Secrets of Ornamental Planting 





The Stark Way of Framing a View 



With the sturdy graceful Elm America's great- 

 est shade tree. 



Shutting Out Undesirable Views 



Very often there are certain views or out- 

 buildings which are "eye-sores" when viewed 

 from the house. These views can be blanket- 

 ed out and hidden by a planting of trees. It 

 is often desirable to use quick growing trees 

 in order to attain this result as soon as possible. 

 Out-buildings and barns can be hidden by, 

 plantings of high shrubs, and unsightly boar<J 

 fences can be blanketed out. 



Flowering of Shrubs and Trees 



In selecting the shrubs for the landscape 

 planting of the home grounds, the flowering 



gives the time of flowering and the height 

 to which the shrub grows. 



Time of Blooming 



The time of flowering is another important 

 consideration. In planting shrub groups in 

 borders, we want to plan to have shrubs 

 some of which will be in bloom throughout 

 the season, thus there will always be an 

 interesting bloom from early Spring until 

 late Fall. Starting out with the Forsythia, 

 with its brilliant yellow bloom in early Spring 

 before the leaves appear, then comes the 

 Red Bud or Cercis followed by the attractive 

 Deutzias. White Kerria (Rhodotypus Ker- 

 rioides) blooms early and continues to bloom 

 all summer. Next comes that magnificent 

 shrub, Spirea Van Houttei. which has been 

 pronounced the one best shrub. With its 

 white billows of flowers it presents a mag- 

 nificent effect. After the flowers are gone, 

 the foliage is of great landscape value, 

 being of fine texture and a rich green. Fol- 

 lowing Spirea Van Houttei comes the Phila- 

 delphus, which is commonly called the Mock 

 Orange or Syringa. This splendid old-time, 

 fragrant shrub is a beautiful sight in bloom. 

 Following it comes the Viburnum Opulus 

 commonly called the High Bush Cranberry 

 with its white panicles which are followed by 

 brilliant scarlet fruit. Tamarix Africana 

 also blooms at this time. Its pink blossoms 

 gives the entire bush a pinkish cast. Indeed 

 it is different in appearance from any other 

 shrub. A clump of Tamarix on the lawn 

 gives the effect of the spray from an ocean 

 breaker. 



June has been called the month of the 

 roses and truly so, for in this month the 

 roses seem to outdo themselves. However, 

 in this month, many of our finest shrubs 

 are also in bloom. 



In June Weigela rosea presents its wealth 

 of rose-colored flowers. There is also a white 

 type and a red flowering type. 



The Lilacs 



Probably the finest and most popular of 

 all the June flowering shrubs are the Lilacs. 

 For generations Lilacs have been dear to 

 the hearts of all lovers 

 of Nature. The old- 

 fashioned Lilac was 

 very popular with our 

 grandparents, but we 

 are more fortunate 

 in having numerous 

 new and improved 

 varieties, with a great 

 variety of color and 

 larger blooms. No 

 landscape planting is 

 complete without Li- 

 1 acs. Next in season of 

 bloom comes Spirea 

 Billardi, with its long 

 plumy spikes of fea- 

 thery pink. Some of 

 the shrubs which bloom 



late in the Summer and hold over until 

 early Fall are the Hydrangea Paniculata 

 Grandiflora (with blooms often eight or ten 

 inches long and six inches in diameter) and 

 Hibiscus Syriacus (Old-Fashioned Rose of 

 Sharon). There are many colors in both 

 single and double flowers of the latter and 

 it should be planted much more largely 

 than it is. There are certain shrubs, such 

 as Hydrangea Arborescens Grandiflora, 

 Rosa Rugosa, White Kerria, etc., that bloom 

 throughout the Summer. 



Bright Colored Berries 



Some shrubs are of great value not only 

 because of their flowers, but because of their 

 bright colored fruit. The long brilliant red 

 berries of the Barberry are very interesting 

 in the Fall and they last through the entire 

 Winter. The Snowberry (Symphoricarpiix 

 Racemosus) has large clusters of pearl white 

 berries in the Fall. The High Bush Cran- 

 berry (Viburnum Opulus) is not only valuable 

 on account of its bloom, but because of tlie 

 clusters of brilliant red berries, which appear 

 in late Summer and hold over to the Fall. 



Rosa Rugosa has red berries throughout 

 the Summer at the- same time the shrubs arc- 

 blooming. 



Characters of Growth 



As far as habit of growth is concerned, 

 shrubs are divided into three main classes: 

 FIRST, we have the high growing shrubs 

 wnich are used largely as a background; 

 SECOND, we have the medium height 

 shrubs, which can be planted immediately 

 in front of the background and higher shrubs 

 these are called "fillers;" THIRD, we have 

 the low-growing or dwarfy shrubs, which 

 are used to edge down the groups of shrubs 

 these are called "facers." 



In addition to the height growth of the 

 shrubs they vary greatly in being upright, 

 spreading or arching in their general character 

 of growth. It is easily seen that by mixing 

 the different kinds of shrubs we can get, an 

 interesting and varied effect, thus breaking 

 the monotony. In Nature you will find 

 a great blending of the many different kinds 

 of shrubs with no regularity as to the planting. 

 It is this natural blending, demonstrated in 

 Nature's planting, that we should attempt 

 to reproduce. 



Planting a Shrub Group 



We have explained how the different char- 

 acteristics of shrubs, such as their manner 

 of growth, their time and color of bloom, 

 their general color value must be considered 

 in making up the shrub groups. It is a 

 combination of all these characteristics in 

 their proper proportion that produces the 

 successful shrub group. There are a number 

 of general principles or rules that must be 

 observed in planting the borders or groups. 

 The tall shrubs should be planted in the 

 background of the border or in the center of 



Planned and planted by Stark Landscape Archi- 

 tects. A naturalistic shrub border of tall 

 Viburnums, Spireas, Syringas, etc. 



characteristics should be carefully considered. 

 The color, size and time of flowering are all 

 important. In planting a shrub group, be 

 sure that the color of the different shrubs will 

 be harmonious. Do not plant shrubs which 

 have pink blossoms near those which have 

 red blossoms, if the two shrubs bloom at 

 the same time. However, if they have 

 different times of blooming, it will be all 

 tight to have them in the same group. You 

 should aim to have variety in color of bloom. 

 This variety will lend interest and attrac- 

 tiveness to the planting. For instance, 

 there are three types of Weigela: The rose- 

 colored, the white blossoms and the red 

 blossoms. The budded Lilacs give a good 

 opportunity for using many different colors. 

 By carefully studying the table given on 

 page 20, you can select a variety of har- 

 monious colors of bloom. This table also 



This planting could be improved by planting some trees at the left corner of the house to pin it to 

 the surroundings and counteract the effect that the house is slipping down the hill. 



10 



