suggestion of being so. (See Plates 6, 

 21, and 33.) 



* Cf. The symbolic use of plants in Japanese and Moghul gardens, and in the 

 designs of the Romantic landscape school. 



