86 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



indeed, they produce an impression that is at once unsightly and 

 repellent. If the garden be large enough, and it be thought 

 necessary to include a shrubbery within its scope, its arrangement 

 may be carried out in such a manner that, so far from being un- 

 interesting, it will prove to be one of its most attractive features. 

 So great is the variety of shrubbery plants from which a choice 

 can now be made that, instead of the dull monotony of laurels 

 and privet, it is possible to secure subjects of a more gay appear- 

 ance in which will be blended all the requisites of hardiness, free 

 growth, and dense and vivid foliage, together with a seasonal 

 display of delightful bloom. By these means it will be possible 

 to make the shrubbery a thing of beauty and of joy an ornament 

 instead of an eyesore. 



There is another aspect of the use of shrubs in the garden that 

 demands attention. This is their employment for decorative 

 purposes in beds and borders, apart altogether from their inclusion 

 in orthodox shrubberies. In a previous chapter on " How to Plan 

 a Small Garden " I suggested the need for the study of perspective 

 the necessity just as much to build the garden skywards as to 

 be certain that its ground-plan be well and truly laid. Here the 

 judicious introduction of flowering shrubs and trees can be made 

 to play an all-important part. They will, besides forming beauti- 

 ful objects in themselves, and as isolated or grouped specimens, 

 help to break up the picture ; they will give it a balance and an 

 attractiveness that are all too frequently absent from the average 

 small garden. How often, as one obtains glimpses of suburban 

 garden plots from a passing train, does the entire absence of trees 

 impress itself upon the mind 1 They wear an unfinished, un- 

 dressed appearance that is positively distressing. No matter 

 that the flower beds are neat and trim, that the flowers themselves 

 are well cultivated and admirable specimens of their kind, the 

 aspect is unpleasing and flat. There is just as great a need for 

 shade as for sunlight in the perfect garden as much for the sake 

 of its natural denizens as for that of its human frequenters. And 

 surely no better method of providing this necessary shade, as well 

 as of adding to the beauty of the garden, can be found than by 



