54 THE ART AND PRACTICE OF LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



blossoms of Alpine plants glow in their varied colours. The Pinetum, 

 where are collections of hardy conifers, each tree rising separately from 

 the lawn, with a distinctive beauty, which not only charms the eye 

 but creates a special interest. Then we may, perhaps, consider the 

 low ground toward the lake, where the planting may be characterised 

 by introducing a collection of damp-loving plants, beyond which, on 

 the side of the lake itself, will come the collection of weeping trees, 

 overhanging the water surface. These are all special positions, and 

 each has a special planting, and its relation to the whole decorative 

 effect. The disposition of the plants requires skill. In addition to 

 the grouping for foliage, colour, and height, which has been insisted 

 on above, there is another consideration. It is pleasant to find in 

 a group a collection of various kinds of trees of one species for 

 example, of Hollies, having to lighten their effect an undergrowth 

 of variegated Dogwood ; the vacant spaces in the first instance 

 can be temporarily filled with common Holly. Or a collection of 

 Retinosporas may be made, interspersed with Spircea callosa, etc. 



Assuming that the 'ground for the groups has been raised, as 

 already recommended, the arrangement of the planting should follow 

 the indicated level of the bed ; the points should receive prominent 

 trees, and the lower spaces should be filled with less important 

 plants, more dwarf in habit. Those trees and shrubs which are 

 hardy or delicate should be allocated to positions where they may 

 protect, or be protected. By grouping is not meant a repetition of 

 planting by threes or fours, but that some trees of the same species 

 differing in height be planted in juxtaposition to trees of other species 

 having differing form and colour that may harmonise and at the 

 same time contrast. Equally, variety in colour is not to be taken 

 as meaning the repetition of violent contrasts, such as Copper Beech 

 and Variegated Maple, so frequently planted together, with the 

 erroneous idea that strong contrast is all that is required. In mass- 



