TYING THE HOUSE TO THE GARDEN 



E. C. STILES 



Landscape Architect 



Plants as a Link Between the Dwelling and Its Grounds 

 Modifying Severity of Architectural Lines with Shrubbery and Evergreens Selected for the Special Situation 



[AKING the house belong, as it were, to the land on 

 which it rests is a too little considered detail of the 

 garden work that, however, intimately touches every 

 home maker. A building set gauntly upon the ground 

 without any kind of modification of the line where it joins has a 

 harsh and repellent air — something must be done to knit the two 

 together. This merging can best be accomplished by the re- 

 strained use of plants chosen to suit the particular type of archi- 

 tecture with, of course, due reference to the somewhat difficult 

 conditions of growth, the habit of the plant, its texture and color. 

 That "foundation planting" for the house is one of the least 

 understood of all the many varied phases of planting is demon- 

 strated by the amazing number of strikingly bad examples to be 



seen in any residential suburb. It is largely so because the aver- 

 age man does not seem to realize that this phase of planning the 

 residence grounds offers any particular sort of problem. The 

 same man who seriously considers the planting problem involv- 

 ing a question of extensive shrubbery on the lawn and in or 

 around the garden area will refer to a foundation planting as 

 "just a little something green around the house." As a matter 

 of fact this particular detail is of real importance, because any 

 plants employed for this purpose must meet several very definite 

 requirements and because growing conditions close to a house 

 are at best most unfavorable to the successful growth and good 

 development of practically all classes of plants. 

 The three main objects of foundation planting in general are: 



FILLING THE CORNER WITH FRAGRANCE AND CHEER 



Here we have a judiciously designed planting of broad-leaved evergreens and flowering shrubs which maintain interest 

 the year through. Home of Mr. Leonard Kebler at Bronxville, N. Y. Clarence Fowler, Landscape Architect 



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