62 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 



AN IDEAL SUBURBAN ACRE 



The unusual location of the house in the accompanying plan probably makes it imprac- 

 ticable for a majority of suburban acres, but it serves to show some correct principles of 

 arrangement and planting, and that is about all any plan can show, except for the special 

 grounds for which it is designed ; for good plans cannot be had ready-made but must be 

 made to order, and all local conditions and limitations considered. The many desirable 

 features of the plan I think are evident. By locating the house close to the northern 

 boundary of the lot, a southeast corner one, the greatest possible unbroken expanse of lawn 

 is obtained, and all principal rooms of the house have a southern and eastern exposure. 

 The massed planting on the western and northern boundaries gives protection to house 

 and grounds from wintry winds, affords grateful shelter for the choicer shrubs and plants, 

 and secures privacy for the rear of the house, drying ground and stable. The driveway — 

 and driveways are now usually made so as to serve the double purpose of driving and 

 walking — gives entrance from one street and the curved path from the other. This path, 

 winding in among the shrubbery, affords opportunity for some very effective planting. Massed 

 planting of shrubs, while the very best arrangement for them, gives many chances for the 

 planting of groups of herbaceous plants, narcissi, and lilies in the margins, and no better 

 setting can be had for the splendid new flowering cannas. The grounds are to be inclosed 

 with a fence, low wall, or hedge, — preferably a hedge if properly planted and cared for, — and 

 for grounds of this size no more satisfactory hedge can be planted than California privet 

 {Ligustrum ovalifolium) . It is quick-growing and has a rich, lustrous green foliage, and it 

 is almost evergreen. The plan ignores bedding plants, with the exception of the beds of 

 cannas and carpet-border in front of the porte-cochere, a very appropriate place for a bit of 

 formal gardening; but where the annual expense of bedding is objectionable, the cannas 

 could be changed for tall hardy grasses and the carpet-border for one of tulips carpeted 

 with Phlox subulata, or it might be omitted altogether. Nine-tenths of the bedding done 

 detracts from, rather than adds to, the grounds it is intended to beautify, and is an annual 

 waste of money, which, if spent intelligently in carrying out a good design, would in time 

 make a sylvan paradise of many a suburban home. 



EXPLANATION OF PLAN 



1,1,1. Shrubs, with hardy plants and spring- 8. Purple beech. 



flowering bulbs planted in margin. 9. Evergreens and birches. 



2. 2. Rhododendrons, kalmias, small ever- 10, 10, 10, 10. Scarlet maples; can be used 



greens and lilies. for clothes-line when large enough. 



3. Border for herbaceous plants and spring- II. Hemlock spruce. 



flowering bulbs, or could be used for 12. Weeping dogwood, 



hybrid perpetual roses. 13. Wier's maple. 



4. Untrimmed hedge of hemlock spruce. 14. Pin oak. 



5. Untrimmed hedge of lilacs. 15. Tulip tree. 



6. 6, 6, 6. Posts covered with vines for 16. Magnolias. 



clothes-line. 17. Chinese cypress. 



7. Bed of new flowering cannas and carpet- 18. Rose-flowered Japanese weeping cherry. 



border of alternantheras, echeverias, etc. 19. Magnolia stellata. 



