PLANTING FOR LANDSCAPE EFFECT. 



be found that those plantations which have been made solely with a view to timber- 

 growing and for utilitarian purposes, seldom fail to satisfy the aesthetic sense, while 

 those which are made specially as ornaments are not often completely satisfactory. This 

 remarkable result is solely the outcome of the fact that the former plantations are made 

 up of one or at the most two kinds of trees, whereas the latter are an unrestful jumble 

 of all sorts, mostly too exotic and unusual to harmonize with their surroundings. The 

 rule laid down is one therefore, which cannot be too strongly insisted upon. 



As in architecture and, in fact, in every art, striking effects should be used but 

 sparingly, and only at the chief points of interest, the great mass being restrained in its 

 treatment, thus giving added value to them. It is for this reason that, whether in the 

 garden or park, such subjects as hybrid rhododendrons should not be mixed with other 

 Spring-flowering shrubs, as they are so striking when in bloom that they will not brook 

 competition. A long drift of one sort, such as Cunningham's White or the vivid Frederick 

 Waterer or Cynthia, may be introduced against a background of sober foliage, or of plants 

 which do not flower till later, but undoubtedly the best way is to treat them as in a 

 class by themselves and give them a glade remote from the other portions of the grounds, 

 where they can be visited when in bloom, and where 

 the monotonous mass of almost black leaves which they 

 will present for ten months in the year will not be 

 obtrusive. These and other dark shiny and pulpy-leaved 

 exotics should be used very sparingly except in the most 

 formally planted borders of the garden. 



The general lines to be followed in arranging a 

 border in the more ornamental portions of the grounds, 

 where more of variety is in keeping than would generally 

 be the case, is shown in illustration No. 351, which is 

 a reproduction of part of a planting plan prepared by 

 the Author some years ago for a garden in North Wales. 

 Illustration No. 352 gives a portion of it to a larger scale, 

 and on this are marked all the varieties to be planted. 

 The undergrowths and nursers are indicated by numbers, 

 and the larger permanent trees by arbitrary signs ; and 

 this method I have found to be a good one, as it helps 

 to ensure that every part of the bed receives its proper 

 proportion of both. Of course in this case, where the 

 plantation is close to the residence and skirts the carriage drive, large forest trees are 

 not required, but the general principles of the arrangement would be the same, and 

 would be similarly indicated, whatever the scale of the planting. 



Arrangement is largely a question of careful observation and experience, coupled 

 with an artistic appreciation of the effect to be sought, and that imagination which will 

 accompany it and enable the planter to see the final result in his mind's eye from the 

 outset. Do not let the thought that you are planting for posterity deter you from 

 making the most of the opportunity in this direction ; at the least you have the 

 pleasures of anticipation, and, even though you may not live to see the oak sapling a 

 gnarled and weather-beaten monarch of the forest, it is wonderful what can be 

 produced in a very short time if large and healthy nursery stock be used to commence 

 with. Of course it is possible to move trees of any size in fact, yews mentioned in the 

 Doomsday Book have been successfully transplanted under the Author's direction, but it 

 is too expensive and tedious a process to be done on a large scale. 



The best advice that can be given to the tyro is to study all those groupings and 

 arrangements which appeal to his aesthetic sense, and to make copious notes and sketches 



FIG. 351. 



Restraint. 



Example of 



ornamental 



border. 



Rapidly 

 attained 

 effect. 



273 



