PLANTING DESIGN 175 



view, and escapes producing effects which are noticeably bad from other 

 and subordinate points. The color, the texture, and the character 

 and suggestion of a plant remain substantially the same in whatever 

 aspect it is seen ; moreover these characteristics may be predicted with 

 considerable certainty even when the plants are set out at very small 

 size, whereas the exact shape of the plant is to some extent a matter 

 of accident. For this reason, these characteristics other than shape 

 bear an importance in the designer's choice of plants greater than 

 would be indicated by their effect in any given design. 



A group of trees or shrubs should usually tell in the composition 

 not as an undifferentiated mass but as a massed group of individuals, 

 that is, as a composition in itself, in which the separate units are to 

 some extent different and in which this difference is recognized in their 

 arrangement. A group of two trees of approximately equal appearance 

 is almost impossible to handle in composition except when it marks an 

 axis which runs between the trees. Two trees in a group are much more 

 likely to be effective if one is dominant and one subordinate, for example, 

 one aspiring and dense in texture, the other rounded and loose, or one 

 overarching and tall, the other low and spreading. Even at its best 

 a composition of two trees is difficult to manage and the designer usually 

 finds himself dealing in groups of three or more. A good group of 

 three in a similar way will usually have one tree dominant and two 

 subordinate, by whatever means of shape, color, or texture this may be 

 accomplished. It may be said generally however that it is best to 

 seek the shape composition first, and then to enhance, through an appro- 

 priate choice of their color and texture, the effects first given the separate 

 plants by their shape. The greater the number of trees in an informal 

 group, the less importance attaches to the exact location of each tree, 

 and the more to the general simulation of a natural arrangement in the 

 group as a whole.* 



In shrub beds, as they are used in informal or naturalistic design, Shrub Beds 

 the same general considerations of plant diversity and contrast hold 



* For notes and diagrammatic illustrations of possibilities of grouping see, for 

 instance, J. Major's The Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (London, 

 1852), the chapter, The Arrangement and Grouping of Trees, p. 151-162; Andre's 

 VArt des Jardins (1879), noting especially in the chapter, Plantations, p. 534-537 and 



