DECORATIVE PLANTING 



205 



in parks, botanical gardens, and private grounds. The more 

 permanent of the herbaceous perennials may also be identified. 

 Complete lists of these, with notes on the qualities that make 

 them desirable for planting, may be obtained from the nearest 

 nursery company. A large number of the more desirable are 

 natives of our own fields and woods, and the person inter- 

 ested in decorating his grounds will find many of them ready 

 to his hand in the nearest woodland or thicket. Few exotic 



species surpass our 

 native elders, sumacs, 

 dogwoods, viburnums, 

 wild crabs, currants, 

 and gooseberries for 

 decorative planting. 

 Trees and shrubs with 

 variegated foliage are 

 usually less hardy than 

 those with green leaves 

 and are seldom satis- 

 factory in the home 

 grounds. 



Herbaceous plants. 

 Herbaceous plants may 

 be considered in two 

 groups, the annuals and the perennials. The annuals are fre- 

 quently desirable for quickly covering bare spaces and for 

 giving an abundance of bloom, but they require to be planted 

 anew each year, and for most purposes perennials are more 

 desirable. Some of the most showy flowers, however, are an- 

 nuals. We could ill spare such species as morning-glory, 

 four-o'clock, nicotiana, nasturtium, sweet pea, petunia, aster, 

 cosmos, salvia, and verbena, but the best place for most of them 

 is in the flower garden where their beauty may be admired and 

 the flowers removed without injuring the appearance of the 



FIG. 152. 



An artificial pond planted with 

 lotus and water lilies 



