208 HARDY ORNAMENTAL 



Planting a Shrub Group. 



Where any denned system of shrub planting is 

 attempted, it is usual to place the taller growing kinds in 

 the centre or at the background and the dwarfer along the 

 margin. Generally speaking, this is the correct method 

 if the planting be not carried out in too formal a manner, 

 but from the standpoint of natural arrangement such 

 grouping is not strictly correct. Better it is to plant here 

 and there through the mass taller shrubs of lithe and 

 graceful habit, such as the Tamarisk and some of the 

 Berberis, and Spiraeas, avoiding sharp contrasts in their 

 immediate vicinity. When the group or shrubbery is of 

 large size, good masses of the same kind may be placed 

 ■well back, but nearer the margin numerous varieties may 

 be disposed. Due attention must, of course, be given to the 

 arrangement of colours, and to the seasons of flowering. 



To group shrubs so that they may have a natural and 

 informal appearance is by no means easily accomplished, 

 and the usual system of making circular or oval masses 

 with the tallest in the centre and the smaller growing 

 around the margin is too productive of extreme regularity 

 and stiffness to be " pleasing to the eye or generally 

 adopted. 



Where practicable, masses of each plant are preferable 

 to single specimens, and the following lend themselves 

 well to this style of planting : — 



Rhus cotinus and B. typhina are both excellent when 

 planted in masses in large beds or shrubberies, whether 

 for beauty and quaintness of flowers, or the bright tints 

 assumed by the autumn foliage. 



