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Decorative effects in the borders may be made without any variation of their 

 skylines. Low-growing but distinctive individual plants or groups of plants, or 

 the col or of flowering or fruiting vegetation, may be used in many ways to effect 

 a focab'zation of the desired character and degree. Of course, if transient effects, 

 such as flowers, are used, then plants which flower at other seasons, or which have 

 color in the autumn, must be included, or some other means must be devised by 

 which the desired effects can be sustained throughout the year. In the use of 

 contrasts between plants of definite form or habit, one must consider also the 

 contrast of his proposed group in relation to that of its background, which may 

 be a wall, a hedge, or a free-growing border. If color is used as an accent, it should 

 be kept below the skyline. With the variety of plants that is available, very 

 strong focalization can be made in the face of a border. If such conspicuous 

 groups or combinations rise above the prevailing line of the borders, then the 

 effect is thereby increased if not actually doubled. 



Some persons delight in studying the seasonal effects in color. These will find 

 it possible to employ color for all the accents; to express thereby the desired degree 

 of focalization at each terminus; and to select and to combine plants so as to sustain 

 a scheme of color accent during the entire growing season. In winter, however, 

 such planting is likely to be uninteresting, and it is then that we especially appre- 

 ciate any attractiveness that may be possible in the plantations. Hence it is 

 well to combine with color plants some permanent effects in woody plants, 

 particularly in evergreens. Especially should one endeavor to select, for both 

 accentuation and background, those shrubs and trees whose growth habits are 

 sufficiently dense to avoid a thin and scraggly appearance in the winter. While 

 all plants do not adjust themselves to shearing, most of them may be made to 

 grow more densely either by moderate shearing or by pruning the "leaders." 

 Pinching off the leaders forces the lateral branches, and in some cases also develops 

 more branches. However, this process does not necessarily materially affect the 

 free-growing habit or the general appearance of the plant, except that it encourages 

 compactness and restrains growth. Evergreens, especially the hemlock, are always 

 desirable in the borders. At times the Douglas fir and some of the pines may also 

 be suitable. As backgrounds for color, these evergreens are most desirable, and 

 in the winter they are always appreciated. A varied skyline may be developed 

 from them, either by planting different sizes at the start or by topping and other- 

 wise shaping them. 



The most pleasing borders for lawns, even if somewhat small, must include 

 some trees. A border consisting entirely of shrubs is very monotonous indeed. 

 Trees in the borders require somewhat more space than do shrubs, but they are 

 well worth the additional ground space. Those species of trees should be selected 

 which branch to the ground and thus, within a reasonable time, will of themselves 

 make a solid wall of foliage. Very few trees and shrubs do well growing close 

 together, but in order to combine them successfully it is only necessary to be 

 forewarned of the difficulty, and to proceed advisedly and carefully. Plants which 

 naturally grow in the shade always do better in close proximity than do those 

 requiring the full sunlight, and of course most plants are of the sun-loving type. 

 Rapid-growing trees are likely to have many roots, and thus will starve out less 

 robust plants whose roots are competing in the same soil. 



