PLANNING HOME GROUNDS 
65 
How often you see a cozy little home nestling among vines, flowers, 
trees, and with stretches of open lawn! By itself it is only a plain little 
house, but the flowers and shrubs give it beauty and character, and help 
wonderfully to make it a home. It shows good taste and thoughtful at- 
tention, although not necessarily the expenditure of much money. 
Planting is like painting a picture. The . trees and shrubs are your 
colors. . The rules for successful planting are simple and few. Plant the 
outer border of your place with masses of dense, rather taU-growing 
shrubbery, giving a distinct outline and form to your property. Keep the 
taller growing plants well back, then the medium-growing, and next the 
low-growing at the inner edge, forming a dense rounding mass of shrub- 
bery which gradually meets the lawn. Plant rounding masses of shrub- 
bery in the corners, as well as along the boundary line. Avoid too many 
straight lines and geometrical angles. Have a number of different kinds 
of plants, but enough of one type in a place to produce a definite effect 
of rich shade, color, flower, or fruit. Use vines and shrubs, not to display 
their own characters, but to mask sharp lines of buildings and as a frame 
for distant views. 
Around the house have open stretches of lawn. It is especially im- 
portant to keep small yards open. A small yard, properly planted around 
the outer edges, will appear larger than it really is. Don't scatter single 
isolated shrubs all over the lawn. Don't plant trees or flowers in the 
center of a small lawn. However, on a large, spacious lawn nothing is 
more desirable than groups of shade trees or single specimens placed a 
little to one side of the house where shade is needed. 
Plant climbing vines on the porches and arbors. The Dorothy Per- 
kins Rose, Honeysuckle, and Japanese Clematis can be planted on the 
same porch, giving a succession of bloom. Plant the medium and small- 
growing shrubs, Roses, Peonies, and Phlox in masses around the corners 
of the house and to hide the foundation, and in corners of the porches and 
curves and corners of the walks. Always select the dainty, more refined 
flowers for planting where they will be seen closely. Put the more rank- 
growing flowers farther in the background. 
There are many different shades of green in leaves and combinations 
of colors in flowers, which, when mixed, are exceedingly beautiful and 
interesting; while variation in bark color gives an entirely new change 
after the leaves are off in the autumn. 
A well-planted succession of growing, blooming things about a house 
are a never-ending source of pleasure, growing more beautiful and attrac- 
tive every year. 
Don't plant trees in the center of a small lawn. 
Don't scatter "shoe-button" plants all over the lawn. 
Don't have a round flower-bed. 
Don't have useless paths, isolated pergolas, iron seats, dogs, rabbits, 
deer, or other imitations on the place. 
Don't plant Silver Maple or Poplars unless you alternate with a good 
slow-growing tree, with the intention of removing the fast-growing tree 
as soon as the other has developed. 
Don't have terraces near sidewalk. Grade from the house to the 
walk line with an even slope if possible. 
Don't try to establish grass on steep banks. Plant trailing vines 
which will take root as they go — -rionesyuokle and Dorothy Perkins Rose. 
Don't plant shade trees closer than thirty feet apart. 
Don't wait— MAKE YOUR COMPLETE PLANS NOW. 
