GROUPING AND MASSING OF SHRUBS 



321 



When it is desired to prevent one curve from being visible 

 from another, groups composed largely of evergreens should 

 be selected and planted near the hollows of the curves. 

 Massed plantings should never be placed at the extreme 

 center of the curve but located on either side of it. To secure 

 the best effects from this treatment the character and the 

 outline of the grouping should be extremely different. 



Fig. 133. — Incorrect curve for a road or a walk. 



Grouping and Massing of Shrubs. — Rarely ever should a 

 shrub be planted singly. Single planting in some instances 

 is used, but the grouping of shrubs should be the common 

 practice. Some skill and art is necessary in the judicious 

 massing of shrubs, and some facts relative to the growth of 

 the plants are necessary. The principal practice of the older 

 landscape gardeners was to group the shrubs in such a way 

 that the taller growing plants always formed the extreme 

 border and the smaller growing shrubs were placed in the 

 front, so that a more or less uniform growth of foliage was the 

 result. Rarely ever is this procedure excusable. Do we ever 

 find such an arrangement of shrubs in nature? Consequently 

 when it is desirable to have our places look natural, natural 

 ways of planting should be used. Strive to group the plant- 

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