THE GENERAL PLAN OR THEORY OF THE PLACE 37 



The value of plants may lie in foliage and form rather than in 

 bloom. 



What kinds of shrubs and flowers to plant is a wholly second- 

 ary and largely a personal consideration. The main plantings 

 are made up of hardy and vigorous species; then the things that 

 you like are added. There is endless choice in the species, but 

 the arrangement or disposition of the plants is far more impor- 

 tant than the kinds; and the foliage and form of the plant are 

 usually of more importance than its bloom. 



The appreciation of foliage effects in the landscape is a higher 

 type of feeling than the desire for mere color. Flowers are 

 transitory, but foliage and plant forms are abiding. The com- 

 mon roses have very little value for landscape planting be- 

 cause the foliage and habit of the rose-bush are not attractive, 

 the leaves are inveterately attacked by bugs, and the blossoms 

 are fleeting. Some of the wild roses and the Japanese Rosa 

 rugosa, however, have distinct merit for mass effects. 



Even the common flowers, as marigold, zinnias, and gaillardias, 

 are interesting as plant-forms long before they come into bloom. 

 To many persons the most 

 satisfying epoch in the gar- 

 den is that preceding the 

 bloom, for the habits and 

 stature of the plants are 

 then unobscured. The early 

 stages of lilies, daffodils, and 

 all perennials are most in- 

 teresting; and one never 

 appreciates a garden until 

 he reaHzes that this is so. 



Now let the reader, with these suggestions in mind, observe 

 for one week the plant-forms in the humble herbs that he 

 meets, whether these herbs are strong garden plants or the 



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27. The plant-form in a perennial salvia. 



