Shrubs are better than flowers against a building because the flowers are too 

 small to support it and have no winter value. Shrubs give flowers or color 

 enough and last longer 



This picture shows an application of Rule 1. Hide unsightly objects. This 

 shrubbery completely screens a high wall. Mr. W. M. Johnson's, Hackensack. 

 New Jersey. J. T. Withers, landscape architect 



The Artistic Way of Using Shrubs — By wilhelm Miller, 



New 

 York 



SHRUBS ARE BETTER FOR FRONT YARDS THAN FLOWERS, AND A BORDER IS BETTER THAN A HEDGE — ANY 

 BEGINNER CAN PLAN BETTER HOME GROUNDS BY USING THESE SIMPLE RULES AND CONVENIENT TABLES 



IF YOU cannot afford to engage a land- 

 scape gardener you should rejoice at the 

 foregoing admirable lists of shrubs by Mr. 

 Taylor. For they will enable you to plan 

 much better grounds than you see gener- 

 ally, and without extra cost. Everywhere 

 you see three kinds of yards which look 

 good to a beginner but are unsatisfactory 

 after a year's experience in gardening. 



The first kind of yard you see everywhere 

 has flowers around the base of the house 

 or in beds in the lawn. But flowers are 

 not tall enough or permanent enough to 

 give support and dignity to a house. They 

 give only color and they have no value in 

 winter. Shrubs can do all these things 

 better than annuals or perennials. 



The second type of yard you see every- 

 where has grass and privet hedges. (There 

 are 10,000 examples at the seashore.) 

 These yards are neat, but monotonous 

 and artificial. It is a waste of money 

 to trim hedges. An informal border of 

 shrubbery is- more artistic because it is 

 more natural and blends your place with 

 the landscape. It has more variety and 

 interest every day of the year and it costs 

 no more. 



The third kind of yard you see every- 

 where consists of showy trees and shrubs 

 scattered over the lawn. To scatter shrubs 

 is distracting; to group them at the sides 

 of the lawn is artistic. To use cut-leaved, 

 weeping, and variegated plants is gaudy; 

 normal varieties are showy enough and in 

 better taste. 



All these in artistic ways come from con- 

 sidering only flowers or color. The artis- 

 tic way is to consider everything. The 

 artistic yard is private — not exposed to 



the public gaze. It shuts out unsightly 

 objects. It is sheltered from wind and 

 dust. It has a pretty view — something 

 better than passing automobiles. It is 

 attractive the year round — not merely 

 in summer or when roses bloom. It is 

 planted with permanent materials, not 

 tender plants or flowers that must be 

 renewed every year. It is cheap to main- 

 tain compared with a show place. And 

 it need not cost one dollar more than a 

 yard peppered with Colorado spruce, gol- 

 den elder, purple-leaved barberry, and 

 cut-leaved Japanese maples. 



Where can you see such yards? In 

 Winnetka, 111., which is perhaps the most 

 artistic suburb in America. There are 

 twenty-seven small places in that suburb 

 of Chicago designed by Mr. 0. C. Simonds. 



I will tell you just how a great landscape 

 gardener designs home grounds. You can 

 do it yourself — not as well as the pro- 

 fessional — but well enough to produce a 

 hundred times as much comfort, beauty, 

 and pleasure as the ordinary place shows. 



Rule i . — Hide unsightly objects. Per- 

 haps a few extra-large shrubs will hide 

 outbuildings or a fence. Probably you 

 will need evergreens or vines to hide barns 

 or walls. Put stakes in the ground where 

 these screen plants are to stand. 



Rule 2. — Surround your property with 

 an irregular belt of trees and tall shrubs. 

 This is to protect you from thieves, ani- 

 mals, wind, dust, germs, and curious eyes. 

 It is to give the children a winter play- 

 ground and allow the family to work, read, 

 rest, sew, eat, and live outdoors as privately 

 as indoors. Also it is to be a background 

 for flowers. Therefore, select first your 



1G9 



trees and put a stake where each is to 

 stand. Then consult the list of tall shrubs 

 for fillers. 



Rule 3. — Frame the best views. Do 

 not break this precious belt of shrubbery 

 except where there is a chance to see some 

 beautiful object in the distance, e. g. 

 mountain, hill, lake, river, brook, meadow, 

 church spire, or beautiful building. Carry 

 your tall shrubs right down to the front 

 sidewalk, but allow one glimpse of your 

 house from the street. Study the point 

 from which your house appears to the best 

 advantage and put a stake there. Select 

 low shrubs for that point so that people 

 can look over them and see part of your 

 house — not all. For as Mr. Simonds says, 

 "A glimpse is better than the whole thing." 



Rule 4. — Provide year-round interest. 

 There is no trouble about spring and fall, 

 because most shrubs bloom in spring, and 

 in the autumn their leaves are as brilliant 

 as flowers. Therefore choose from the list 

 a few shrubs that bloom in July and August. 

 For winter beauty choose shrubs with 

 brightly colored berries or twigs, e. g. bar- 

 berries, high-bush huckleberry, multiflora 

 rose, golden and salmon-barked willow. 



Rule 5. — Have 95 per cent, of your 

 material native to America. Such plants 

 as a class, live longer and cost less to 

 maintain than European plants or horti- 

 cultural varieties. The American plants 

 will make your place blend with the envi- 

 ronment; foreigners and abnormal varieties 

 will make it stand out in violent contrast. 



WHAT I WOULD AVOID 



Personally I w-ould carry these prin- 

 ciples still farther, e. g. I would — ■ 



