74 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
collect in the neighborhood. If they are 
screened by lattice, some planting is done 
as a rule, but this is usually pitifully in¬ 
adequate and reproachfully unsightly, 
consisting of ragged wild ferns, scraggly 
geraniums or scrawny Poinsettia stems. 
The chief advantage derived from an ab¬ 
sence of lattice or solid planting seems to 
consist in giving little Johnny practice in 
proving his marksmanship by throwing 
sticks or stones at Fido or the neighbors’ 
chickens when they lodge under the house. 
But, lattice or no lattice, plant that 
house foundation! Make the building ap¬ 
pear as though it grew on the land, not 
just set there. If people think that they 
can’t afford exotics from the nurseries, 
let them go to the woods and appropriate 
the wealth of evergreen materials that na¬ 
ture has been growing there—she’ll be 
only too glad to give them to make our 
homes and towns look more homey and 
livable and worth while! 
The value of the vista in the landscape 
is not properly understood—but an at* 
tractive one is always appreciated never¬ 
theless. Here is a drive which has been 
built in to a ‘‘continuing” vista—that is, 
as one drives up to the house on this 
curved drive, the view, while always shift¬ 
ing, always preserves the elements of a 
good vista. And at no time is the build¬ 
ing ever seen in its entirety—always there 
is something obscured, something left to 
the imagination and to be anticipated just 
beyond. This is landscape art in its ut¬ 
most refinement. 
But vistas are often spoiled—note how 
in this one the long, low, horizontal lines 
of the building are broken by these tall 
spire-like cypress trees planted on each 
side of the broad entrance—defeating the 
very genius of the architect of the struc¬ 
ture. And, again note how the entrance 
has been obscured by this mass planting, 
which also in turn blocks the view down 
the drive from the house. 
On the other hand, note how in this sec¬ 
ond instance the landscape architect has 
preserved the long horizontal lines in a 
building of similar proportions, not only 
in respect to the position of the plants, but 
their character—note how many of the 
trees and larger shrubs are horizontal in 
habit and growth. In this connection, 
note this garden vista—the way is long 
and narrow and the straight vista lines of 
walk and lattice fence and border plant¬ 
ings all conform and focus on the garden 
feature at the terminus. 
The planning of drives and walks is 
frequently poorly done—so many ama¬ 
teurs think that a drive or walk must of 
necessity be curved and so many times we 
see short approaches on restricted areas 
which should be straight made tortuously 
crooked in mistaken conception of purpose 
and vain attempt at naturalistic effect. 
Remember that it is quite as necessary to 
know when a drive or walk should be di¬ 
rect as when it may be informally curved. 
Either type may be inappropriately at 
fault under varying conditions. 
When one mentions “formal garden” 
most people are dismayed and envision 
great sunken gardens and terraces and 
costly ornamentation. As a matter of 
fact a formal garden may be as simple as 
the most unpretentious property would 
justify. It might be a quite tiny hedge- 
