GROUPING OF TREES AND SHRUBS 9 



well worth his while to take advice at the beginning, 

 not to plant at random and to feel, a few years later, 

 first doubt, and then regret, and then, as knowledge 

 grows, to have to face the fact that it is all wrong 

 and that much precious time has been lost. 



How to group is a large question, depending on 

 all the conditions of the place under consideration. 

 Whether a group is to be of tall or short growing 

 shrubs or trees, whether it is to be of three or three 

 hundred, and so on. The knowledge that can answer 

 is the knowledge of gardening of the better kind. 

 The whole thing should be done carefully on paper 

 beforehand, or there will again be repented the error 

 of huddled single plants. The groups will have to 

 be well shaped and well sized and well related to 

 each other and all that is near, or they may be 

 merely a series of senseless blocks, not intelligently 

 formed groups at all. 



Then, in proper relation to the groups, single 

 plants can be used with the best possible effect, as, 

 for instance, a snowy Mespilus or a Cherry or a 

 Pyrus floribunda against a dark massing of Yew or 

 Holly ; or a Forsythia suspensa casting out its long 

 flowering branches from among bushes of Berberis. 

 Then the fewer individuals will have their full value, 

 while the larger masses will have dignity even when 

 in leaf only, and their own special beauty at the time 

 when they are in flower or fruit. For some flower- 

 ing and fruiting bushes are best grouped, while a few 

 are best seen standing alone, and it is only knowledge 

 of good gardening that can guide the designer in his 



