PLANTING 



231 



by introducing the golden variety into the 

 prominent parts of a green yew or privet hedge. 

 When the hedge arrives at an age when it can be 

 shaped, these golden corners or buttresses can be 

 made very striking. But such variations must 

 be handled with restraint : to break a stretch of 

 green hedge behind a flower bed would lower the 

 value of the flowers from a decorative point of 

 view. In fact 

 hedges should 

 be elaborated 

 only when they 

 are a feature in 

 themselves ; 

 never when 

 they are a back- 

 ground. 



There is 

 scarcely a limit 

 to the shaping 

 yew and box 

 will bear, and 

 in many old 

 gardens the 



topiary work is their finest part. The most dur- 

 able shapes are those where the hedge narrows 

 towards the top, a shape which encourages the 

 bottom growth and does not keep rain from the 

 roots. In the northern parts of England the top 

 should be cut convexed, or peaked, or there may 



DIAGRAM 84. 



