88 Grouping an& /l&assing of ZTrees anfc Sbrubs. 



The selection of plants is hardly less important than the 

 actual arrangement, as certain species are best adapted to 

 special soils. The willows and poplars, without excep- 

 tion, are found in rich alluvial soil, and often near water. 

 Other species grow best in rocky ground, as the beech and 

 hornbeam. Most birches and many coniferous trees do well 

 in poor and gravelly soil. 



The most thrifty, healthy, and vigorous plants should be 

 chosen in preference to any showy variety, which is subject 

 to the ravages of insects or disease. For small places it is 

 necessary to select the choicest material obtainable, as an 

 abundance of flowers, neat and compact species of evergreens, 

 and the general beauty of the few plants used is of more im- 

 portance here than in large places, where good effects are 

 produced by an artistic arrangement of a higher order. 



Form and color must also be considered, and in order to 

 produce a good effect the various shades of green must be 

 arranged so as to make the most beautiful contrast. If light 

 or glaucous-leaved species, as the buckthorn or oleaster, or 

 flowering trees like the magnolia or flowering dogwood, are 

 placed in front of dark evergreens, or vice versa, the impres- 

 sion will be better than if both foreground and background 

 were of the same shade. 



Most wonderful results are obtained by properly arrang- 

 ing species which assume showy autumn tints. The beauty 

 of the foliage in autumn is unsurpassed by any other phe- 

 nomenon in the world of plants, the height of the flowering 

 season not excepted, and it is therefore quite proper to select 

 species which, in addition to other attractions, possess this 

 quality, as the season of autumnal coloring is far more last- 



