The Garden Magazine, April, 1922 



101 



must be free from planting so that light and air be not shut out 

 of the basement. 



The Builders' Legacy Handicap 



NEARLY always in the construction of the house, the top 

 soil has been removed from around the foundations and a 

 considerable amount of debris (bricks, stones, bits of lath and 

 plaster, etc.) is frequently left around the excavation of the 

 foundation, which is filled in with some of the poor soil left 

 from cellar excavation. 



Few people realize how important a part the eaves of the 

 house play in the well-being of the plants in the foundation 

 planting. If the eaves are narrow, the planting at the base of 

 the house is subjected to the full force of the elements — an un- 

 usually large supply of water at irregular intervals and an in- 

 tense exposure to the sun during dry weather. If, on the other 

 hand, the eaves are unusually large and extend far out from the 

 sides of the house, as is often found in the modern bungalow type 

 of construction, air circulation is impeded, and unusually dense 

 shade is always present on that side of the house which lies natu- 

 rally in the shade, while, worst of all, the rainfall is denied to the 

 plants except in case of storms driving in a slanting direction. 



It seems also to be the favorite outdoor sport of the average 

 contractor and builder to 

 run a walk within two or 

 three feet of the founda- 

 tions, along at least one side 

 of the house, and it is one 

 of the most annoying handi- 

 caps with which the home 

 owner has to contend. 

 Either the walk must be re- 

 laid at a farther distance 

 from the house, which 

 should be from five to eight 

 feet for good growing con- 

 ditions, or only a single row 

 of shrubbery, of extremely 

 limited variety, can be 

 planted. 



But the actual presence 

 of one or more of these ad- 

 verse conditions does not 

 necessarily imply that a suc- 

 cessful planting cannot be 

 arranged. The first con- 

 sideration will be materials 

 to be used. 



Evergreens' Merits and 

 Otherwise 



LEAF texture and color of 

 j the individual shrubs 

 must be considered from an 

 artistic standpoint, the 

 planting being so arranged 

 that the leaf texture of one 

 shrub shall be not at con- 

 siderable variance with that 

 of its neighbor, nor shall the 

 variation in color between 



In this greenery that runs 

 with wave-like freedom up to 

 the walls of the house there 

 is no sense of the division 

 that almost inevitably ac- 

 companies most types of 

 base planting. The Day-lily 

 (Funkia subcordata) viva- 

 ciously breaks what might 

 otherwise be too solid a mass 



the individual shrubs be of such a decided nature as to produce 

 a "spotty" effect, and this in direct relation to the architecture 

 of the house itself. 



The mistake most commonly made is to plant exclusively and 

 precisely pyramidal and globe-shaped evergreens, occasionally 

 varied with a few specimens of the very low-spreading kinds. 

 This style has been fostered by the inefficient itinerant sales- 

 man of nursery stock who is usually working on a commission 

 basis and whose best personal interest lies in the highest prices 

 obtainable; again by the uneducated so-called "landscape" 

 gardener, but in reality a mere jobbing laborer possessing no 

 qualifications beyond the ownership of a lawn-mower and a 

 pair of pruning shears. It cannot be denied that the individual 

 plants themselves have elements of interest, possibly as regards 

 shape or texture, but especially as regards color; and it is un- 

 doubtedly true that "these plants will remain green all winter." 

 There are disadvantages, however, from both an economic and 

 an artistic standpoint of the universal use of this class of ma- 

 terial. Such a planting as indicated in one of the sketches (Fig. 

 VIII, Page 102) is devoid of any grace of outline, and will never 

 adequately cover any except the very lowest foundations, unless 

 the plants are set so closely together that they have no space for 

 development and consequently die out in a year or two from lack 



