324 Choice of Plant Material 
in size to desired proportions, others are too vigorous to be 
so treated, and the natural habit must be recognized. We 
shall call tall shrubs, those which attain naturally a height of 
over 10 feet; medium-sized, those between 6 and Io feet; 
low or small, those from 3 to 6 feet; and dwarfs those lower 
than these last dimensions. 
In grouping, the smaller kinds are, of course, placed in 
front, the taller toward the center of the group. 
From the ornament point of view not only the foliage effect 
in shape and color during the leafy season, and the color 
effect of the stems in winter is of importance, but in a large 
number the flower and fruit is the great attraction. 
In regard to flower not only the character, size, color, and 
profusion, but particularly the time and persistency of the 
blooming should be taken into consideration in the choice 
of shrubs. 
The great art of the landscape artist is to blend or to con- 
trast foliage in groups or masses, and to secure a succession 
of harmonious flowers in groups by skilfully combining 
shrubs, which in habit, size, and character of flower harmon- 
ize but differ in the time of blooming. 
In some shrubs the flowers appear in early spring either 
before or with the arrival of the leaves, while in others they 
do not come until midsummer, and a very few species do 
not flower until the fall, thereby becoming especially valu- 
able. ‘To assist selection we have, therefore, given the time 
of flowering, which, of course, varies slightly according to 
season and latitude. When no statement is made, the 
usual time, May, June, is understood. 
Flowers appear either singly or in bunches and clusters 
of varying shapes; in flat “cymes” like the common Yarrow 
and Viburnum; or in elongated pendent ‘“‘racemes,”’ like the 
Bleeding Heart; or in long, dense, or loose ‘“‘spikes,” like 
