The Natural Style in Landscape Gardening 



serve some further consideration. 



In practical landscape gardening the develop- 

 ment of the natural style has always been deeply 

 involved with questions of planting with the choice 

 and management of species. Indeed, these ideas 

 have comprised the whole sum and substance, the 

 beginning and the end, the body and the meaning, 

 of the natural style in many minds. 



Unquestionably the selection and management of 

 the plant materials does play a major role in practi- 

 cal landscape gardening, and especially in the natu- 

 ral style. The fact that topography, at least in its 

 main features, is beyond the reach of the landscape 

 maker leaves him under the necessity of falling back 

 to what is in reality this secondary position. But 

 since it is necessary, no matter what the reasons, 

 to produce our principal results through our plant- 

 ings, it becomes doubly necessary to study this 

 part of our work with the utmost care. 



We must have, not merely a facile familiarity 

 with plants, but we must have some fairly pro- 

 found philosophy of their use. That is, we must be 

 able to use plants as nature uses them, to found 



48 



