SHRUBS 



209 



or coarse vegetable matter that will not sprout, or even fresh 

 sod, these can be made to serve by taking out all the loam, 

 and burying the material at least eighteen inches deep. 

 There it will rot, and when the roots of the shrubs reach it, 

 the plant food will be ready for them. 



The design of a shrubbery should never be stiff. The 

 intention should in general be to produce clumps or borders 

 of shrubs, and not to have single specimens stand about 

 lonesomely. Only 

 very beautiful single 

 shrubs or trees can 

 properly stand by 

 themselves, and of 

 these the shrubs 

 should never be far 

 from a clump of 

 others. Generally, 

 therefore, count on 

 having the branches 

 of the shrubs touch 

 or intermingle. 



Standing thus, they 

 should not be in 

 lines, the lowest outside and the highest inside, as with a flower 

 bed. They should rather be in groups of three or four or 

 five of the same kind, so that the height of the shrubbery 

 will rise and fall irregularly. The outline should be curving 

 or wavy, not straight. This looks like nature's planting, and 

 is the most pleasing. One habit of shrubs we can depend on 

 to make such an arrangement satisfactory. As soon as they 

 are growing well, their outer branches will droop and almost 

 sweep the ground. Thus they will appear to rise from the 

 grass, or from the flowers that stand in front of them. 



Fig. 110. — Shrubs along a boundary are useful 

 and pleasing. Hollyhock in front. 



