SHRUBBERY PLANTINGS 
THAT BLEND 
MARY P. CUNNINGHAM 
Landscape Architect 
Suggestions for Using Shrubs About the House that Group Congenially 
—Selecting for Harmony of Texture as Well as for Color and Form 
A planting that is out of tune because the fo¬ 
liage of the various shrubs is too dissimilar 
both in shape and shade to blend and “every 
well designed shrubbery must have one kind 
of plant predominate or some common de¬ 
nominator which will hold it together’’ 
A planting that has inherent unity and repose ▼ 
because its component parts are constitution¬ 
ally harmonious and have been selected with due care for 
color, form, and texture. (Incidentally to grow Rhodo¬ 
dendrons successfuly close to a house requires some 3 ft. 
of good humus; lime is too often present in foundations) 
;HE most characteristic thing about a shrub is probably 
neither its bloom nor its fruit—but its leaves. To 
IP^ be sure, if you say the word “Laurel” to any one of 
your friends he will first picture to himself the lovely 
pink blossoms in mid-June. If you try him on “ Hydrangea,” 
he will see in his mind huge panicles of flowers turning papery 
brown as they fade. It is ten to one he will not think primarily 
of the dark glossy leaves that last the whole year nor will he 
remember that Hydrangeas are poor sticks during the long 
winter and that even in summer the leaves are distinctly yellow- 
green and coarse. Yet the bloom is with us but a few weeks 
while the foliage lasts for months. 
It was Charles Eliot who showed us that American shrubberies 
were chosen for bloom alone and that our re¬ 
sults were not gardens but mere collections. 
To-day we have advarced and know how to 
seek and find “fall effects” in the same bush 
which has already served us up a good bloom. 
We now demand “winter effects” also so that 
where we once had shrubberies beautiful for 
only one season we now have collections con¬ 
taining one plant for bloom, one for fruit, 
another for color, and possibly one or two red- 
twigged plants or evergreens for winter show. 
Phis is the last word in the average 
American shrubbery of to-day, and 
note—no plant mentioned for beauty 
of foliage! This is one great reason 
why such plantingsarestill only “col¬ 
lections” for it is through harmon¬ 
ious foliage more than any other sin¬ 
gle element that they can be unified. 
CHERRY HAWTHORN WILLOW CATALPA 
“A plant may be emphatic 
or subdued according to 
the nature of its leaves” 
Gedor 
JJm 
1 remember one such average shrubbery in winter. At 
the base of a bright green house there were equal quantities 
each of Forsythia, Red-osier Dogwood, Rhododendron, and 
Barberry. There was interest for each reason—a complete 
assortment to be sure, and yet it was not beautiful as a bit of 
planting. Nor was this because it was commonplace. Picture 
to yourself a stretch of sea walk among masses of wild Rose and 
Sweet-pepper, Bayberry and Beach Plum! This, too, is com¬ 
mon yet makes its beauty felt. 
The trouble with the former is that it lacks all relation, both 
with its surroundings and integrally among its own parts, either 
of association or inherent quality. Yet with a little thought of 
foliage values a sense of unity could have been attained. Its win¬ 
ter version shows red twigs, yellow twigs, black 
twigs, and dark leaves with nothing in common. 
There is not even a predominance of one ele¬ 
ment, as there might have been by using the 
dark leaves with red twigs as a foil. There is 
no idea of keeping entirely to the dark green 
mass to tone down the too vivid color of the 
house; no appreciation of the fact that For¬ 
sythia twigs are too yellow to associate with 
the carmine Osier Dogwood when dignity and 
restful masses are desired. 
In any design we should try to re¬ 
late the various parts and this may 
be done through their forms, their 
colors, and their textures. In a paint¬ 
ing color becomes the prime factor in a 
“The first thing we note about a tree is its 
form,” and harmony of form is one of the es¬ 
sential considerations in all successful planting 
Masses of Cedars used inform¬ 
ally to give dominant note of 
whole planting; one Cedar 
brought forward as a specimen 
Masses of Barberry (indicated by diagonal 
hatch)—both the Common Barberry (Berberis 
vulgaris) and the Japanese (B. I'hunbergi)—act 
as fillers in this shrubbery where Cedars, placed 
at the strong points in the skeleton of the 
planting, furnish the predominating accent. 
Four low Cedars (indicated by circles) are 
used as specimens, the two near the garden 
seat being flanked by Cotoneaster 
Where Rhododendron, l.aurel and 
Azalea are interestingly blended 
in mass with Evonymus vegetus 
as a ground cover and Flowering 
Dogwood as a specimen 
A planting that lacks inherent unity and repose N 
because its component parts are constitution¬ 
ally unable to fraternize (see description in text) 
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