42 LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



tion. In this way the house will seem to be more 

 closely welded to its setting (Fig. 7). / 



It is remarkable to note how few people have 

 grasped this very simple principle. In many of 

 our cities, particularly in the Middle West, it 

 would seem as if the owners had scraped away 

 from the building all planting possible, and de- 

 posited it at a safe distance, for as a rule none of 

 the plant material seems to bear any relation to 

 the building itself. (See Fig. 39.) 



The architect can often help in making a build- 

 ing suitable for planting. For instance, in ar- 

 chitectural gardens a simple wall treatment will 

 be more in keeping with the composition of large 

 areas than a more complex handling of the archi- 

 tectural surfaces. But where the planting is re- 

 stricted to a few varieties and is elaborated only 

 by a careful selection of accent plants, the wall 

 surface may be designed so as to attract more at- 

 tention than in the preceding instance; for this 

 may be done without danger of competition be- 

 tween plant and architectural features. 



If a complex and conventional treatment is im- 

 posed by surroundings, it may be more readily ex- 

 pressed when formal planting lines are the ruling 

 factor. Planting and architecture, when used to- 



