ORNAMENTAL PLANTING FOR PARKS, ETC. 133 



A portion of the lake in Washington Park has been set apart 

 for the display of hardy and tender aquatic plants. The hardy 

 varieties are planted permanently in beds depressed about two 

 feet below the water surface. The tender varieties are removed 

 in the fall and remain dormant, generally as bulbs, in the green- 

 houses, until the water is warm enough to put them "in the lake 

 the following summer, the bulbs being forced into active growth 

 early in the spring. There is no feature in the park that has 

 given such universal satisfaction as this aquatic plant display, 

 and none that with ordinary care will more fully recompense the 

 gardener. 



The lake margins are treated naturally, having no stone or 

 artificial encircling wall. The banks are well shaded, and pro- 

 vision is made at frequent intervals to reach the water by circuit 

 Avalks and expansive beaches. The lake margins immediately 

 surrounding the aquatic garden are planted with water-loving 

 plants, and back of these is selected shrubbery, so that the transi- 

 tion from the aquatic garden to the outlying features of the park 

 is gradual and not discordant. 



The design of this paper has been, in a measure, to moderate 

 or curb the tendency to too generous a use of flowers, arranged 

 in geometric or formal designs, either in urban or suburban 

 parks, and the concentration of such effects, when used, in locali- 

 ties especially adapted and heretofore suggested for such dis- 

 plays ; blending such exhibits with their immediate environment, 

 by shading down the color tones, so that, to the observer, the 

 transition may be gradual, from the natural to the artificial, or 

 vice versa, without too sudden a change in form or color ; and, 

 furthermore, I recommend the use of fewer flowers and more 

 foliage plants. Scattered, detached effects are to be avoided. 

 Treat the garden as one composition, each bed or group of plants 

 being a necessary and integral part of the whole picture. Either 

 mass for color effects in foliage or flower, or select for group- 

 ing, such shrubs as are noted for individual form and expres- 

 sion, giving ample room for development, and space to view 

 them from all sides. Rely mainly upon the lawn, and natural 

 effects of trees and shrub planting, for the impression to be 

 made, and subordinate the artificial to the natural. 



