THE GENERAL PLAN OR THEORY OF THE PLACE 3% 
The value of plants may lie in foliage and form rather than in 
bloom. 
What kinds of shrubs and flowers to plant is a wholly second- 
ary and largely a personal consideration. The main plantings 
are made up of hardy and vigorous species; then the things that 
you like are added. There is endless choice in the species, but 
the arrangement or disposition of the plants is far more impor- 
tant than the kinds; and the foliage and form of the plant are 
usually of more importance than its bloom. 
The appreciation of foliage effects in the landscape isa higher - 
type of feeling than the desire for mere color. Flowers are 
transitory, but foliage and plant forms are abiding. The com- 
mon roses have very little value for landscape planting be- 
cause the foliage and habit of the rose-bush are not attractive, 
the leaves are inveterately attacked by bugs, and the blossoms 
are fleeting. Some of the wild roses and the Japanese Rosa 
rugosa, however, have distinct merit for mass effects. 
Even the common flowers, as marigold, zinnias, and gaillardias, 
are interesting as plant-forms long before they come into bloom. 
To many persons the most 
satisfying epoch in the gar- 
den is that preceding the 
bloom, for the habits and 
stature of the plants are 
then unobscured. The early 
stages of lilies, daffodils, and 
all perennials are most in- 
teresting; and one never 
appreciates a garden until 
he realizes that this is so. 
Now let the reader, with these suggestions in mind, observe 
for one week the plant-forms in the humble herbs that he 
meets, whether these herbs are strong garden plants or the 
27. The plant-form in a perennial salvia. 
