The Garden Magazine, December, 1920 
189 
need of employing competent advisors in planning the develop- 
ment of their estates. The large problem before professional 
landscape architects everywhere is the necessity of educating 
the public toward a realization of the truth that only through 
the services of specialists in planning can truly happy results, 
commensurate with their cost, be had. For several reasons 
this is particularly true of California. 
First. Nowhere are the problems of private place develop- 
ment more varied because of the frequency of distinct types 
of architecture which demand highly individualized treatment. 
The English Manor, Colonial, Italian, Spanish, Moorish, 
Japanese, Hopi Indian, and even Aztec, are not unusual in Cal- 
ifornia. Each type of dwelling should be offset by a harmoni- 
ous landscape treatment, formal, or naturalistic as the case may 
be, with special attention in the matter of an appropriate grad- 
ing and in the character of the plant material used. Such 
planning cannot be left to mere chance with any surety of suc- 
cess. The stately, beautiful Palm, and the Cactus with its 
irregular, interesting growth well accompany the severely Span- 
ish dwelling, but strike an immediate false note in conjunction 
with the English Manor or the Colonial Cottage; and an indis- 
criminate use of terraces, without due consideration to the 
character or lines of the house, cannot be excused on the easy 
ground of “getting rid of surplus excavation.’’ 
Second. The constant augmentation of the planting material 
of California by the introduction of new varieties, renders ap- 
propriate selection a serious study for even the experienced de- 
signer. The landscape architect must have a thorough knowl- 
edge of his materials, as well as imagination and judgment, in 
order to create effectively. Too often private landscaping — if 
it can be called such — has the character of a botanical garden, 
with specimen trees and shrubs haphazardly dotted about the 
lawn and a restless profusion of bloom in the scattered beds. Such 
jumbling of the factors of design, such lack of any real scheme of 
composition leaves upon the spectator an impression of confused 
dissatisfaction. 
Third. The space composition essential to all good landscape 
design is more difficult in California than in the East, because 
the lawn, a fundamental in landscape composition, must be 
treated as a luxury requiring much careful watering to tide it 
over the dry season. It is, therefore, often necessary to reduce 
the lawn area to the minimum permissible in space composi- 
tion. The same restraint applies to special water features and 
other planting dependent on a liberal supply of water during the 
summer months. Excellent sprinkler and irrigation systems, 
together with an increasing water supply, is helping to solve 
this problem for California, but the expense of water is still a 
factor which must be taken into account by every landscape 
developer. Drought resisting ground covers, native plants, and 
introductions from the desert do much to create attractive land- 
scape effects; but here, too, an intimate knowledge of local 
conditions is essential to the best results. 
The thoughts that I would like to leave uppermost are that 
although a greater variety of plants can be grown in California 
than in the East, it is necessary to discriminate very carefully 
in their selection for the particular project in hand; that Cali- 
fornia soil often needs special treatment to insure the proper 
growth of plants; that the extent and character of the landscape 
development is necessarily dependent upon the available water 
supply; that flowers, lawns, pools, trees, and shrubs do not in 
themselves make a happy flower garden or an attractive estate, 
unless used as wisely placed elements in a composition planned 
with due consideration of the type of house they are intended to 
embellish. Finally it is essential that the home builder — if he 
does not himself possess the requisite knowledge, experience, and 
skill to plan and direct the development of an estate — confer 
with competent advisors in order that the land may yield its 
maximum of service and enjoyment. 
PLANTING AS A COMPANION ART 
To architectural style whose needs are ever varying and often insistent. A few seasons will quite transform this 
house at Hollywood (California), veiling its severity with the sweeping grace of Cocos Palms, softening it with the 
fringed, mantling green of vines. (The illustration on the opposite page gives a reverse view of this courtyard) 
