74 Hints on Landscape Gardening 



shrubs which bind them loosely together. This 

 does not mean to employ that ideal wavy line 

 called more accurately, " corkscrew " form, which 

 is the most unnatural of all and which impedes 

 any effect of light and shade, the greatest secret 

 of landscape painting. Besides, in spite of its 

 twists, when seen in front it presents only a 

 meaningless zigzag without any character. Sharp 

 corners, on the other hand, seldom do harm, as 

 they always become rounded in time by vegeta- 

 tion. Finally, after the first two years, when the 

 needful cultivation, weeding, etc., have been 

 done, I sow grass on the borders of the planta- 

 tions and wherever a bare place shows itself be- 

 tween the shrubs, until every trace of abruptness 

 in the dividing line disappears, and the most nat- 

 ural and spontaneous connection between meadow 

 and wood is created. 



Wherever the path leads through the planta- 

 tion, either the plantation is brought quite close 

 to the edge or a border of grass is made to lose 

 itself naturally in the shrubbery. 



It is only in the flower garden that I permit a 

 continuous border cut regularly to one width; 

 this even is broken here and there by a border 

 of box or violets, etc. Evergreens should not, as 

 a rule, be placed close to the roads, since they 

 may have to be trimmed high for the benefit of 

 the passer-by, thereby losing their beauty, and, 

 moreover, no grass will grow underneath them. 

 But they are often very ornamental if set far 

 enough back from the border of the walk or 



